There's Something About Sweetie(20)

“Chocwate!” Henry yelled, putting his tiny fists in the air.

“Ah, I don’t know about that. …” Sweetie put her hands on her hips. “What would Mommy say if I gave you chocolate at this hour?”

“Yes, Feetie! Good job!” Henry yelled, his fists still victoriously in the air, adorable belly poking out from under his Weekend Forecast: Movies with a Chance of Pizza T-shirt.

Sweetie laughed. “All right, who am I kidding? You have me wrapped around those little fingers. Come on.”

She got him a mini Kit Kat bar out of the pantry. “So now what?” she asked. “Wanna play some Chutes and Ladders? Candy Land?”

“Yo Gabba Gabba!” Henry yelled, holding the Kit Kat bar high above his head this time.

“Not surprised, young Hank,” Sweetie said, taking his hand as they made their way back into the living room. “But you might want to consider expanding your palate one of these days.” Henry shot her a look. “Only if you want,” she said, holding up her hands in surrender. She turned the show on for him and he settled into the couch, his eyes already glazed. She opened the Kit Kat and handed it to him.

Sweetie sat next to him and watched for about ten minutes before her phone buzzed. It was a text from Kayla, Izzy, and Suki, a picture of the three of them at the concert. Sweetie could barely make out their faces in the dark, but they looked like they were having a blast. She tapped in a SO JELLY and then sighed. She wasn’t even a big fan of Piggy’s Death Rattle, but she would’ve liked to go anyway, just to do something different for once. Something unsanctioned by Amma. Not that Henry wasn’t great. She watched him, all zoinked out, and smiled a little. He was a cutie. But she was almost seventeen. She wanted to do something … rebellious. Something for herself, something to prove that Amma was wrong.

She felt a tug of hurt and anger as she recalled their last conversation. Amma thought Ashish was too good for Sweetie. She was afraid the very sight of her fat daughter with a thin boy would cause people to throw rotten tomatoes at her and shriek with cruel laughter. What the actual …? Sweetie knew people could be cruel; she’d been dealing with it her whole life. But she was finally getting to the point, thanks to the team and her body, where she felt like she was so much more than the size label sewed into her pants. It was still hard—it would always be hard. But she had found a modicum of peace within herself that Amma was somehow bent on taking away.

Sweetie pulled up the article on her phone, the one featuring Ashish Patel that Kayla, Suki, and Izzy had been looking at yesterday. There he was, soulful brown eyes the same color as his mother’s, staring back at her. His muscles bulged; his stance was cocky and confident. His sweaty hair hung low on his forehead. Why was this boy automatically better than her? Why did Amma assume Sweetie didn’t have as much to give as he did? Especially considering Sunita auntie had apparently told her that Sweetie’s weight didn’t matter to her or Ashish?

On impulse, she texted Kayla.

Trey from Richmond is there too right?

Yeah why

Can you ask him for Ashish Patel’s cell number

Sweetie pursed her lips and waited for the inevitable onslaught.

What???? Why????

I’ll explain tomorrow promise

K you better it’s 6505550108

Thanks bb

Sweetie sat back. She glanced at Henry, but he was still entranced by all the psychedelic Yo Gabba Gabba magic. She had eighteen minutes before the show was over and this window of opportunity (and her cojones … er, her ovarios) vanished. She pulled up a new text message to Ashish’s number.

Hi this is Sweetie Nair

Should she clarify? What if he had no idea who she was? But surely Sunita auntie would’ve told him who she was. …

Hi

She stared at the message: Hi. What did that mean? Did he know who she was? Was he playing it cool until he could figure it out?

Our moms had lunch together yesterday

Yeah I know

She stared at his messages, frowning slightly. Why was he being so cryptic? Ugh, but she wasn’t exactly giving him anything to go on either, and she was the one who’d texted him. Just tell him what you want, Sweetie. Which brought up an interesting point: What did she want?

Meet me at the Piedmont track tomorrow at 9 am, she typed in before she could even think about it. And bring your running shoes

My what

Running shoes

K running shoes 9 am Piedmont got it. Are you gonna tell me why or?

Not really

K see you then

Sweetie set the phone down, smiling.




The next morning …

If there was one thing Ashish loved, it was a girl of mystery. Sweetie Nair, he’d erroneously thought, would be a Goody Two-shoes, full-bottle-of-coconut-oil-in-the-hair, devout Indian daughter. Basically a female version of Rishi, his perfect older brother. But this? Texting him (who knows how she’d even gotten his number) behind their parents’ backs? Asking to meet him alone at the school on a Sunday? Okay, so the running shoes thing was weird. But whatever. The important thing was that maybe Sweetie Nair was just as much of a dark horse as he was.

The thought had him hopping up to take a shower. After he’d lathered and rinsed multiple times, Ashish put some gel in his hair for good measure (and for the first time since the breakup). He debated what he should wear, but ultimately decided on his looks-handsome-but-not-like-he’s-trying-too-hard outfit of a simple red T-shirt and gym shorts. He laced up his tennis shoes and was heading out when Ma said, “Kahaan ja rahe ho is vakt?”