There's Something About Sweetie(86)

Izzy held the bouquet in one hand and thumped it against the palm of her other hand, like a Mafia boss. “You know you want to.”

Sweetie sighed. They were right. Ashish shouldn’t get off so easily. Besides, wouldn’t it feel good to let off some steam? To let him know that she wasn’t some easy, pathetic girl he could just take for a ride because he was her first boyfriend or because she was fat? She straightened her shoulders. “Fine. Let’s do it.”

“That’s my girl,” Suki said, swiping under Sweetie’s eyes with her fingers to get the smeared mascara. “Let’s kick some jock butt.”

As they sped out of the parking lot in Kayla’s Suburban, Sweetie caught sight of two figures under the eave of the building. They were wrapped around each other, kissing. With a smile, she realized it was Oliver and Elijah. Well, at least the night had ended well for someone.




It was exactly like the last time he was here with Celia. Ashish was having a major case of the déjà vus, combined with a heapin’ helpin’ of the heebie-jeebs.

She was wearing the same red halter with those tiny blue shorts and those killer cowboy boots. Her hair was up in a bun, with just a few curls escaping around her face. She’d spread out a picnic blanket—complete with LED candles—on one of the little green hills overlooking the bay. Ashish was pretty sure it was the exact green hill as the last time.

Leaving the parking lot (Oliver had told him, kind of mysteriously, that he had a ride home, so Ashish had been able to leave alone), he walked up the hill and sat cross-legged beside Celia. She smiled at him, her skin glowing from the light of the candles, her hazel eyes shimmering. She was beautiful—he couldn’t deny that.

Celia reached over and put a hand on his arm. “Thanks for coming. It’s so good to see you.” She scooted in closer, so their thighs were touching. “God, I’ve missed you, Ashish.” She trailed a finger up his forearm.

Ashish put a hand on hers, making her stop. “Celia,” he said, holding her gaze. Her smile faded slowly at whatever she saw on his face. “I’m dating someone.”

She shook her head. “But it doesn’t feel as right as you and me did, does it?”

Ashish took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the distinct scent of the bay. “It feels … more right. I’m not saying that to hurt you, Celia. But Sweetie, she’s … she’s like the other half of my jagged soul, you know? She’s got the soft edges that fuse with my hard ones. She’s so easy to be with.” He shook his head. “There’s something about Sweetie. Something I can’t explain. I just l—” He stopped short and stared straight ahead at nothing. Oh my God, he thought to himself. Oh my God.

“What?”

“I love her.” He grinned, thinking, You freaking love her, Ash. I can’t believe you didn’t see this until now. You idiot! You. Love. Her. He laughed a little maniacally, exhilarated. He wanted to fly. It was quite possible he could fly, because he was so dang happy. This was like Balltopia. This might even be better than Balltopia. He loved Sweetie. Ashish and Sweetie, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i—

Celia took her hand out from under his and wrapped her arms around her legs, pulling her knees up to her chest. “So you don’t miss me at all?”

The tremulous pain in her voice crashed Ashish back to reality. The grin fell off his face. “No, no, hey, C.” He squeezed her arm and sat with her for a moment in silence. “It’s not that I don’t miss you. Honest. In fact, for the longest time I couldn’t even function. I’m still getting myself back all the way. But you could tell, couldn’t you, when we were together, that something was off? The whole reason you went out with that d-bag behind my back—”

“I was wrong. I’m so, so sorry about that, Ash. I was wrong and horrible.” She turned her head to look at Ashish, and her eyes were swimming in tears that were golden in the light. “You were the only one who ever understood me, Ash. This past year at SFSU has been horrible. I’m so lonely all the time. I don’t have any friends. Maybe if you and I were dating, I could convince my parents to let me move back home. I could … I could go to Menlo College—”

Ashish put a hand on her shoulder. He’d never seen Celia like this; it broke his heart. “C …,” he said gently. “You don’t need me as an excuse to move back home. Your parents will understand that it’s too soon for you to move out.”

She swiped at her eyes. “But they won’t, though. They were both so happy for me to ‘leave the nest,’ as they kept calling it. They kept saying they were so proud that I was finally beginning my life independent of them. I know they’ll just think I’m this giant failure if I move back home because I can’t hack it away from them. But if it’s because things are getting serious with you …” She sniffed and sobbed at the same time. “Oh God. I just heard it. Like, for the first time, you know?” She put her chin on her knees. “I’m such a pathetic loser.”

“Hey.” Ashish waited till she met his eye. “Celia Ramirez is many things, but loser ain’t one of them. Okay?”

She smiled a little. “I also said ‘pathetic.’”

Ashish laughed. “Okay, I’m not gonna lie, walking up here and seeing how you’d re-created our date at Bedwell was a little unsettling.” He put an arm around her shoulder. It felt easy now, like something he’d do with Pinky, with no other connotations surrounding it. “But I get it now. You’re just sad, C. There’s nothing wrong with that. And sure, your parents might be momentarily disappointed that you don’t want to launch yet. But they’re going to be happy that you felt you could go to them with this, you know?” He snorted. “And seriously, if they’re anything like my parents, they’ll probably be secretly pleased that you came back. I think Ma and Pappa want Rishi and Dimple to stay home once they’re married … and they probably wouldn’t even mind it now.”