Forgetting Billions | ✓

05 | Forgetting Burgers

THEY DIDN'T talk the entire car ride. It wasn't exactly awkward, thanks to the hip hop blasting through the speakers, but it wasn't what it used to be. How could it? Time may have the capability to heal wounds, but it could also change people, and it changed them. She tried so hard to think of anything to say to him, to throw some form of a conversation up in the air, but her mind drew a complete blank until she settled with a question she knew was better left unsaid.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" she blurted out, a part of her mind cheering her on for breaking the silence while the other side doused itself in gasoline. After the words tumbled out of her mouth, she was beginning to want to join the other side.

"You still haven't learned the art of subtlety, have you?" He smiled, gripping the steering wheel tighter. "And no. I don't have a girlfriend. You'd be surprised but I've never actually had one. The first and last girl that ever came close was you."

"You still haven't learned how to stop flirting with me, have you?" she retorted, thanking her lucky stars for her dark skin that never showed her embarrassment in the form of a blush. He could read her body language, though, and could decipher her thoughts through the way she fidgeted and started to run her fingers through her hair over and over again, leaving only the sound of her untangling the knots in the air between them. There was absolutely no need for a blush when she was perfectly capable of showing her own embarrassment without a hitch.

"You asked. I answered. It doesn't mean I'm flirting with you if I'm only saying the truth. Not everything is about you, Jas," he teased effortlessly, eyeing her quick moving hands. "Just a word of advice: keep doing that and you may just rip all your hair out."

Jasmine scoffed and didn't play along, resorting to tugging the hemline of her shirt instead, as Shayan drove, expensive sunglasses covering his hazel eyes and his signature messy black hair flying in his face. He looked at her from the corner of his eye and she turned away, not noticing the grin that had to be on his face. He didn't say anything else as they pulled into a small mom-and-pop shop that she vaguely remembered, but couldn't easily identify.

Jasmine got out of the car and looked around for any traces of familiarity. From inside, she could hear Shayan muttering about a 'ton of hair on his new seats' and she ignored him with a dry chuckle as she took in her surroundings. There were a few middle schoolers chatting outside the shop and they, not including her and Shayan, seemed to be the oldest ones there. Her eyes raked over every insignificant detail, from the petite rose bushes near the entrance to the inflatable burger in front of a sign clarifying the name of this place—The Burger Palace— and her smile widened.

Shayan leaned against his truck, arms crossed over his chest, watching Jasmine with an amused grin. "Think so little of me now, Jazzy Pants?"

All memories of SS and the fact that they had skipped detention flew out of her head. He had taken her to their favorite place to spend time as kids. From fifth grade to the week before he flew out to Manhattan, they came to the Burger Palace to spend time together. She was so surprised he even remembered when it took her so long to even recognize the place.

"You really know how to please a girl who just wants to talk," she teased before tilting her head towards the restaurant. "What are you standing there for? Let's go."

Jasmine made eye contact with him as they strolled in, thanking him for the gesture without words, before she ordered for them both: two monster vegetarian burgers and spicy curly fries with two strawberry milkshakes.

"You're still a vegetarian right?" she asked after she ordered and he nodded.

"Looks like you still are too."