Anika
Two more days until Shaurya's beach party. Great.
I mean, it's not like I don't wanna go. Hell, I wanna go really badly. I want to unleash that wild and untamed side of me, the side of me that I never got to reveal to others. All my life, I've been known as that quiet and studious Anika Desai that is obedient to her father. But ever since college started, I felt this burning passion inside of me to be free and to be wild and to let go of these things. We only live once anyways.
The way I felt at that party, before first semester started... man, I never felt that way. I felt like a completely different person exploring the various depths of adult life and experimenting. And I'm glad I started that off with Shaurya.
So I kind of feel guilty that way if I don't come to his party, all because of my overprotective father.
I groan as I plop myself on my bed, sprawling my bag and papers on the floor. The time is currently 5:23pm, so I have couple of hours to spare before my father arrives.
I contemplate about starting my homework and studying for this literature exam tomorrow, but the procrastination-like side of me dominates my mind. God, all I wanna do is sleep.
The good thing about tomorrow is, since it's Friday, is that I will only have one class tomorrow, which is literature. Then, I can finally relax and have some 'me' time, which I've had none of since the beginning of senior year of college.
I sit up, swiping my hair to the left side of my torso. Biting my lip anxiously, I rub my hands on my forehead as I sigh in exasperation. Why can't life just be simple for once?
Eventually, I decide to turn on some Netflix and catch up on my daily Vampire Diaries. I settle myself on my comfortable bean bag chair placed adjacent to the post of my bed as I grab a unfinished bag of hot Cheetos on my dresser from a couple of days.
As Damien and Elena go through their conversations about their sustaining love for each other, I lean against my bean bag chair as I feel a ding go through my pocket. I pull out my phone and read a text from Em.
Em: hey girly! I'm supremely bored at my house lol. Wanna come over and catch up on some Vampire Diaries?
Me: haha, so funny! I'm watching it rn!! But yea I can come over in a lil.
Em: yasssss!!!
I sigh as I place my phone on the ground. Man, right when I was just getting comfortable...
Pulling my hair up into a loose ponytail, I go downstairs as I grab my phone and lead myself into the kitchen. But then it hits me. What am I gonna tell my father? What if he comes early and sees that I'm not home?
But it's not like I'm having a sleepover at her house, right? I'll just be back in an hour or two. It won't be that bad.
I realize to myself that if I bring my phone with me then he'll probably see that I'm not home, since he can track my location down. Sighing to myself, I place my phone on the counter and walk out of the house once I lock the door behind me.
The cool Californian air hits my face as I note the trees swaying in the distance, the birds chirping into the daylight, and people swarming up and down the streets, talking to others or taking it solo by going on a jog.
The car sits idly on my garage way as I beep it twice. Opening the door into the car, I lean my head back on the headrest as I close my eyes.
I sometimes think about how life would be so, so much easier if I didn't have a father that breathed on my neck. As I've said before, he was never like this when my mother was alive. He was actually very laid back and low key but after she passed away it's as if a light switched inside of his mind to immediately start being this overprotective father that never let his daughter actually live her life however she wanted.
But I guess that's the price that I have to pay from now on.
The car starts as I reverse out of the garage way. Then, before I knew it, I was on the road.
I reach Em's house in not even five minutes. That's just how close we live. I see that there are no cars on the driveway, so I start to park there. Once I park, I get out of the car and lock it. Trudging myself to the front door, seconds don't even pass as I knock on the door, revealing Ty opening the door and squealing to himself with excitement. "Hey, bestie!"
"Oh, hey, Ty!" I smile. "Em didn't tell me you were here."
"Well, surprise surprise, bitch," he winks. "Em is home alone so her smart ass decided to call us over, I guess," he grins. I smile back as I walk inside of her home. "Em!" He screeches. "Ani is here!"
"Coming!" she sings. Then, I hear heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. Em's red hair is pulled into a loose bun and she seems to be wearing an oversized sweatshirt, which makes it seem like she's not wearing anything underneath.
She reaches downstairs as a bright smile reaches her face. "Hey, Ani!" she beams, running over to me. Her arms enclose around my neck as my face gets stuffed into her shoulder. "Hey, Em," I muffle.
"Oops, sorry!" she giggles, covering her mouth. "I've missed you! And how come you didn't sit with us at lunch?"
She looks at me as if she already knows the answer to her own question. Oh, crap. I press my lips together. "Well, I ate with Shaurya, so..."
Em glares at me for a little as I think for a second she might actually murder me for not sitting with her and Ty. But then, she bursts out in laughter, pressing her hands to her knees. "Oh my God, I'm just messing with you!" she breathes out. "You can eat lunch with your boyfriend whenever the hell you want."
