I'm hungover and I know it.
I groan as I slowly peel my eyes open, the harsh sunlight hitting me directly in the face, making me groan louder. After finally gaining the courage to open my eyes completely, I look around my room when I realise that it's not my room.
Where am I?
Turning my head to my left, I find Mia sprawled beside me, still asleep. I nudge her, hoping she'll wake up and know where we are. She groans and opens her eyes.
"Morning drunk head," she croaks. I roll my eyes and ask, "Do you know where we are?"
She sits up straight, quite obviously not hungover. It's a known fact about Mia that she doesn't drink. She decided at a ripe age of 16 that she didn't like how alcohol tasted and made her feel and hence, she was not going to drink it ever again. Some people are shocked when they come to know about this decision of hers, obviously assuming that a free spirit like Mia definitely must drink. But it's her decision and I quote, I don't need alcohol to have fun.
"We're at Nathan and Eli's," she replies.
I furrow my eyebrows, a pounding headache behind my eyes, "Why didn't you just drive us home?"
"I was tired and they both decided it was best for us to crash at theirs because it's closer. I think Nathan had someone drive your car early in the morning today. I drove mine."
I nod in understanding and hold my head in my hands. God, why do I drink?
"How much did I drink?" I question wearily. She smirks and shakes her head, "I lost count after the 6th shot."
A knock causes both of us to jump. The door slowly opens and Nathan pops his head inside.
"Thought I heard voices. Good morning," he says, opening the door wider and stepping in. I momentarily forget about my headache as I stare at him. Shirtless.
Did I mention he's shirtless?
He looks fresh, right out of the shower and in quite a cheery mood, which makes me suspicious.
"Did you not drink? What about making 'drunk memories'?" I glare.
He laughs and replies, "Grasshopper, you, me and Eli drank probably the same amount. But Eli and I know the best hangover cure. Which is the main reason why I'm standing here right now. Eli's making his special hangover cure for you and I'm the escort."
Mia gets up from the bed and walks out towards the kitchen without a word to me. I suspect it's because she wants to talk to Eli but who knows.
I look back at Nathan to find him already staring at me with a knowing smirk on his face.
"What do you remember that I don't?" I ask. His smirk gets wider if that's even possible and he steps a little closer to the bed.
"It's a shame you don't remember grasshopper," he whispers mysteriously. I look up at him and try remembering. What the hell happened last night?
He looks at me trying to concentrate on remembering when he lets out a small chuckle and bends down to my level. He stares right into my eyes, which stuns me to my place. He then moves so that his lips are right next to my ear and whispers,
"We better find you somebody to love," and moves away, walking out of the room.
Huh?
I quickly get up and walk into the kitchen to find Eli and Mia talking. They both turn to look at me and smirk.
What is it with everyone smirking?
"Mia. What did I do last night?"
Eli beats her to it, answering my question.
"You and my best friend here dueted to Somebody to Love on top of a table. You both have amazing harmonies by the way," and extends his hand with his phone in it.
I look at the video, which already has 2000+ views and over 300 comments. The video is of Nathan and I standing on the drinks table, belting out the lyrics to Queen's Somebody to Love. My hair looks crazy, face flushed with drunk happiness. Nathan's one hand is around my shoulder and one is holding an imaginary mic in his hand. I'm almost dancing as I harmonise with him. Eli and Mia are on the ground, cheering us on and dancing like the crazy fools they are. It's a pretty hilarious video and I find myself loving it. Sure for a few days, people will remember me as the girl who sang a Queen song with the star quarterback on the drinks table, but this is exactly what I had in mind when Nathan had proposed a night to make memories.
I'm not going to regret memories.
"Please tell me one of you has this video in your possession. I need a copy," I reply, causing everybody to laugh and Eli to nod in confirmation. He passes me a glass of yellow liquid and I stare at it suspiciously.
"It's not bad I swear," he reassures me. I nod and drink it all in one big gulp. Instantly I find my pounding headache reducing and my mind waking up. Whatever was in that drink works.
Almost instantly, we hear a knock on the main door. Nathan stops whisking eggs for us and walks over to the door and opens it. And in barges the elder Wright.
Maverick.
"Hello, little rat," he addressed his younger brother before walking in and setting his eyes on Mia and me. He raises his eyebrow when he sees me, but walks over to me nevertheless, engulfing me in a big hug.
"So you two finally know each other now," he says once he releases me from his hold. Nathan walks over and glares at Maverick, causing Wright senior to wink at him.
I look at Mia and back at Maverick. Mia looks the least interested, making me question if I should even take the trouble of introducing both of them.
"Mia, meet Maverick Wright, my elder idiot of a brother. Maverick, meet Mia Davis," Nathan beats me to it, introducing them both to each other. Both of them exchange polite smiles without saying a word.
"Aren't you supposed to be at law school?" Nathan questions. Mav shrugs.
"If you've forgotten, it's the weekend. I'm going back tomorrow. I have a little work in the neighbourhood."
