#mbau

Mina Benali is the eldest daughter of Salim and Kiera Benali. She grew up in San My, but finished high school in Copperdale, Washington. She got her Bachelor's degree in Economics from Copperdale College, her Master's degree in Applied Economics from Johns Hopkins, and her PhD from the Department of Economics at Harvard. She spent a number of years working in the Civil Designer career, but now is headed back to Johns Hopkins as an adjunct professor.

Mina has not had much time for love. She was always working on the next right thing. So now, at 34, she finds herself single and looking for someone to settle down with. She has agreed to do this show in LA during her summer off between her Environmental Manager job and starting her career as a professor.

Mina comes from a family of five, with one brother and two sisters, and a sibling.

Mina has the Insider, Creative, Cheerful, Active, Top Notch Toddler, Top Notch Infant, High Self Esteem, Creatively Gifted, In the Know, Higher Education, Practiced Host, Essence of Flavor, Business Savvy, Alluring, Quick Learning, and Home Turf traits.

She also has a fear of fire and a fear of death.

She has wavy black hair she gets from her Algerian paternal grandmother and freckles she gets from her white maternal grandfather.

A silence stretched.

“Its odd,” Penelope said, swallowing around emotion, “When I asked for your help finding a boyfriend, I didn't think it would end with them breaking up with me, because of you.”

Colin blinked.

“Because he seems to think you have feelings for me,” She let out a disbelieving laugh, closing her eyes and bringing her fingers to the bridge of her nose.

Colin's breath caught in his throat, and when he opened his mouth to respond - to say something, anything - the words he'd practiced again and again got caught along with it.

“Which is so ridiculous all I can do is laugh,” Penelope voice caught on the last word, the disbelieving laughter of before turning wet, “Now will you please just leave me to wallow alone?”

“I can't,” Colin breathed, his lungs aching with the effort of finally talking.

“Please!” Penelope practically begged, and Colin's nerves snapped.

“I can't,” He insisted, “Because…”

All of the speeches he'd written - in journals, on his notes app, in his mind - burst into his mind [change to something else] and he stumbled through the plethora of words. He looked down at the small flowers that adorned Penelope's dress, composing himself and his words, before looking back up. He met her eyes, bright with both unshed tears and…

Hope.

His resolve strengthened, and the words that tumbled over each other in his mind became clear.

“What if I did have feelings for you?” He said, the words a question but the answer clear. Or so he hoped.

“What?” The disbelief in Penelope's voice pierced his heart, denting and almost breaking it.

He sorted though the words, settling on the best to convey his feelings, before kneeling up, leaning closer to Penelope and taking her hands in his.

“I have spent so long,” He began, eyes locked on hers, “Trying to feel less, trying to be more like my brothers, and for a moment I thought I had succeeded,” He looked down, the intensity of Penelope's gaze making his heart thump in his chest, drowning out the music that floated through the walls from Penelope's neighbour.

“But the last few months,” He continued, watching his hands curl with Penelope's against the floral backdrop of her skirt, “Have been filled with feeling. Feelings like the total inability to stop thinking about…”

He looked up at her again, blue eyes meeting blue.

“You.”

The confession came out in a breathy whisper, and Colin watched Penelope’s eyes alight with hope once again, before shuttering. A wall separating her heart from his words, as if afraid they would end up breaking it. He never wanted to break her heart, quite the opposite in fact. He wanted to hold it gently next to his, to nurture it and show her that she did not have to settle for someone like Debling - someone who planned to leave her behind, someone who planned to gallivant around the world without her on his arm.

“About that kiss,” He continued, shaking his head with a soft laugh, “A kiss that I have been dreaming about every night since it happened. For months I have felt disappointment upon waking, I’ve started to prefer sleep, because in my dreams I am with you. In my dreams we are together,” His words had started to quicken, and he sensed a ramble incoming.

He wanted to tell her about every single dream he could remember - Dreams of the two of them on a beach in Greece, the sun shining off of her hair and painting freckles across her nose and over her shoulders. Dreams of her dressed in elaborate dresses as they danced at elaborate balls straight out of period dramas and fairy tales. Dreams of the two of them lounging on his sofa, his apartment now adorned with artwork he knew hung in her bedroom, a throw he had watched her crochet wrapped around their shoulders, as they watched Daphne and Simon act on screen. Dreams of her laid out against his sheets…

He sucked in a breath, closing his eyes against the visions of her, before opening them again and gazing at the real thing.

“They’re damn near torturous,” He told her, sincerity lacing his words, “They way they have given me so much hope, before the disappointment of reality sets in. But it is a feeling that I cannot, will not, do not want to give up.”

“Please,” Penelope shook her head, closing her eyes, “Don't say things you don't mean.”

He squeezed her hands, eyes mapping her face as he waited for hers to re-open. The thumping bass from next door got louder, the pace of it matching the quickness of his heartbeat.

Finally her eyes opened again, and met his.

“But I do mean it,” He told her, simply but with feeling. He smiled up at her, softening his gaze, “Its everything I've been wanting to say to you for… months.”

“But Colin,” She said, eyes darting over his face, “We’re friends.”

“Yeah but we…” he trailed off, brow furrowing as he took in her serious expression. He open and closed his mouth a few times, trying to get his words back into some semblance of order. But they were scattered to the wind once again.

“Right, of course, I'm sorry,” He looked away from Penelope, beginning to untangle his hand from hers, “I don't know what I was thinking! Pretend I didn't sa-”

“-But I’d very much like to be more than friends,” She interrupted him.

Colin's head snapped up, his sharp intake of breath catching in his throat. Penelope's eyes sparkled with mirth, her lips quirked in a smirk that turned into a soft smile as the muffled music swelled to a peak.

“So much more,” she continued, and Colin surged forward as the bass dropped.