Page 41 of First Comes Marriage
It wasn’t. Not really. Nothing would be better until she got up and he submerged himself into an ice bath to try to cool himself down enough to form a rational thought. What the hell was happening to him? It was like the doors he’d had closed this whole time on any attraction towards Reshma had been flung open and it was all pouring in faster than he could process it.
Reshma seemed to have gathered herself from the awkwardness she was feeling –good for her– and moved forward to spin the bottle before moving back again.
Zafar tried to focus on the scene just beyond her, hoping it would slow his breathing and heartbeat down before Reshma noticed either. Getting caught by her while he was losing it would kill him. He tried to concentrate on the waves of the water, the reflection of the sun shiningon them, the clear blue sky above it all. But when Reshma flicked her hair back over her shoulder, his gaze went to her. The shell of her ear and the small studs she was wearing. Small droplets of water clinging to her hairline before s-l-o-w-l-y making their way down. The winking of her nose stud, which mesmerised him whenever he looked at it.
He must have moved or made a sound because Reshma turned her face and looked directly at him. Her face was close enough that he could see the tan line along her hairline and the lighter flecks in the dark chocolate of her eyes, fringed by dark eyelashes. There was a faint set of vertical lines between her eyebrows, which slowly deepened as she looked back at him, bringing about an equally faint horizontal line on her forehead.
His eyes went to her lips as she pressed them together and Zafar felt his mouth go dry as his lips tingled, wanting to close the distance between them. He watched her slowly release the clamp on her lips and then they lifted at the corners as she smiled at him, her hand squeezing his. He looked down and belatedly realised that they’d not let go of each other after he’d offered her his hand as she’d sat in his lap. He looked at her beautiful face again, zoning in on the feeling of her closeness and the warmth of her gaze on his, making him respond in kind.
‘Ahem.’
Reshma abruptly turned her face, as did he to find her cousins staring at them with utter glee on their faces. Zafar felt her stiffen once more, but it didn’t last long. She looked down at the bottle pointing at Haniya and she relaxed again, giving Haniya a sweet smile, which he was sure promised something only the other woman understood.
‘Truth or dare, Niya?’
Haniya grinned and chose a dare.
Reshma scowled at her.
Zafar’s mind went back to similar antics with his brothers and he had an idea. He leaned forward and whispered it into Reshma’s ear, realising too late that doing that was a bad idea. Goosebumps erupted on his skin and he was sure she shivered as he spoke.
She grinned playfully at his suggestion and he felt a sense of pride bloom in his chest to have that look directed his way. He distracted himself by pulling his phone out of his pocket and cueing up a song before handing it to Reshma.
‘OK, Niya. Your dare is that you have to stand over there and dance to the song that plays.’
‘What? Nooo, that’s sooo awkward.’
‘Ha. As if I’m going to show you any mercy. Off you go.’
‘I swear, Reshma, I’ll get you good and proper after this. The gloves will totally come off. I’m warning you.’
‘Bring it on, sister.’
The awkwardness lasted barely thirty seconds before Haniya got into what she was doing as they all clapped along, a handful of beachgoers stopping to watch her and adding their applause when she finished and curtsied.
When Zafar had suggested the dare to Reshma, he’d had no idea that Haniya was so good at dancing. He just remembered getting one of his brothers to do the same and then all of them laughing their heads off.
She came back to the blanket and after glaring at him and Reshma, she spun the bottle.
Reshma had completely relaxed now as she sat more comfortably and while he felt like he wanted to shift and get a bit more comfortable himself, he didn’t want to move and break contact with her.Crazy.
This went way beyond his desire for mutual respect and affection to a different kind of desire and there wasan acuteness to his feelings that he was certain he’d never felt before, and while a part of him thought he ought to back away from it all, he didn’t.
‘Zaf.’
‘Huh?’ He’d zoned out and hadn’t realised that Haniya had spun the bottle and it had landed on him. He looked at the bottle and then at Haniya. ‘Hang on a second. That’s way too convenient, how can it have landed on each of us so perfectly to complete a round. No doubles at all?’
They all looked at him as though he’d lost his marbles. ‘She spun the bottle and it landed on herself so she did it again and it landed on you,’ Reshma said softly.
‘Yeah, pay attention, mate. Last one and then we can pack up and leave,’ Shoaib said as he riffled through the hamper and pulled out an apple.
Haniya smiled as she looked at him. Zafar could see the deviousness in her eyes from a mile off.
‘Truth or dare, Mr Saeed?’
He cleared his throat. Dancing on the beach or moving for anything wasn’t something he felt capable of doing just then. Especially if it involved Reshma, which, judging by Haniya’s expression, he knew it inevitably would. And he wasn’t about to be made to serenade Reshma on the beach either. ‘Truth.’
That seemed to please Haniya. ‘OK, then. Tell us your first memory of Reshma.’
