Anu
I'm the first to jump from my seat and grab my carry-on luggage to disembark the plane. Wheeling the black Epi leather Louis Vuitton Pegase behind me I find the carousel of luggage and wait for my other suitcase to come around the revolving belt. Impatience takes over me as I wait, tapping my feet on the tiled floor of the airport. My suitcase finally comes through the entrance of the silver belt and I hastily push other passengers out of the way to get it.
Running up to the check-in counter I realize my connecting flight doesn't leave for another eight hours. It's at this moment I want to scream and cry. Waiting four hours in Naples wasn't enough, no I had to endure another eight here before I could get home. I really wanted to call papa and ask to use one of the corporate jets but they are reserved for mostly business. Looking at my phone I see numerous missed calls and text messages; the roaming charges I'm going to get will be ridiculous! I seriously contemplate calling my dad before I change my mind.
I have been to Paris only once before and that was for a wedding of a very distant cousin when I was thirteen. My family and I did every touristy thing there was to when in Paris and the thirteen-year-old me was absolutely in love with the city, so in love that I never came back. The city didn't stick with me I felt everything was too overdone and cliché I wanted more excitement, unique places that people hardly visit but really should.
Getting a pro and con list going in my head I had more pros of staying than cons so I canceled my ticket for my flight back home and head to the best five-star hotel money could buy. I was done being angry and feeling sorry and confused for myself. It was time to enjoy the summer and there was only one person who I could do that with, my best friend or more like my sister, Shreya. Hopping into a cab I tell the cabbie the name of the hotel and be sure to warn him to take the quick local route and not to jip me for a bigger fare, I would leave a more than sufficient tip if the cab ride was short. Holding my phone between my shoulder and ear I rummage through my Hermes handbag for my wallet.
"Hello," I could feel her smirking through the phone as she answered.
"Hi," my voice is strained as I pull out the bills to pay the cab driver.
"How's the wedding?" Shreya asks from the other end smacking her lips as she crunched something loudly in her mouth.
"How fast can you get to Paris? I'm in desperate need of some girl time and a shopping spree,"
"You? In Paris? Shopping?" her sarcastic tone is well received and expected.
"Yes! I'll explain everything when you get here,"
"You're lucky I love you so much. I'm taking the next flight out. Where are you staying?"
"La Tremoille,"
"Oh la la, look at you finally coming around. Okay, I'll see you then," I end the call just as the car stops in front the hotel and I pay the driver. He smiles and tips his beret. A bellboy helps with my luggage as I walk up to the concierge. The brown-haired woman's thick French accent only adds to the fake excitement I have bubbling in my stomach.
My suite has the perfect view of the Parisian street as a few bikers and walkers occupy the sidewalk probably getting to their destinations before the sun sets. This day seems to be taking forever to go by. This morning seemed like it happened days ago. I was glad for a hot shower and some great French food as I wait out the time until Shre arrived. Her flight would land at around eleven so I had several hours to kill before she got here.
Taking the seat by the window I gaze out the glass at the city before me. The city of love, romantics dream about Paris and here I am dreading being in such a wonderful place. Leaning into the plush armchair my gaze catches the riveting nightlife of the city below. Music can be heard playing from street artists as many people still walk the streets carrying shopping bags from the luxury brand boutiques just down the street on Avenue des Champs-Élysées. I recede into my thoughts once again as memories come flooding back to me.
Summer nights always bring the unexpected whether it's a shower of rain, meeting or love everything is high during the summer from the pollen count to hormones.
Three Months Ago
Yawning, I walk into the kitchen following the rich earthy scent billowing from the coffee maker. It's a typical Saturday morning in the Arora household, Nikhil sits by the island counter scrolling through his phone, my younger brother Aryan, home for the summer from classes at Yale, is babied by maa as he rests his head on her shoulder wrapping his arms around her. Dad is by the stove making omelets and pancakes with a small pot of steaming chai for maa and himself. Nima, my younger sister, still hasn't woken up yet.
