There's Something About Sweetie(99)

Kayla, who’d been grabbing a new mango juice at the bar, walked up to them. “Hey, hey.” Then, seeing Sweetie’s expression, she added, “Uh-oh. Is it time?”

Sweetie nodded once. “She wants to see us in the study.”

Kayla winced. “Ooh. Do you want me to come?”

Sweetie sighed. “No. I think she wants it to be a private, family-only thing. Even Anjali Chechi and Jason Chettan are going to be pushing it.”

Kayla hugged her. “Okay. Well, you tell me if you change your mind. I’ll hang around close by.”

Sweetie closed her eyes and hugged her friend back. “Thanks.”

Their grim party of four walked to the study and closed the door behind them. This being a regular house, there was barely enough room for all six of them to fit comfortably. Ashish stuck close to Sweetie, figuring she’d need the support. He wiped his palms surreptitiously on his pants. He had to admit, this didn’t look good. The way her parents were staring at him and Sweetie … it was like they’d done something way worse than dated for a month without telling them. Like they’d stolen all the penguins from the Antarctic or something. That’d be weird, though.

Whatever happened, Ashish decided, however much her parents yelled, he would hold his tongue and his temper. He’d be respectful to his elders, something his parents had always drilled into him, but that had never really sunk in before now. He wouldn’t give Sweetie’s parents any more ammunition than they already had. Because he refused to believe that them saying no would be the end of it. Surely they’d come around, right? Or in a week or two Sweetie would realize she couldn’t live without him any more than he could live without her? This couldn’t be the end. Not when there was so much between them. Not when it seemed like his entire life had been a series of moments leading him to her.

Sweetie’s parents looked extremely tense: Vidya auntie sat on a chair with her arms crossed, and Soman uncle leaned against the desk, his hands gripping the edge. Anjali and Jason sat on a futon across from them. Ashish and Sweetie remained standing, close together, by the door.

“What is going on, Sweetie?” Soman uncle asked, looking at her sadly. There was no anger in his gaze, unlike Vidya auntie’s.

Sweetie took a deep breath. Ashish could feel the heat wafting off of her, could practically hear her thundering heart. He wanted to reach out and hold her but held still instead. “Achcha, Amma … Ashish and I have been dating. For a little over a month.”

Vidya auntie got even stiller, if that were possible. Soman uncle looked like he might actually cry.

“After I told you no?” Vidya auntie said finally, shattering the silence that weighed about a thousand pounds. “You went behind my back?”

Sweetie flinched a little at her mother’s tone, and Ashish had to clench his fists to keep from reaching for her. “I did,” Sweetie said softly. “Because … because I felt you were wrong.”

Oh God. The look on Vidya auntie’s face. He could already tell this was not going remotely according to plan. Ashish surreptitiously slipped his phone out of his pocket.

HELP, he typed, and quickly pressed send. If he knew his parents, the fact that he’d told them not to come probably didn’t mean much. They had no respect for his boundaries. But more than that, they were his family, which meant they were always doggedly there for him.

He really, really hoped they hadn’t suddenly decided to change.




Sweetie knew what she’d said was really pushing things too far. She’d never told Amma outright before that she was wrong. It was a hugely disrespectful thing to do, but she figured she’d gone this far. She was already confessing to dating Ashish behind their backs for more than an entire month. Why not jump in with both feet? Why not fully be that girl who dared to stand up on that stage and sing her heart out in front of total strangers? Why not be the girl who dared to text Ashish Patel, the Richmond jock, and then dared to challenge him to a race? Why not be Sassy Sweetie completely? If track had taught her anything, it was that you didn’t take home the gold unless you completely committed.

There was another beat of silence, and then Achchan spoke. “But … why didn’t you tell me, mol?”

Sweetie’s heart broke at the tone of Achchan’s voice. He didn’t sound thunderously mad like Amma; he just sounded beaten, so completely hurt. She knew what he was trying to ask: How had she allowed this giant secret to grow between them? Achchan and she, twin souls, had never been so far apart as they were at this moment. And it was all because of her. Because of the choices she’d made. “I …” She swallowed, trying to blink back tears. “I wasn’t trying to hurt your feelings, Achcha,” she said finally. “I just didn’t know what else to do. I—”

“I, I, I!” Amma said. “Selfish. This is what you are, Sweetie. So selfish. The decisions you’ve made have been only to benefit you! You didn’t think of your family once! You just wanted to go gallivanting around with this boy”—she thrust her chin at Ashish—“and you didn’t care about anything else.”

“Wait a second, Ammayi,” Anjali Chechi said, shaking her head. “That’s not fair. Sweetie has the option to be selfish. She’s not quite seventeen years old. If she can’t think about what she wants in this life now, when can she?”