The rose gold choker necklace glinted in the orange glow of the lamp overhead. I picked it up from the dresser and inspected the glinting set of the choker and jhumkas, perfectly matching my simple yellow saree with pink floral pattern on its sheer organza surface which came with a lovely onion pink blouse. Fariah had gifted me the saree in exchange for helping her come out to Khammi as bi, and a small smile appeared on my face at the remembrance.
Quickly slipping them on, I took a few seconds to appreciate my cat eyeliner, rich pink lipstick and painstakingly perfected hair.
Let's forget all the crazy things happening, just for tonight.
A loud knock at the front door managed to make my heart stop for a split second. "Coming!" I yelled loudly, and slipped my phone inside the hidden pocket on the underside of my blouse. The Taryn Rose heels fit my feet like Cinderella's slippers. As was the rule, I kicked the pleats of my saree when I descended down the stairs and into the foyer.
"What's an ugly girl like you doing in a gorgeous saree like this?" West blurted out as soon as I swung the door open, as if he'd been practicing it. He wore a form-fitting onion pink kurta (I suspected Fariah had let him onto wearing the same colour) and a white salwar, while his hair was gelled and parted in the middle. Damn, who knew a middle part could look half this sexy?
"The same thing your disgusting face is doing in a hot as hell kurta," I retorted, pulling the door shut and jamming the key into the keyhole.
"On a totally false note, you look beautiful," he nervously said from behind me, his fruity cologne faint. Turning around, I stuck out my tongue at him, aware of the heat gracing my cheeks.
"You're delusional, even in your lies. Oh wait, crap, I think I just roasted myself. Let's just go!"
West held the car door open for me as I slipped into the backseat, charmed at his sudden chivalry. "Hi Shuan, I haven't seen you around for quite a while. How you doin'?" I asked as West shut the door, eyeing the briefcase beside Shuan thoughtfully. Austere as ever, Shuan's reflection nodded stiffly at me in the rear-view mirror. A second later, West entered the car and our Mercedes whirred off for Edelweiss Academy.
Feeling a persistent gaze on my face, I tilted my face away from the Halloween decor outside to West's, my lips quirking upward when he didn't even flinch before continuing to stare at my face.
"What're you looking at, asshole?" I quipped, afraid that the fact that the fact that I was pleased was showing. He allowed me a smile instead of the smirk I half-expected.
"I kinda meant it when I said that you look beautiful tonight," he breathed sheepishly, his hand travelling to his neck and scratching it.
My eyes subconsciously darted away from his as I muttered a 'thanks', a weird mixture of content and demureness making my face heat up like a beach at 3 o' clock in summer. Um, confident flirty me, where did you vanish?
In the spur of the moment, tearing away across a nameless British suburb, West made me realise another weird fact about confidence : giving up trying to be confident actually ends up generating confidence. Because when he scooted closer to me and interlaced his fingers into mine, I didn't have to think once about whether I was hot enough to be with him before making my fingers wind around his firmer.
Maybe it had something to do with the fact that our flamboyant traditional wear immediately stood out against the swarm of gowns and tuxes, or the fact that the two of us were not expected to be gliding across the gym hand-in-hand, but people were staring.
"Is there something on my face?" I said to West, noting the considerable drop in friendly banter in the hall as we walked.
"Yeah, and it's quite off-putting," he replied casually, making my shoulders square in alarm. Angling his mouth near my ears, West grinned, "I think they call it gorgeousness," he pressed his lips gently to my cheek in a soft kiss. Gah, just kiss my lips already.
"Aren't you being a little too frank tonight?" I teased, my skin tingling where his lips had been. Spotting the guys, I waved at them, surprised at my own excitement as my hand furiously oscillated from side to side.
"I'm just putting it out there for all the girls drooling over me, you know," he smirked, and I punched his arm lightly as we reached the rest of our friends.
At the opening ceremony, Principal Sen made us all get up on the stage. I'd expected people to think that a cultural prom was very lame, but most of them didn't really care. The cheering was thunderous when the Principal credited us with the arrangement (Troy really went and interrupted her speech to say that the chocolate fountain had been the fruit of his genius). Judging by the pleased nod of her head, she approved of West and I's unlikely couple.
Dinner turned out to be delightful, despite the fact that I was nearly overwhelmed by the remembrance of Sharmaji during dessert. Then the fuck up happened.
I was standing next to the chocolate fountain with Lee and Art as they discussed the who was the best, occasionally chiming in, a glass of fucking Gatorade (there had been a misunderstanding with the drinks providers) in each of our hands.
