There's Something About Sweetie(104)

Sweetie looked at him seriously. “Ashish, whatever it is, I promise you I won’t hate it. Now, take me there before I hit you.”

He held up his hands. “There’s no need for violence, Miss Nair.”

She put her hand in the crook of his arm and allowed him to lead her outside.

They walked around the side of the building, their shoes crunching in the gravel. Ashish glanced down at her pretty red toes. “Are you sure you can walk in those heels?”

“Yeah.” Sweetie waved him off with her free hand. “Years of experience.”

They were silent as the sound of the dance petered out, whisked off in the gentle breeze. The hazy moon winked at them.

“So, I want you to know …,” Ashish began as the Piedmont track loomed up in front of them. “We’ve only been dating for a month, which to a lot of people is hardly any time at all, but … I feel really strongly about you.”

Sweetie laid her head on his arm. “Me too.”

“I think you’re one of those people who’s going to do amazing things with their life.” He licked his lips, feeling ridiculously nervous as they neared the opening in the chain-link fence. “And I’m so grateful you’re letting me be part of it, Sweetie.”

“I’m glad you’re part of it,” she answered, her voice serious and completely sincere. Ashish’s heart thumped with painful, stupid love. She paused as they walked through the opening and passed the bleachers on the way to the track. “Oh, we’re at the track—what’s that?”

His pulse pounding, Ashish led her closer. He turned to her and took her hands, walking backward as she walked forward, her eyes shining. “This is where we first met. When you challenged me to a duel and slew my heart.”

Sweetie tinkled a laugh that was all silver and music. “It wasn’t a duel,” she said, rolling her eyes, though she was still grinning. Then she looked down, under their feet. “Are these flower petals?”

“Yes,” Ashish said, and then added quickly as she bent down, “But don’t examine them too closely. Pinky being Pinky, she wouldn’t let me use fresh flower petals. So we went to some florist after hours and took all their old, janky flowers they didn’t sell. …” It occurred to him that that wasn’t the most romantic story he could’ve told. “Uh, anyway.” He helped her back up. Putting his hands on the sides of her face, he gazed deep into those bottomless hazel eyes. “Sweetie, I love you. I thank the universe or the fates or whoever’s in charge every day for bringing you to me.”

“Ashish.” She sighed, her sweet breath blowing over his chin, leaving him slightly dazed. “Me too. I’m so glad your dad made us sign those contracts.”

He laughed and reached into the pocket of his tux. “I have something for you. It’s sort of the second part of your birthday present, but I didn’t want to give it to you in front of everyone else.” He brought out the square deep-blue velvet box and opened it.

Her eyes went satisfyingly wide, and her lips parted in a small O.

Ashish’s heart thrilled at the thought that she already liked it. She hadn’t even seen the best part yet.




Sweetie gazed at the cameo pendant, nestled in inky-black silk. It was stunning, with a pale-turquoise background and a white figure on top. Sweetie frowned. There was something … Leaning forward, she reached out and carefully picked it up. The figure wasn’t a woman’s profile in silhouette, as they usually were on cameo pendants. This one featured a curvaceous fat woman standing triumphantly with her hands on her rounded hips, her feet apart, hair blowing in the wind. Sweetie grinned, delighted. “Oh! She’s so badass!”

Ashish smiled. “Turn it over.”

Sweetie did. On the back, inscribed there on the silver, were the words:

sassy sweetie

to know her is to love her



Sweetie traced the words over with trembling fingers, watching as tears splashed onto them. She looked up at Ashish.

He took a step forward, his face worried, those honey eyes searching. “Hey, it’s okay. If you don’t like it—”

She put a hand on his cheek, smiling through her tears. “I love it. Ashish, this is … this is everything. You get me. You get all of me.”

His face relaxing into a smile, Ashish cupped the back of her neck with a big, warm hand and drew her gently to him. “Obviously.”

Sweetie laughed, a hiccuping, giddy thing. “Obviously.”

They kissed, the smell of roses floating around them, encasing them in here, in now, in forever.





EPILOGUE





Sweetie ran across the finish line, her hands in the air. The crowd cheered; her entire body lit up with that intoxicating soup of endorphins and adrenaline. She’d done it. She faced the crowd, her hands still in the air, her grin as big and bright as it would go, enough to power the stadium, she was sure.

She’d beaten her best time. The scout from UCLA was there, and Sweetie wasn’t even nervous. They’d want her. How could they not?

Her eyes raked the audience in the bleachers, lighting on Amma’s and Achchan’s proud faces and then on Ashish’s. He was grinning and waving like mad, his hooting and hollering reaching her like he was standing right beside her. She laughed at the way the other parents were looking at him, this enthusiastic Piedmont track fan in his Richmond basketball uniform. They were headed to Richmond right after this; of course his game had to be on the same night as her race. But he’d come anyway.