Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating(38)

“Come on.” I plead. “I’ve given Barry and Colm chances … I even spent that entire date with Fionn, though I didn’t like him at all. You can give my girlfriend a chance. I really like her.” And as I say it, I realize that it’s at least a little bit true.

Dee and Aisling exchange a hesitant glance between them. After all the events of yesterday, I don’t expect them to concede. But then, Aisling shrugs her shoulders and says, “How about we go on a triple date next Saturday?”

I can’t help the grin that appears on my lips. “I’ll check with Ishita, but that should be perfect. Thank you, guys!” As I throw my arms around the two of them, I’ve almost—almost—forgotten about everything that happened at the party.





chapter twenty-two


ishu


“A TRIPLE DATE WITH AISLING AND DEE?”

“… and their boyfriends,” Hani adds.

“Oh, right. That helps. Because I love hanging out with the boyfriends of people I don’t like.”

Hani smiles, and tosses her hair out of her eyes in a way that makes my stomach drop. It’s been almost an entire week since we last properly hung out with each other, though she always smiles at me at school, and she’s begun texting me random stuff. Every time my phone rings these days I get goosebumps and I fucking hate it.

Having a crush—and I’ve decided that is unfortunately what I’m afflicted with—is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.

“You know you’re not going to be Head Girl unless you put in some effort. Aisling and Dee have a lot of power,” she says. “As you saw at the party … you want other people to vote for you, you need to get them to like you.”

“Might as well give up now,” I mumble under my breath, but obviously Hani hears me because the mic on my phone is exceptionally good for some reason.

“Look, I can come help you out,” she says. “I know Aisling and Dee like the back of my hand.”

“And how well exactly do you know the back of your hand?”

“Come on,” Hani says. “You want this, right? You said you wanted to be Head Girl. I’m just trying to help you out.”

“Fine.” I agree begrudgingly. “You can come help me out.

You know the way to my place, right?”

“Like … now?” The shock on Hani’s face is actually kind of adorable. I look away from the screen and roll my eyes. I definitely do not want to sound too eager. I can imagine Hani is one of those people who are all good with you until they know you have a crush on them. And if she doesn’t reciprocate it—and she definitely doesn’t—then she’s going to look at you like you’re a kicked puppy. I do not want anyone to look at me like that, least of all Hani. So I have to kill this ridiculous crush while it’s still young.

“Saturday is just a couple of days away,” I point out. “So when else?”

“Okay …” Hani stands up, and the light from the sun hits her in such a way that once again she’s transformed into an angel. I groan inwardly. It’s like the universe is conspiring against me. “Um, I’ll have to get changed and stuff first and then—”

“What you’re wearing is fine,” I say. Though it’s more for my benefit than for hers. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Ammu!” I call down to her. She’s only just come back from the shop, and Abbu is still there. “Hani is coming over, okay?”

“Again?” Ammu asks. “Why’s she at our house every day now?”

I roll my eyes. “Ammu, she does not come to our house every day. She hasn’t been to our house since, like, last week … can she have dinner here?”

“Okay, sure,” Ammu says, though she doesn’t sound particularly happy about it.

When Hani rings the bell though, Ammu doesn’t even give me a chance to rush downstairs before she flings the door open. By the time I get downstairs, Ammu and Hani are already in the middle of a language-confused conversation.

“Tell your Ammu and Abbu that next week there’s a dawat at our house,” Ammu is saying to her, even though I know for a fact that she was on the phone to Aunty just yesterday so they already know. Hani’s eyebrows are furrowed like she’s concentrating really hard on trying to understand what Ammu is saying.

“Okay, I’ll tell them,” she finally says after a moment. “Hey.” The look of concentration on her face disappears as soon as she catches sight of me, and a smile stretches out on her lips. It sends a jolt of electricity through me that I ignore.

“Ammu … can we go upstairs? Are you done inviting her to dawats?”

Ammu rolls her eyes. “You took so long to come downstairs, am I supposed to ignore the guest?”

“No, Ammu.” I sigh. “Sorry … we’re going upstairs, okay?” I almost want to add something about how Hani isn’t a guest—not really. She doesn’t quite feel like it. She fits into our house like she’s part of the family. She knows all of the cues, and how everything operates here. Sometimes I think better than even I do.

Now, I motion for her to follow me and the two of us leave Ammu downstairs to head up to my bedroom.

“Does your mom not remember inviting my mom to the dawat next week? I heard them on the phone the other day?”