Iridescent

CHAPTER 18

I take out a pair of shorts from my closet and toss it in my suitcase, sighing at the satisfying sound of the zip closing.

The main door opens and the next second, Amy's in my room.

"Jai, I'm so happ-" her sentence comes to an abrupt stop as she looks at my suitcase.

"Um, where are you going? Don't tell me you are moving! I won't allow you to move, okay?"

I chuckle. "Relax, I'm just heading to Canada for a week."

She relaxes. "When are you leaving?"

I look at the time. "In two hours."

Her eyes widen. "What? You dumbass! Why do you always tell me at the last minute!" She whines.

"I forgot about it, since my mind was pre-occupied with Laura and all."

She seems to be in a good mood today. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that the reason is her reunion with Laura.

She rolls her eyes. "Okay then, we'll head out for breakfast? It's on me."

"Okay ma'am," I mock salute.

"And I'll drop you to the airport also,"

I nod.

On the way, she asks again, "When will you be back?"

"I already told you, a week at the max."

She hums in response.

"Aw. Is Amy going to miss me?" I tease.

She scoffs. "You wish."

"So you're going to have a lot of fun causing trouble in the hotel room, huh?" she asks.

I look at her. "I'm not a kid, Amy. Why would I cause trouble?"

"It's not that! You can mess up your bed, the room, call the room service any number of times you want and no one can say anything!" she exclaims.

"Oh. Oh. So you like doing that?" I ask.

"Of course! Isn't it nice to do things you aren't supposed to?"

"So you don't know, " I say, faking a serious face.

"Don't know what?" she looks confused.

"You really don't know?"

"Just tell me already!"

And I start singing with a high tone

And if you like causing trouble up in hotel rooms,

And if you like having secret little rendezvous,

If you like to do the things you know that we shouldn't do,

Baby, I'm perfect,

Baby, I'm perfect for you.

I barely finish the last line, before I start laughing hysterically. Amy doesn't feel the same though. She continues driving.

After I finish and wipe fake tears, she asks, "Are you done? That was so lame! I guess I forgot how to laugh."

"You're jealous of my jokes," I defend.

She snorts. "Oh, and please don't sing again, you donkey! That was horrible!"

Now it's my time to snort.

"By the way, you listen to One Direction?"

"No! Rupali used to listen to them! She was such a big fan, it was irritating. She used to force me to listen to their songs."

"Good she did. They are awesome!"

I don't get time to argue because she pulls up at a really homey looking restaurant. I swear she knows this place better than me! And I was born and raised in this damn place.

When we enter, one of the waitress waves at her.
Ooh, she's got friends as well.

The same lady comes to ask our orders, and before I open the menu, Amy says to her, "You know what to get, right?"

She smiles. "Of course I do. I'll get it in five minutes."

She goes away. I turn to Amy.

"How do you know her?"

"I renovated her house."

I nod. Makes sense.

"Hey, I wanted to ask this. If Laura did all that to protect you, why did she behave so. . . Weird with me yesterday?"

"I asked her the same thing. You know, a year back, when she did what she did, I started ignoring her. I avoided her at all costs. Whatever she did, I paid no heed. So, all these were an attempt to gain my attention."

"Ooh! I never thought of it that way!"

The waitress comes back with two plates of pancakes with blueberries and raspberry sauce, and two mugs of steaming hot coffee.

This is my new favourite restaurant.

The plates and mugs are placed on the table, and my mouth instantly waters. I look at it with an expression of awe on my face. The pancakes look delicious, ready to be scarfed down, and the coffee. Well, I could pass out merely by the rich aroma of that divine liquid.

I look thankfully at Amy, who is smirking at me, phone in hand, as if she's taken a picture.

She shows it to me. I'm looking at the plate as if it's my entire world, while licking my lips. I tell her to send it to me, and post it on Instagram with the caption 'Breakfast with this idiot ❤' and tag her.

My phone instantly starts beeping with likes and comments. Amy looks at my phone and raises an eyebrow.

"How do you have so many followers?" She asks. "Granted it's a public account and you're an entrepreneur, but 110k followers?"

I shrug my shoulders and start devouring the pancakes, in an effort to change the topic. Thankfully, she doesn't ask further, and starts eating.

"This is so good!" I moan.

"I know right?!"

We finish it soon, and after paying, Amy starts driving towards the airport. We continue making small talk and laughing here and there, trying not to dwell on the thought that I won't be able to see her face for a week.

We reach the airport real quick. It's always like that, isn't it? When you want things to happen, they take their own sweet time, but when we don't want it to, they do. We step out of the car and I take my suitcase.

"Are you sure you've packed everything? Tie, toothbrush, paste, bandaid, everything? Call me as soon as you land, okay?"

Her concern is cute.

"Yes and okay," I end in three words.

She shakes her head. "Lazy ass,"

We both chuckle. I look at the watch.
"It's time."

I take a step towards her and hug her to me for a long time, saving it up for the upcoming week.

Damn Jai, stop acting like a pregnant woman now! It's only a week!

I pull away, and this time, deliberately, plant a kiss on her forehead. A lingering one.

"Bye," I whisper.

She nods and smiles. "Have a safe flight."

Damn, this feels like a movie.

I take my suitcase and walk towards the airport, all the while thinking that this girl still doesn't know that I'm the CEO of a company. It can remain like this for a while.

   ***

Another chapter! This will have to do for a while now.

They are going to be separate for the first time! What do you think 'bout that?

Thank you for the read!