At home we're your normal Indian-American family, teasing and getting on each other's nerves, dysfunctional and messed up in more ways than one. But to the outside world, we're the poster family. A CEO husband and father, doctor wife and mother, four children all either Ivy League graduates, attendee, or bound. We put on rather the show in front of the cameras. Smiling our perfectly fake smiles for group pictures, mingling with the right people and boosting our social status at every event we attended. It was all for business and we all played the part because we all benefitted.
The four of us were raised out of prestige and privilege to one day inherit my father and mother's legacy. It came with its sacrifices of battling through undercurrents of competition and backstabbing all while we wore the newest trending designers and rubbed elbows with people we call friends to their faces and behind their backs no less than a stranger.
If it weren't for Nikhil I might have gone insane by now. Like any older brother he was protective, irritating, annoying, and loving all at the same time. He's only a year older than I am but he thinks he has me by many years more. Intellectually he may be smarter, maybe, but tactically I win him by miles. I have outsmarted my older brother since I learned to talk and nothing has changed since.
Growing up Nik was my go-to person for everything if I had to share my happiness of distress he was always there to listen to me, taunt me about it and then offer his best advice. We fought like all siblings over petty things but we're grown up now and he's been my biggest support system, saving me from the dreadfully pretentious people we have to deal with and just being there to lean on.
"Those came for you this morning," maa smirks, peering at me over the rim of her coffee mug with her instigating dark green eyes. I hum pouring a cup of coffee, sliding into the stool beside Nik, admiring the two dozen green roses arranged in a black box, at the center of each a glimmering silver pearl.
I open the attached envelope, rubbing my thumb over the SR insignia printed in platinum on the flap. His bold, neat handwriting is the first thing I notice on the thick white card with a message to be his date at the annual white party in The Hamptons this weekend. Tapping the card against my lip, I decide to make him grovel a bit and wait to reply. If he's the Sidharth I once knew, that will for sure drive him crazy.
"So, I'm assuming the meeting went well yesterday?" dad asks from the stove with an obvious bitten down smile on his lips.
"It did. It's like we picked up right where we left off," I stare into the now empty mug, careful with my words not wanting to jinx myself. It's hard to take things slow with Sidharth, he makes me want to let go of all inhibitions and just leap forward. But I'm afraid of falling and not being caught.
He's flirtatious, and chivalrous, a lethal combination. Topped off with a wickedly charming smile, that wonderful head of hair and oh god, that deep husky voice that gives me goosebumps, Sidharth is trouble.
Being stuck in a vehicle with my family for two and a half hours isn't all bad until irritability starts setting in. This Range Rover does not have enough space for Aryan's annoyances, Nima's forever bitching and whining and Nik's complete silence as he's on his phone. Not even music can drown out the two of them.
The green sign welcoming us to The Hamptons is a beacon of hope, the two of them are lucky I didn't throw one out on the interstate and strangle the other.
Our small beach estate, Pelagius Manor, appears are my dad turns down the street bringing with its crisp white walls and lush landscaping, the memories of many summer weekends spent on the beach, splashing in the water, building sandcastles, whopping ass at volleyball, sneaking out in the middle of the night to parties down the block with Nikhil and my friends.
Somehow it all seems like a lifetime ago yet one meeting with Sidharth brings all of our previous years together into a much closer perspective.
I answer my phone distractedly too far gone with my thoughts and the view of the beach to even care enough to look at the name.
"Hey," his flirtatiously sexy smiles flashes in my mind and his deep drawl vibrating in my ear makes all of the right places feel so good. Ironically he's distracting me from himself.
"Hi," I smile moronically, looking down at my feet as I twist and whine around giddily.
"If you're free tonight I would love it if you would go out with me,"
"Where would be going?" I ask lodging my thumb between my teeth hating how I cannot stop the sing-song way I sound talking to him.
"That's for me to know, and you to find out if you come along,"
"And, why should I?"
"Because you're dying to see me as much as I am to see you," dragging my fingers through my hair, I take a quick moment before I reply not wanting to sound too eager but still seem interested.