Like a beetle in an expensive 5-star-restaurant fois gras, Ruby Tilde waltzed in the scene and feebly tried to make conversation, which turned out to be impossibly awkward for the three of us. After a few minutes of insane struggle, Ruby decided to leave...just not normally. She tripped me with her feet, and I teetered on the edge of the chocolate fountain for half a second before toppling. Right. In.
"Oh my god, y-you are a bitch," I gasped as she shrugged, watching the rich warm chocolate seep into my beloved saree in horror. My mind buzzed as the people around me laughed and snapped out their phones, taking videos and pictures as if I were a unicorn farting rainbows.
Lee and Art were the first to recover from the shock. As they hauled me up, Ever, Troy and West were rapidly approaching us, returning from their 'man to man conversation' (which was basically the two others trying to fix Troy's tie coming undone).
What I did next will forever be cherished as my boldest memory of Edelweiss High. Grabbing Ruby, who was shamelessly recording the drama with her iPhone X, I swung her into the fountain with a loud splash.
The hall reverberated with echoes of 'ohhhhhh' and Ruby started screaming at me. Spewing out expletives left and right, a pissed off Art accompanied me to the washroom as the others gawked.
The laughter that I had been suppressing burst out as soon as we were inside the washrooms, making Art eye me with disbelief. She started yelling, "Your prom night was just ruined and you're fucking laughing, LAUGHING, YOU FUCKER?!"
"Art, chill down, I know! But it was so fucking funny!" my body trembled with waves of laughter, and I clutched onto the sink for support as Art rummaged in the makeshift supply closet under the sink for tissue paper. She found a roll and attempted to rub off the chocolate.
"God, Aditi, it's frozen set on your saree," Art whimpered, her lip quivering, threatening that she would start to cry. All of a sudden, I beat her to it, glad that my mascara was waterproof.
After several minutes, I had mostly managed to scour my face and neck of the chocolate. I crept out of the school door as inconspicuously as possible, which wasn't that difficult since everyone was coupling up for the first dance. The air outside stung and I wrapped my arms around myself, waiting for West, whom Art had gone to fetch.
"Hi," he said as he walked up to me, his lips pressed into a thin line.
"Hey, asshole. Listen, um, I gotta go, so...but you enjoy your night," I slumped, my breath producing a whitish swirl in the air. West's hand travelled to his neck.
"You're kidding, right? I'm not going to leave you alone and rot in Crappy High School Boyfriend Hell," he laughed. His chuckle turned to a fully-fledged laughter for a few seconds. "I'm sorry, it's just hilarious.." he trailed off, more pleasantly sonorous laughter bubbling up.
"You're not my boyfriend," I grinned, turning away from him and taking leisurely steps along the driveway beside him.
"Maybe, but you're blushing, darling," West teased in a fake British accent, slipping his hand into mine. My cold palms revelled at his warm touch. Before I could reply, a series of hoots made us turn back to the school gate - Ever and Troy stood at the school gates, smug looks on their faces.
"GET SOME!" they yelled in unison, Troy wiggling his eyebrows as Ever bobbed his head like a goofy peacock.
"REST ASSURED!" West yelled back, earning a punch from me. "You do know that your punches don't hurt at all, right?" My fist landed on his arm with all the force I could muster this time, emitting a loud 'ouch' from West. I flashed him a self-satisfied smile.
"By the way, are we walking home? Because I'm in heels and-"
"Oh shush, we're going to steal a bike," West cut me off, his gaze intently fixed on the sole cycle in the parking space.
"Did you say steal a bike?" I asked incredulously, crossing my arms. My arms were starting to ache, I hadn't counted on being outside for long, and I rubbed my palms along them in an attempt to generate warmth.
"Too adventurous for you? Shh," he silenced me as I made to protest, allowing me a soft smirk as he grabbed me by the waist and pulled me flush against him, making me gasp with the abruptness of his motion. His hand tugged at my hair, and the next thing I knew, the only part of my outfit which was still intact came undone.
"Why the fuck did you do that to my hair?" I exclaimed angrily as the loose locks fell in front of my face, glaring at West's taken aback expression.
He quickly recomposed himself and shrugged, assaying my hairpin between his fingers like a cigarette before crouching down to the bike's level. "Your hair looks better when it's down anyway, midget," he said, the hush in his voice dramatic. I had to squint in the low light to make out his smirk.
"Hurry up, I'm freezing in here," I hushed back, feeling goosebumps spread across my skin like wildfire. "Why can't we call Shuan anyway?"
"He's got some work in London," he said, voice faltering so much that my eyebrow rose instinctively. Within a minute, West had unlocked the bike and mounted it, motioning for me to get on as well.
