Singles Club

the one where venus is the goddess of love

"So I guess your dad hates me, huh?" Sunny asks as he hands me my iced chai latte.

I shrug, "Don't take it personally, my dad hates all boys."

He sighs and comments about the Indian dating culture before sipping his own hot chocolate. Sunny is anti-caffeine- the one drug he refuses to do. He turns right at the signal before grabbing his cup again for another sip.

I flip through the papers of assignments and flyers I have in my hand before muttering the plans for tonight's events to myself.

"Would you relax?" he laughs.

"This has to be perfect! World of Science is going to be so cool for the little kids" I stress.

"And it will be, Jaan. You've been planning this for months. It'll be awesome" he smiles at me before turning into an empty parking lot. 

He helps me grab the supplies before we walk into the middle school cafeteria. Volunteers have already moved tables to my asking and most of the flyers are already up. I start to relax. 

Sunny places a hand on my shoulder, "See? It's almost ready." He walks over to the strawberry DNA booth he was assigned to as I run outside to make sure the telescopes are in position.

The event seems to be running smoothly. Angela pulls me to the bugs and asks me to let centipedes crawl on my hands. I do. I don't want to be that girl, especially when there are plenty of five-year-olds doing the same. I finally squeal when the bug starts crawling up my arm and drop it back into its mud box. 

The night is ending, and it's time for the final remarks. I allow the professors that have volunteered their time to thank the attendees and clap along until someone grabs me. It's Avan.

"Hey, what's up?" I look around him for a problem I need to fix.

"Nothing- have you had a chance to look at Venus?" He gestures towards the telescopes outside.

I shake my head and follow him to a nearly empty courtyard. He leads me to an old astronomer who has the view set up for us already. The wind makes it kind of chilly outside, so I cross my arms. We sit on the step and look for Venus together.

The old astronomer smiles down at us, "You know, Venus is the goddess of love." 

My eyes widen at what he's insinuating and look at Avan who's smiling at me in a way he hasn't in a long time. The man chuckles at my expression and offers to give us some time before he packs up. I almost beg him to stay as he walks away.

"It's been a while since it's just been us, Jaanu" Avan starts.

I nod politely making sure to keep a couple of inches between us every time he scoots closer. "Yeah, I'm so glad we were able to be friends after everything," I smile.

"Right," he nods, "But don't you ever think we gave up too soon? We didn't try hard enough."

I shake my head, "We're in high school. We're not meant to take this stuff so seriously. It's okay that it's over."

He grabs my hands in his clammy hands, maybe from the nerves or the humidity or both. I pull my hands out and grab him into a hug. 

"Trust me, Avan. You mean the world to me, first love or whatever. This is for the best." He finally reciprocates the hug and walks away, leaving me alone outside.

I sit alone for a while until the door opens to reveal Sunny holding a pink capsule. He jogs over with a smile. "You good?"

I nod and smile as he sits next to me still holding the capsule. "What's that?" I point at it.

"Strawberry DNA. It's for you."

I fight to hide my grin as I look at the capsule. It's labeled with messy Sharpie:

To: My Jaan 

From: the hottest boy in school (Sunny) :)

"Thanks, Sunny. It's so cool."

He takes time to describe the process of how it's made to me, and while I already know it, I can't help but love how his eyes light up as he explains each step.