"So why are you here?"
"Ma sent me. She said something about comfort food curing hangovers, I believe," and raises his hand, which holds a bag full of boxes. And then what he said registers in my head.
"Wait. How did she know?" I question Maverick.
He turns his gaze on me and sets the bag down on the kitchen counter and settles on the sofa. Nathan looks at him and sighs, getting back to whisking eggs for breakfast. I almost tell him to stop, now that his mom has sent the food, but I decide against it, wanting to taste his culinary skills. Mia and Eli are on their phones, aimlessly scrolling on various social media. I look back at Mav and wait for an answer.
"Our mom has Instagram," both brothers say in sync.
My face goes red and I stutter out, causing Mia to look up with a smirk on her face, "...so she has seen the video, I suppose?"
Both of them nod in sync as well, without even looking at each other. Mia and I look at each other and communicate silently, sibling telepathy.
"Well that's awkward," I grimace.
Maverick laughs and shakes his head, "Quite the contrary actually. Mom and Dad were laughing so hard I was scared they were gonna stop breathing for a bit. The speed at which Mom has made this food is scary."
My eyes widen and I look at Nathan, who's trying so hard to contain his grin while finally letting go of poor eggs. He looks up at me and winks, causing me to groan internally. After devouring the food Nathan's mom so graciously supplied us with, I finally grab my phone from the bedside table next to Nathan's bed, where Mia and I slept last night. Unlocking it to find 5 missed calls from Ma.
Fuckkkk. Did she also see the video?
I quickly call her back and wait for her to pick up.
"Where were you? Why were you not picking up the phone?" she asks upon picking up.
"I'm at a friend's place. Mia is here with me. We were eating. Why were you calling?"
I can practically imagine the knobs in her brain turning, "Why are you both there so early in the morning?"
"Because we crashed here after a party yesterday," I answer her sheepishly. I've never lied to her in the past and I'm not going to start now.
"Okay, alright. As long as you're safe. But I did call for some important work."
"As opposed to the everyday chit-chat?" I joke.
"You want me to tell your father you crashed at a boy's place overnight after getting drunk and having a karaoke session with a boy you still haven't introduced to me yet?"
I instantly imagine her smirking, causing me to quickly reply, "What was the work?"
Chuckling, she replies, "Just like I thought. Anyway, your cousin Meera is getting married next weekend. You have to come. Cancel whatever plans you have."
"You're lucky I don't have any plans," I reply, "But what was so important in this? You could've just told me later."
"Well here's the thing. You'll need a date with you."
I frown and reply, "Since when does an Indian wedding require a date?"
"Since Meera decided to get married in her extra way. You know how she is. Dates required. I had thought that would be an issue to you, to convince someone to come along but now I'm relieved."
"Why?" I question suspiciously. I have my suspicions that this somehow ties back to the video.
"Bring karaoke boy. We want to meet him. And tell me his measurements for a kurta. Need to prepare some clothes for him. Your lehenga is ready. It'll be a three-day trip. You'll be driving home first on Friday. We'll all leave for the wedding early Saturday morning. It's only an hour away from our house. You both can leave on Sunday. I have to go now, I'll call you later again, okay? Bye!" and she hangs up before I even have the chance to oppose.
Well, this just got a bit more interesting.
Almost as if Nathan knew what we were talking about, he walks in his room and asks, "Everything okay?"
I take a deep breath and turn to him, asking him the dreaded question.
"Would you like to be my date for my cousin's wedding next weekend? It'll be a three-day trip. We'll leave on Friday after my shift and we'll be going to my place first. We'll be back on Sunday. Ma's going to give more details later. You can say no, I don't mind," I quickly ramble on.
He smiles and replies casually, "And miss out on being your date? Only a fool would say no. I'm in, Grasshopper."
I cock my eyebrow, feeling a lot more relaxed with his affirmation and decide to tease him a bit.
"Indian weddings can be scary, Wright. You'll have to wear traditional clothes. I'll need your measurements."
He smirks and takes a step closer to me.
"Even better, Palmer. I'm game if you are."
I smirk and place my hands on his shoulders, standing on my tippy toes and lean towards his ear, the way he does to me every time.
"Be ready for a wild weekend, Wright."
⋈⋈⋈
Hi!! I like this chapter for some reason. If you don't know the song, Somebody to Love by Queen, I have the link of the video above. I love that song so much. Anyway, how's everyone doing? How's your week going? Are you liking the story so far? It's slow I know, but I wanna make it realistic. Tell me your opinions on the story so far. The next few chapters, the wedding chapters, are gonna be so fun to write. I cannot wait for y'all to see their traditional Indian outfits.
Question of the week!
Q. Your go-to karaoke song? I know I have a few, so I wanna know your songs so I can add them to my playlist.
Would anyone want me to share my Pinterest? To, you know, see character boards? Idk, you tell me. Have a great week and vote or comment or do anything you'd like! I'll talk to you later!! Ciao!
Love,
Anushka <3