I hoisted myself up on the top tube, curling my finger around the handlebar. Grabbing the handlebars, his hands melting on top of mine, West settled his chin into the crook of my neck, making my eyelids flutter close with the warmth of his face as my heartbeat skyrocketed. "Enjoying yourself, are you?" West teased.
"Not as much as you, asshole," I smiled. He chuckled very slightly, but my back was pressed up against his chest and I could feel the motion vibrating off his skin. He put his feet to the pedals, allowing us to glide out to the main street.
"Where are we headed?" I asked smally, realising that I didn't really care if he could sense how loud my heartbeat was.
"It's not even 8...um, do you wanna head to my place?" he asked, the tentativeness palpable.
"You haven't seen anything- unusual at the Kreep house, by any chance? Spirits, perhaps?" I questioned in reply, and his laughter curved into back, sending goosebumps shooting up my skin again despite the warmth now washing over me.
"I get it, that place gives off bad vibes. But no, I haven't met Annabelle yet," he laughed again.
"Then let's go."
West's room was abysmal as if a hurricane had just torn through it. When I scowled at him, he sheepishly scratched his neck, saying, "Let's just say that finding the perfect kurta wasn't easy."
He led me into the next room down the hall. If you ignored the scanty wallpaper and the Rolex lying misplaced on the study desk, this one was spotless. "This is Jim's room. He won't mind...unless we mess up the sheets really badly," he smirked.
"Oh god, keep your suggestiveness to a limit. Or we might really end up messing up the sheets," winking at him, I walked over to the bed, slumping down on the soft sheets and stooping down to take off my heels.
When I looked up, he was muttering something to himself. Running a hand through his hair, he shimmied his phone out of his pyjama pocket and walked out of the room. A while later, he returned with a rugby-shaped speaker and placed it on the desk alongside his phone. "So, um, any choice of songs for a prom night at the Kreep house?"
My gaze skimmed over my form. "I'm covered in chocolate," I hesitated, and he shot me a look of pure do-you-seriously-think-I-care. "Ed's Perfect would be great I guess."
West groaned. "I knew it! You are so predictable sometimes, Aditi. I know nobody thinks this, but Perfect is so fucking overrated. But I shall comply with the 'Ed' part of your wish, m'lady," he bowed ridiculously, tapping his phone once. A beautiful guitar strum started coursing through the small room, followed by Ed's emotion-evoking voice.
West pulled me up with a delicate tug, and I reached both my hands across his chest and latched them together at the nape of his neck, my head grazing his cheekbone. His palms settled into my waist like a key in a lock. My erratic breathing slowly found a rhythm in its erraticism as my body moved with his with the gracefulness of honey dissolving into warm milk.
This wasn't like the Holud night at Casa del Poppy, or anything I'd ever felt. The room came alive with the purity and intimacy of both the song and two messed up kids trying to slow dance their way out of petty shit and into something real.
The fallen locks of my hair delicately cradled my cheeks. West tucked them behind my ear with nimble fingers, letting his knuckles graze my cheeks so softly that I closed my eyes.
"You know something? There's this dream that I keep dreaming, over and over again, where I'm in heaven. There's a river there, with stars on its bed. I think it's a metaphor for your eyes," West breathed, leaving me too shocked to think anything, let alone make fun of his corniness.
"Whatcha thinkin' of so intently?" He muttered, his lips against my hair.
"I'm thinking," I laughed softly, looking into his brown eyes. The gold in the eyes were flashing as they twinkled, and I immediately tried to distract myself with something else. But the closet thing was his hair and did little to distract. "I'm wondering what brand of shampoo makes your hair smell so amazing. What're you thinking?"
"Well," he lifted my chin up by his index, proudly wearing that disarming lopsided smile. "I'm high-key thinking about kissing you. But," pushing me up against the bookshelf, he brought me to a stop, making me realise that the music had stopped as well. I blinked several times with anticipation, running a finger down his cheek as I eyed his hesitance.
"But what?"I whispered, leaning in impatiently. The bookcase wasn't a very comfortable thing to be pushed up against, either, the spines of the shelved volumes pricked at my back. I squirmed between the shelf and West's body, trying to get control over my skyrocketing heartbeat.
"You have to understand, I'm not from a normal family," he almost whimpered, his lower lip quivering.
"Like hell if I care," having waited enough, I leaned closer. Only I wasn't leaning closer, I was falling back. Because something very powerful had made the bookshelf move, and instead of neatly arranged books, there was only a thick black void behind me.
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Ooh, cliffhanger! I like those.
If you do too, please leave a vote or comment, it'll probably mean more than you think <3