"I'll be ready in an hour,"
He always arrives five minutes early. It's a habit since he was a kid. Rocking back and forth on his heels and toes, he waits patiently outside my front door. A broad grin forms on his plump lips as he leans in hugging me, placing a chaste kiss on my cheek. Casually dressed in a light blue button-down shirt, jeans and loafers he is less intimidating today, but still radiates confidence. After insisting on saying hello to my parents, he drives us this unknown destination.
It's easy, too easy. From bouncing back sarcastic comments at one another, reminiscing about our adolescent days and learning about the older versions of each other its really like we've been together this whole time.
All we've done is changed physically but together we're still the same. Sidharth is familiar, he feels like my home. Protective, warm and trustworthy. With him, I can let go, speak my true mind and don't have to be afraid of being judged. His familiarity comes with understanding and that's what I need the most.
He places the palm of his rather large hand, softly but with a firm hold on my back as we walk from his black Lamborghini down the boardwalk along the beach. The sun is just starting its descent down the horizon coloring everything in the path of its brilliant rays, rich hues of yellow, red and orange. It's blindingly beautiful. The dazzling colors of the setting sun ignite his dark brown irises into a burning hazel fire, that I would be happy to burn in any day.
Cool gusts of wind blow from the ocean, briny and damp, tossing my open hair in any which direction it goes. Sid consistently helps me tuck my hair behind my ear making sure it stays out of my eyes. The presence of his hand on my back so overwhelmingly comfortable I don't hesitate to inch closer to his side letting his hand slide up to my shoulder, shielding myself from the wind.
When he winds the turn up a small hill's sandy path, leading towards the lighthouse I begin to figure out his surprise. Many years ago, we used to come up this hill, just the two of us, sometimes to talk, sometimes to sneak drinks, but it would always be just me and him.
Confused I follow him away from our usual spot looking over the beach around the back of the lighthouse. "Uh, we aren't allowed in there, remember? Its closed off to the public since before we were even born," I remind his remaining at the bottom of the three concrete steps.
"For everyone else maybe," he pulls a small key from his pocket unlocking the red painted steel door "For us, it's always open," grinning, he extends out his hand, for which I gladly take.
Our voices echo loud and bold even as we whisper, climbing the spiraling stairs to the top of the beacon. Almost into the watch room, I stop looking down the sheer height of the tower, gripping tighter onto Sid's hand.
Walking around the lantern pane I gape, completely awestruck by the view. From up here, the crashing waves are bathed in gold from the sun, the white sand ripples yellow and orange like an abstract artist smearing paint onto an empty canvas. For as far as the eye can see there's ocean.
"This is magnificent," gripping the white panes holding up the thick glass, I stare out into the world of such untapped beauty.
"I like my view better," turning my head to the side, Sid is braced back against the glass, arms crossed over his chest, openly checking me out. Painstakingly slow his eyes travel over my body, it's not lust or greed, but wonderful passion and adoration.
I reach over to his head, flattening his disarrayed, windblown hair with my dainty fingers. Throwing caution to the wind I let my hand slide down his thick neck, enjoying the two open buttons on his shirt showing off his broadly defined chest, strapping shoulders, and lean arms. He really is too easy on the eyes.
Taking a soft hold of my hand, he places a tender kiss on my knuckles, briefly closing his eyes.
Opening a small white door, he leads us outside to the gallery viewing deck. The wind harsher out here blows steady and without relent. Rounding the deck, we come up to dark red blanket spread on the floor, accompanied by four throw pillows, a bottle of chilling white wine and a covered tray.
"After you," kicking off my flats I scoot onto the blanket, resting one of the small green pillows on my lap. Popping the wine cork, Sid looks around lifting up the rest of the pillows and the tray. "I might have forgotten glasses," rubbing the back of his neck, he smiles sheepishly.
I take the bottle from his hand, gulping a substantial swing of the raunchy fruity liquid. Laughing, he gladly takes the bottle from me taking an equal gulp. Snacking on the small appetizers we take into the night, long after the sun has set.
"This is my first time back here since I left," he says after a prolonged comfortable silence of us staring at the black waves coming in from the ocean and me resting my head on his chest. "Makes me feel like I didn't leave at all," I feel his hard eyes on me, solemn yet smiling.