Page 8 of Always? Forever.
I was meeting Aarush for lunch at his place. I walked into the Indian place near his apartment. Fortunately, there were just a few people, so I quickly placed an order, paidfor it, and sat in a booth till they prepared my takeout. Just then two girls entered, one of them looked awfully familiar until I realized it was Princess. My smile widened. This was going to be fun.
Samaira was engrossed in her phone as her companion placed an order. When the girl addressed the person at the counter, she said, "Hi, Khanna uncle."
"Hi, beta. What can I get you today? The usual?" Khanna uncle replied with a warm smile as the girl paid for the food. Huh, so Princess is a regular here. Interesting.
"Kartik, your order is almost ready," the voice from the counter called out, prompting me to walk up. Samaira's head snapped toward me so quickly that I thought her neck might snap.
"What the hell are you doing here?" she exclaimed, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"I didn't realize you owned this place," I retorted, mocking her.
She scoffed, "What, are you following me?"
Now it was my turn to scoff. Who did she think she was?
"Please, don't flatter yourself," I fired back.
"Please! I don't need to, because it should have come from someone who is actually nice!" She retorted, her words laced with frustration.
I narrowed my eyes at her, feeling like somebody really needed to put her in her place, and apparently, that someone was going to be me.
"You know, with the things you say, you're just begging for someone to put you in your place," I fumed.
She let out a growl, an actual growl, before she opened her kissable mouth to respond. Wait, no, Kartik, focus!
"And you think you can handle that? You're cute if you think that. I could have you on your knees in a heartbeat; it would suit you," she smirked, thinking she had the upper hand. Though, that image did sound rather enticing, me on my knees doing...no, no, we're getting off-topic, Kartik!
"You seem to think about that image a lot, huh?" I retorted, trying to maintain my composure.
She fell silent instantly, and if I could compare the color on her cheeks, it would match the color on the banner of the restaurant. Whatever this conversation was doing, it seemed to be working its magic and made her blush. That's right, Princess, now it's my turn to smirk.
She stumbled for an answer, clearing her throat before finally saying, "What—no, God, don't flatter yourself. You brought it up!" We both stood there, glaring (and staring) at each other, fuming until...
Her friend, who had been an amused spectator, looked back and forth between us, thoroughly entertained, "Good God, wow, Khanna uncle, do you have some popcorn? This is so fun to watch!" she remarked.
Khanna uncle chuckled and brought out both our orders, keeping them on the counter in front of us. "There you go, kids. Enjoy," he said with a grin.
Samaira snatched her takeout bag, caught her amused friend's hand, who gave me a two finger salute and stormed out, clearly fuming. I grabbed my bag and followed suit.
At that very moment, I received a text from Aarush: "Where's my food, bro?" The man could not think if he didn’t have food. I rolled my eyes and texted him back that I was on my way.
Samaira
I was fuming at that jerk! No matter how handsome he was, who the hell did he think he was to say those things to me?
Aria, on the other hand, seemed to find the whole situation amusing but wisely chose to remain silent for the time being. I was hungry, cranky, and angry - not a pleasant combination. We reached our apartment, and I couldn't stop muttering about how much of a jerk Sugarcup was.
As I opened the door, Aria finally decided to speak up about how entertained she had been back there. I mentally groaned, realizing this was going to be a long day.
"...and the way you told him to get on his knees, I'm sure if it wasn't in public, he would have totally done it," Aria finished, winking mischievously at me.
I narrowed my eyes at her, clarifying, "First off, I didn't tell him to get on his knees. I told him I could make him get on his knees if I wanted to."
She just smiled widely, and in that moment, I felt a strong urge to punch my now ex-best friend in the face. Was there a law against punching a best friend?
"And secondly, why would I even want him to do the unimaginable things that we shall never think of doing with him?" I exclaimed.
Aria’s jaw dropped momentarily before she caught herself, quickly closing the distance between us. She grabbed me by the shoulders, shaking me as if trying to knock some sense into me.
