Prema (Pranushka)

Chapter 12

"I know you do, but they take a little longer," She pouts, her head pushing deeper into the pillow as she uncrosses her legs underneath the blanket.

"Na kosam antha kuda cheyava?" I loosen my hold on her as I dramatically lift my head off of hers and flick it backwards. [Translation of "Na kosam antha kuda cheyava": Will you not even do that much for me.]

"If you think your stupid dramatics will persuade me then you're wrong."

I let go of her body after she says that, hoping that maybe the loss of touch will change her attitude. I hope it does soon though because my arms already miss having her body in them. I stay quiet for a few more seconds, and the silence is torture for the both of us. For her, she is waiting for me to say something else, some other line or comment to convince her to wear a sari whereas I am waiting for her to agree to wear a sari.

"Would you rather me wear a sari or would you rather us match," She asks me,blinking her eyes at me as she waits for an answer from me.

"Ni ishtam," I shrug looking between her eyes and her lips as she rolls her eyes up and then down, telling me that she's thinking about which of those two options she likes better [Translation of Ni ishtam: Your choice or Whichever you like].

"Prabhas," She pouts, her bottom lip making an appearance as she looks at me with annoyance.

"Fine, pick one," I say to her, lifting my hand up and pointing two of my fingers at her so she can pick one. She picks my pointer finger after thinking about it for a sec and then looks up at me to tell me what she picked.

I give her a small smile, "You wear a sari AND we match." I let out a laugh as she glares up at me and slaps my fingers away.

"You're not funny," She complains, shaking her head at my answer.

"Whatever I'll figure it out since you can't do anything," She declares, turning around again so her back is to me as her body curls up under the blanket. I smile, shaking my head at her quick anger and the smile slowly turns into a smirk as I know exactly what to do to make her anger melt away. I slowly move my hands towards her stomach which is covered by her shirt and then a blanket. My fingers start on the sides of her waist and I start to tickle her. I roll her around so she's on her back and I have a better reach so I can press my fingers against her, making sure to hit every single sensitive spot of her.

"Stop it! Stop Prabhas," She screams as she rolls around, barely able to speak through her loud laughter. Her laughter drowns the room and my ears get filled with that heavenly sound, the one that I wait to hear each day, the sound I would do anything to hear. When she laughs, all the worry and stress on her face disappears and gets replaced with pure joy and glow; it's the face I fell in love with for the first time and will continue to fall in love with everytime I see it.

"What the," I groan as I stretch my arms across my bed and flip my body over so I am facing the nightstand that I put my phone on. I can very specifically remember what happened and I can even retell the events exactly as they just played out in my head. The one thing that is throwing me off is the fact that I don't remember what the women in the dream looked like. I know how stupid I probably sound but it's weird because it's like I know she was there. I can kind of describe her but I don't have a face in my head that matches the woman in the dream. I've never had a dream like that before and I'm confused as to why I am having one now. I probably sound so sappy thinking this, but it was a nice dream. It was a dream that I hope will be a part of my reality in the future.

Anushka

"Yeah I know that's the only appetizer that's good," I whisper to Chandu and Kalyan, my two cousins, as they take a seat beside me with their plates full of food. It's Friday night and I am at a party with my family of four along with my cousin's family consisting of my aunt, uncle, Kalyan, and Chandu. My aunt is my mom's younger sister and our families are extremely close as we've grown up doing everything together. The three of us are sitting at a table and eating, along with a few other people our age, while we wait for Anna to come and join us.