Knotted in Love

Part 14

Karishma rests her hand on Haseena's thigh and leans into her. They kiss with a smile on their faces while everyone else on the table faces away. Their love is not the thing that get them all uncomfortable but it's their own loves that get them all in a sweat. Jack pretends to clear his throat so loudly before taking a sip from his pint of beer to break the love birds up. Alice looks at him with a tiny smile. It feels a little better that she can actually sit with him and feels his presence. Next to him is Danielle, she keeps stealing glances at Zoe. Things get more awkward between them because this is going nowhere and Zoe starts to lose interest. The only reason Zoe agrees to come is Haseena showed up at her work and threated her to come along.

"I'll get us more drinks." Danielle offers and knocks over her chair on her way away from the round table. It is a bit of a stumble but she manages to get the chair back up in place.

"I'll go with her." Karishma announces before pinching Haseena's cheek playfully as she is eating her fries. "Don't finish it."

"Okay." Haseena smiles and secretly checks out Karishma's butt as she walks away. Everyone at the table clearly notices it and has enough nerve to take some action with a hum and a whine. "What? She's my wife."

"Isn't this awkward for you?" Zoe asks Haseena who seems to be unbothered by anything. "All of this."

"No." Haseena answers as she moves the basket of fries back for Karishma. "There are three people who I'm comfortable with... no offence, Jack."

Jack shrugs while feeling every touch Alice draws on his back.

"So I'm good." Haseena gives Jack a thumb up and leans back on the wooden chair of the bar that becomes their regular. "Look, it's not even my idea and we all know I can't really say no to Karishma."

"You can. You just don't." Alice corrects her best friend with a mocking face.

"You could tell me you are dating Jack. You just didn't." Haseena fires back and Alice is nearly killed by her own bullet.

"I thought you knew." Alice tries to defend herself although she knows that it is just a useless defense. There was no way Haseena would know. The least that Haseena could figure out was she is dating someone.

"Is it weird if I leave?" Zoe asks after finishing her pint of beer; ignoring all the arguments that have been thrown around.

"Zoe, can you help Danielle with the beers?" Karishma sits back down with her own glass of red wine and nothing else. Haseena looks at her with so many questions in her eyes but mainly, it is something along the line of 'why don't you help her?'

"I can help her." Jack is ready to get up when his leg gets some painful impact that gets him to sit back down. "What the..."

"Jack, I was going to ask you about something." Karishma pretends like it wasn't her who kicked him under the table so hard that the table shook. She wears her innocent look and sips her glass of wine.

"About what?"

Karishma stuns for a bit as she tries very hard to find the sensible answer. "Sphenopalatine Ganglioneuralgia."

Jack tilts his head and chuckles in ridicule. Alice's eyebrows are colliding like trains on the same track. Haseena closes her eyes and tries to spell out the word. Zoe just leaves. She was assigned with something that seems more fun than this medical term.

"Hey." Zoe reaches the bar and leans on the counter next to where Danielle is standing. She is still waiting for a couple more pints and her fluster is throwing her off. Zoe immediately touches her arm to check on her. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." Danielle smiles and tucks some strands of hair that has escaped her ponytail behind her ear. "Are you alright?"

"I kind of want to leave." Zoe chuckles a bit and doesn't really look Danielle's way while making her confession. "I know you've made it perfectly clear..."