"He's not my boyf--"
"Ah, shush it, would you?" Em smirks. "Ty and I have been seeing the way you guys mentally screw each other."
"Mentally screw each other? What the hell do you mean by that--"
"Anyhoo," Ty yodels, "There are Oreo cookies waiting for me in the kitchen, so..." he salutes us as he sprints towards the kitchen.
Em raises her eyebrows, chuckling a little bit. Then, she walks towards me and places a hand on my shoulder. "So, I came up with a plan."
"For what?" I look at her confusingly.
"To interrogate Ty about his cheating session. Duh," she rolls her eyes.
"Okay," I nod my head. "What's your plan?"
She takes a deep breath as we sit on the ottoman right beside us. "Listen up, okay? While you were having lunch with your boyfriend--" I groan-- "Ty and I ate lunch together. He didn't even mention Jake once," she emphasizes. "So that's already fishy enough that they're not an item anymore. And that's even more suspicion that the guy he was making out with are now an item, as well," she breathes.
"Wait, so I'm confused," I scrunch my eyebrows. "Where is this even leading?"
"Just listen, okay?" she hisses. "Anyway, I think that, since all three of us are here, we should try to pry the information out of him and make him feel bad because what he did was pretty bad anyways," she trails off.
"That... that sounds pretty good," I breathe out. "But how, and when are we going to do this?"
"However the conversation is going and if the time feels right," she finalizes. "You know what? Just follow my lead, okay?"
"But, wait? What is that supposed to mean--"
"Hey, Ty!" Em yelps. "Don't eat all the Oreos without me!"
"Too late, bitch!"
I follow after Em as she disastrously storms off into the kitchen. There I see Ty stuffing the last Oreo cookie into his mouth as he looks scared, his eyes widened as if he witnessed a murder.
"Tyler. Rivera," Em glares at him. "Was it really that necessary to eat all of the goddamn Oreo cookies?"
"But, Em!" he screeches. "I was hungry!"
"So was I!" she hisses, going up to him. "But, noooo, clearly you don't care about other people's hunger!"
"I do!" he whines. "But, like..." he takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I won't do it again," he pouts.
"You say that every time!" Em replies. "Don't you remember that sleepover we had sophomore year? Where you ate all the brownies?"
"Well, they were good, okay?!"
"Stop saying excuses!"
"Can you please stop yelling?! Like, what do you want me to do? Throw up and give you the cookies back in mushed form?!"
As Em and Ty banter back and form, I suddenly lose it as I scream, "GUYS!!!"
They immediately shut the hell up as they look at me with widened eyes. "Guys," I say calmly. "What are we, five year olds?"
"But she started it!"
"Ty!" I raise my hand up. "Now's not the time, buddy."
They both look down at their feet in embarrassment as I start to speak. "Look, why don't you guys apologize to each other?"
"But--"
"No buts!" I squeak. "Just. Apologize. To each other."
They think to themselves for a moment before Em takes a deep breath. "Okay, fine." She looks over at Ty in consideration of defeat. "Ty," she starts off. "I apologize for getting mad at you for eating all of the Oreo cookies."
"And I also apologize for eating all of the Oreo cookies," he finishes off. "I shouldn't have done that," Ty mutters.
"See?" I smile. "That wasn't so hard, was it? All you guys had to do was step up and be the bigger person, like mature people--"
"Ani and I saw you cheating on Jake!"
Well. There goes that.
"Wait, what?!" Ty screeches, crossing his arms over chest. "How did you-- when did you... wh-what?!"
I glare over at Em as she looks at me embarrassingly, as if she didn't mean to blurt that out.
"Well," she mutters. "Ani and I were walking to class and we heard this weird noises, like people making out, so we were curious to see who it was, ya know?" she rambles. "So, we hid behind the dumpster and saw you making out with... well, a guy that's definitely not Jake," she whispers.
"What's up with that, Ty?" I blurt out, crossing my arms over my chest. "You and Jake were doing so well, or so I thought you were."
"I mean..." Ty takes a deep breath, slouching. "Yeah. We were doing good. We were doing amazing," he sighs. "But I'm never really settled. Like, I'll have the best boyfriend ever but my stupid heart is never satisfied with whoever I have, wanting to search for other boys to hook up with. I don't know why the hell I do that," he huffs out. "It is so, so annoying."
Em and I look at each other in confusion and a little bit of guilt as well. We never knew he felt that way before. I mean, I thought he screwed around with guys just for the hell of it, not because he couldn't control his ambitions like that. And, now that we've interrogated him in possibly the most disastrous and nondisciplinary way ever, I feel a little bit terrible, now that I have.
