Counting Down with You(55)

“So it’s...not spicy?”

“No, Ace, it’s not.” Probably. Today would be the day that Dadu decides to throw all caution to the wind in order to spite the random white boy in our house.

It turns out Dadu made pulao with chicken korma on the side, which is the best. Definitely not spicy. Still, I almost wish I could have seen the look on Ace’s face if my grandma had made shutki.

I move to help Dadu in the kitchen, but Ace waves me away. “I’ve got this.”

I raise my eyebrows but stay silent as he goes to help my grandma carry the food to the dining table. I can already hear her praising him for his manners. Being polite always wins points with Dadu.

As I sit down, my phone starts ringing with a FaceTime call from Nandini. I glance at the top of my screen and realize it’s almost 4:00 p.m., which means they’re out of school.

I hesitate but ultimately pick up. Nandini and Cora’s faces come into view on the screen and they’re grinning at me. “Hey babe, how are you feeling?”

“Better,” I say honestly. Being at home and watching feel-good movies is always helpful and relieving for my anxiety.

“Mrs. Ahmed, this smells incredible,” Ace says to my grandma as they come into the dining room together, her holding a plate of tuna kebabs and him holding the entire pot of pulao.

“Thank you, Alistair,” Dadu says, using her limited English.

“What did your Dadu just say?” Cora asks, her voice raising several octaves. “Did she just say thank you to someone named Alistair?”

I sigh and turn the camera around, giving them a perfect view of Dadu and Ace maneuvering around each other as they set out table mats.

Ace notices the camera and raises his eyebrows at me. Before I can protest, he comes around the other side to lean his chin on my chair, right behind my shoulder. He flips the camera and waves at Nandini and Cora. “I brought Karina soup.”

“I could have made you soup,” my grandma says under her breath, making me giggle.

She shoots me a fond look and disappears into the kitchen.

Ace nudges me. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” I say, trying to keep my expression straight. I don’t think I manage, because Ace shakes his head at me, and he’s so close his nose brushes my cheek. I hold my breath, my gaze darting to Dadu, but she’s too busy washing dishes to pay attention to us. Still, I shift minutely away, tucking my hair behind my ear.

Ace blinks at me, before his eyes lighten with understanding. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I say quietly, offering him a small smile. “She didn’t notice.”

“If you two are quite finished,” Nandini says, drawing my attention back to my phone. “Ace, why didn’t you say something? We would’ve come with you.”

I roll my eyes. “He cut class to be here. Please don’t follow his example.”

Cora whispers something unintelligible to Nandini and then looks dead at the camera. “Ace, can we speak to you privately?”

Ace shrugs. “Sure.”

“Wait, what—?”

He grabs the phone out of my hand and walks away. I blink after him in bemusement, but don’t protest. I think if I did, they’d just call Ace instead and repeat this all over again.

“I’ll see you in five minutes!” Ace says and disappears into the foyer. I hear the sound of the front door opening and shake my head in exasperation.

I start carefully piling food on my plate when something lights up in the corner of my vision. I realize it’s Ace’s phone, left unattended. I glance at it and freeze, staring at the screen.

He has ten unread texts and three missed calls from his father, twenty unread texts and one missed call from Xander, and one unread text from Mia.

I flip the phone over out of respect for his privacy, but I’m flabbergasted. Why doesn’t he call back his family? Has he been ignoring them the whole time he’s been here?

Ace returns a few minutes later, a sparkle in his eye as he sits next to me. I frown uncertainly, sliding him his phone. “I think your family is trying to get in touch with you.”

He shakes his head, waving dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. Here’s your phone.” He hands it to me. “Damn, Ahmed. Your friends can be terrifying when they want to be.”

I stiffen, glancing between my phone and him. No. I have to believe they wouldn’t embarrass me like that. “Did they threaten you?”

“Just a little,” he says, scooping food onto his plate. Dadu comes in halfway and takes over, piling on immense servings from each dish while Ace watches with wide eyes.

“He’s a growing boy, he needs to eat,” Dadu says to me, pouring us both water.

I laugh, reaching over to squeeze her wrist. “You can let him starve, Dadu. I don’t mind.”

“Myra, stop,” Dadu admonishes in English, whacking the top of my head with a dish towel, making me laugh harder. She switches back to Bengali. “He brought you soup.”

“You just said you could have made me soup!” I say in protest.

She harrumphs and leaves the dining room after flicking me gently on the ear. I grin after her as she heads upstairs to pray Asr. When I turn back to Ace, he’s still staring at the mountain of food on his plate.

“Am I supposed to eat all of this?”