There's Something About Sweetie(41)

There was a frozen kind of silence. Sweetie didn’t want to move her head in case it drew Pinky’s attention, so she just swiveled her eyeballs around to look at everyone. Samir’s face didn’t hint at anything at all; it was completely devoid of expression. Elijah and Oliver both looked almost comical in their shock: Their eyes were wide, and their mouths hung open. Ashish was fair enough that his cheeks were tinted a faint magenta, but he refused to meet anyone’s eye.

And then Samir’s words floated back to Sweetie: Like, when Celia cheated … And hadn’t Oliver been saying something about a Celia when Ashish interrupted him? Sweetie looked at Ashish more openly, remembering the picture she and the girls had looked at in the locker room that day after practice. She distinctly remembered Ashish’s sad eyes.

And even though his mouth was turned up in a haughty smirk right then, there was a kind of woundedness in his eyes, a hardness to his jaw that came from feeling defensive, from being hurt. And it was because of this girl who’d apparently broken his heart. Sweetie felt a sickening kind of lurching inside her. She hadn’t known, when she texted him, that he came with baggage from a previous girlfriend. And if she still had the power to make him look like he did, if she’d hurt him enough that his friends leaped to his defense at the mere mention of her name … did Sweetie even really stand a chance?





CHAPTER 15





Well, this was just freaking awesome.

Not only had Samir decided to be an ass in front of Sweetie, he’d actually mentioned Celia and her cheating. Could a guy get no privacy around here? And as if that weren’t enough, the way Pinky had erupted on him would definitely freak Sweetie out. First Pappa and his “contract,” and now his friends behaving like wild jackasses.

The silence dragged on and on. It wasn’t just that Samir had talked about his private stuff, either. The thing was, it still hurt to talk about Celia, to think about her, to think how it had gone from so good to so bad, how he’d been left behind—not that he’d say any of that to anyone. He barely thought about it himself.

“Well. If that’s how you all feel.” Samir hopped up from the chair and walked off, pushing the door open with the heel of his hand. They watched him go.

Nobody said anything. Then Ashish stood. “Yeah. I’m gonna go too.” He looked at his friends and tossed the keys to Pinky. “Take the Jeep. Just bring it to school tomorrow.”

“How are you going to get back home?” Oliver asked.

“I’ll just call Rajat, my parents’ driver. He can be here in ten minutes; I’ll wait outside.”

Pinky and Elijah protested, but Ashish shook his head at them and they fell silent. He looked down at Sweetie and smiled a little. “Um, sorry to just leave like this. But I’ll talk to you later, yeah?”

She nodded slowly and he walked away. She’d probably call and cancel their date before Saturday. Whatever. To be honest, he was starting to think that maybe he wasn’t ready to date again at all.

Outside in the parking lot, the air was cool and dry. Ashish walked over to the Jeep, grabbed a hoodie from the back, and put it on, zipping it up to his throat. Even though the parking lot was empty, he felt strangely exposed.

He leaned against the Jeep and texted Rajat, asking him to pick him up. This was nothing new; Rajat was pretty much on call 24/7 and had picked up Ashish at parties before when he didn’t want to drive. Rajat was discreet, if nothing else. Ma and Pappa wouldn’t ask any questions about why Ashish had come home from his study group in the family car, without his friends.

Someone cleared her throat behind him and he turned, expecting Sweetie. But it was Pinky. Her hands were deep in her jacket pockets, and she shifted from foot to foot, like she was uncomfortable. Neither of them were “feelings” people like Oliver was. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

They stared at each other. Then Pinky said, “You’re leaving because of me, right?”

“Why would it be because of you?”

She sighed and leaned against the Jeep beside him. “I should’ve just let his bullshit roll off my back. But I can’t. That guy annoys me so much. He’s just so selfish and …” She sucked in a breath. “Anyway. I’m sorry I made a scene like that. Especially in front of Sweetie.”

Ashish bumped her gently with his arm. “Nah, it’s okay. I know you were just trying to look out for me. It’s cool; you can’t help but love me.”

Pinky snorted. “Right. So … you excited about your date with her? She seems nice.”

A car drove by and they both looked up, but it was a green Mustang. Relaxing back against the Jeep, Ashish said, “She is nice. But I think she’s probably going to call the whole thing off. And honestly, maybe that’s the right thing to do.”

“What? Why would you say that?”

“I mean, just hearing about Celia makes me all … I don’t know. Like I’m Mount Vesuvius and I’m just waiting to blow. I’m no shrink, but I’m pretty sure that means I’ve got some unresolved crap. Oh, and hearing what Samir said probably made Sweetie want to run away as fast as she can, which, let’s face it, is pretty dang fast.”

“Okay, one: So you’re not over Celia. Isn’t that what this is about? Going out there, getting back on the horse again? Giving another girl a chance? And two: If she runs, it’s totally her loss.”