"Wow," I whisper. "I had no idea you felt that."
"Yeah, me neither, Ty," Em adds. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"Because I didn't want to rupture my reputation," he replies. "Everyone sees me as the guy that gives no shits about anyone or doesn't care about anybody's feelings. But I'm actually not like that, or that I don't even intend to. Especially for Jake. Like, I actually had feelings for Jake, I truly did. But, I have no clue why the hell I'm like this," he grumbles, placing his head on the counter.
"It's okay, Ty," I walk over to him and place a supporting hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to explain yourself to us. And honestly I kind of get it. You shouldn't force yourself to be comfortable with something or someone that you're, well, not comfortable with," I explain to him. "Always keep searching for someone that makes you truly happy on the inside. Okay?"
Ty looks at me as a curly piece of hair falls on his face. He blows it away and sighs to himself. "Okay. Thank you, Ani. I love you."
"I love you, too," I grin. "And, oh, I got some news for you guys."
Should I tell them about Shaurya's beach party? I honestly feel like I should because Ty and Em love parties, but we never get invited to any. And it's a beach party as well, so I really feel like I should bring it up. The party is in two days anyway.
"What's up?" Em asks.
"Well, Shaurya's having a beach party this Saturday at 6. It's gonna have a lot of people, and I heard from him it's gonna be fun. He invited me and he also said that he would love it if you guys could come."
"Girl, have you met us?" Ty raises his eyebrows, swinging his arm around Em's shoulder. "Hell yes!"
"Yes!" Em shrieks. "And it's a beach party too! How could we possibly say no to that?"
"Yeah, you're right," I grin.
"Also, it's your boyfriend's beach party who specifically invited you. Like, who knows what could happen there?" Ty smirks.
"Ty!" I shriek, feeling my cheeks flush red. "How many times do I have to tell you? He's n-not my boyfriend, okay?"
"Keep lying to yourself, honey," he pats my back. "And make sure to wear a hot ass bikini there so all he does is drool all over you."
I roll my eyes as Em giggles to herself. They find this funny?
"Thanks, guys," I reply sarcastically.
Once we get out of the kitchen, we find ourselves sitting in the living room with a huge bowl of popcorn between the three of us. Vampire Diaries plays on the TV as Ani and Ty both lean on me.
I've realized that in our younger years of life we had many friends or tried to make many friends to boast to other people that we're popular than them or more social. But, as the years go by the more and more friends I start to lose, the ones that weren't really here for me. And that's mainly because we start to get mature, realizing that it's toxic to have 'friends' that really don't give a crap about anything but themselves.
And as I have two amazing friends leaning on me, I realize how actually lucky I am to have Ani and Ty. I've always had them since I've ever set foot in the University of California and I'm so very appreciative for them.
But what I have also realized is that the older one gets, the closer they are to finding their soulmate. And I have to admit, I am a hopeless romantic. I've never had sex, a first kiss, or even a boyfriend, but there's still that burning passion inside of me that wants to do all of that with the one guy I love the most.
And it's the last year of college for God's sake. When is my time going to come? I mean, I'm honestly tired of seeing everyone with their boyfriend/girlfriends, so where is mine?
I take a deep breath, closing my eyes as I think to myself. One day, Anika. One day.
Once we finish a whole season of Vampire Diaries, I realize that the time is 10 o' clock. I shoot up from the couch as Ty and Em jump in shock. "Jesus! What happened?" Em shrieks.
"Sorry!" I gasp. "I-I-I have to go home," I stutter. "F-father is coming home soon."
I jump up from the couch as I grab the car keys on the counter, sprinting over to the front door. "Well... bye!" Ani yells. "Don't die!" Ty adds, "Let me know if you text your boyfriend!"
Ignoring his comment, I jump in the car, drive over to my house in what seems like .02 seconds. My heart beats rapidly against my chest as I see my dad's Honda Volvo on the garage way. Shit!
I grab the car keys in my hand as I run to the front door. Oh, God.
Then, my hands shake as I turn the door knob. And, sure enough, I see my father standing by the stairs with a look that sends shivers down my spine.
*
A/N:
Oh, God. I'm scared...
Also, sorry if this chapter has seemed a little short. I've been SO busy this weekend it's not even funny. I still have two tests to study for, a whole ass outline to write for AP euro, and sweet 16 plan.
Man, I just can't catch a break.
Anyway, I just love Ty, Em, and Ani and their whole relationship. But like, who doesn't??
Stay tuned for the next chapter as we see how Ani's father is going to react...
- Ru <3