One Night Only ✓

12 / that spring feeling

Saffiya raised a sceptical eyebrow at her cousin, snorting a short laugh before she returned to whoever she was texting. Ishaana folded her arms on the back of the sofa, a grin on her face.

"A murderer, Pri? Really?" She shook her head. "I'm not sure I could kill you by blowing on your head."

Priya tutted and picked herself up off the floor. "Don't sneak up. I forgot you were in the house."

"Hey." Ishaana frowned, flicking her sister and joining her on the sofa.

"You know something?" Priya bent down for her book, finding the page she had been on and dogearing it for later. There was plenty of holiday left to do homework, which she only resorted to when her boredom reached new limits.

"I know a lot of things," Ishaana said. "Got one in mind?"

Priya rolled her eyes, scoffing at her sister before she returned to her original train of thought. "This is the longest you've stayed here. Did you realise that? It's been ten days since you came back from Mel's – you've never stayed ten days in a row before."

Ishaana's frown returned, deepening a crease into her forehead. She was sure that there had been times she had stayed longer, after two years. "That can't be right," she said. "I was here for, like, two whole weeks over Christmas."

"Yeah, for a few days," Priya said. "Then you spent two days at a party in Manchester. Then you came home for a week, then you went back to uni. You come and go," she added, giving her sister a little credit, "but you don't usually stay."

The words snuck under Ishaana's skin, making her hands itch with shame. "I'm sorry, Pri. Reckon you can stand me for another three weeks?"

Priya smiled, and it turned into a chuckle. "I think we can working something out," she said. "But more importantly, I'm bored and I'm hungry. Can we go out?" Pursing her lips, she raised her eyebrows. Deep brown puppy-dog eye stared up at her sister, who struggled to say no to the girl she had let down so much already.

"Ok," she said. At least she would be able to satisfy her craving, she thought, dreaming of the curry she planned to order from whatever pub they ended up at. She would just have to say goodbye to a chunk of the pathetic contents of her bank account.The next installment of her student loan was due in three weeks, and it couldn't come soon enough. Being home helped in that respect, not having to pay for her meals each day when Sunita kept the cupboards stocked with Jain-friendly foods.

"Yes!" Priya cried out. "We can have a girls' day."

"Every day is a girls' day," Ishaana said. "There are literally no men in this family, Pri."

"You know what I mean, Ishy. Don't be pedantic." She stood, stretching out like a cat, and swept her long, thick hair off her face. Unlike her sister, who was made up of sharp angles and strong lines, Priya was a soft girl with rounded features and gentle eyes. "I'll be ready in five. You ready?"

"And waiting," Ishaana said, her mind slipping back to the food she had woken up ready for. Priya danced upstairs, her feet thudding on each step, and Ishaana was left with Saffiya, at whom she smiled. "You ready?"

"Me?" Saffiya asked, her eyebrows pulling together as though there was someone else in the room.

"Well, yeah," Ishaana said. "D'you want to come?"

Her face lit up, her cheeks aglow, and she nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, Ishy. I figured this was a you and Priya thing," she said, her voice quiet. "I didn't realise I was invited."

"Of course you are!" Ishaana laughed and stood, rooting through her bag to make sure she had her purse and inside it, enough money to cover food for three. She came across a twenty pound note, and then a ten, and she smiled: that would save her from using her card. It was so much easier to part with cash once it had already left her bank, sitting in her purse just waiting to be used. It was as though paying with hard money didn't count, not putting nearly so much of a dent in her finances when really, the damage had just been done earlier.