Page 7

Friends. Sure. That’s exactly what we are. I mean what else was I expecting? He thinks that girlfriends and relationships are bullshit and I don’t do boyfriend stuff. Not that I think that it is bullshit though.

Nevermind. I keep overthinking in my lab.

“Riya.” a known voice calls my name and I forget everything.

“Raj… How have you been?” He pulls me in for a side hug.

“Where have you been stranger? How was Australia?” he asks me.

“You know. I just missed you guys so much that I had to run back here.” I chuckle.

“I missed you too.” he says with a straight face. And it makes my heart melt. Aww… I missed him too. Okay, so maybe I have had a little crush on him before I left for Australia as well. But he doesn’t need to know that.

“Want to grab lunch later?” he asks me. I was supposed to meet my friend for the interview. But I’m sure he won’t mind if I am a little late.

“Sure. Let’s catch up.” I smile at him and get back to deconstructing the paper I was studying.

We walk to the diner near our lab and my phone starts to buzz. I don’t even need to check it to see who it is. I silence the call and put the phone away. We take a seat at the booth and my phone buzzes again.

“You can take it. It’s fine.” Raj says.

“Sorry. Excuse me.” I walk outside and pick up his call. “What?” I say angrily.

“Where are you?” he asks me.

“I’ll be a little late.” I don’t know why I am being so rude to him.

“Okay… That’s not the answer to my question, sweetheart.” He says in his sweet voice and my stomach does the flip-flops. It’s probably out of hunger.

“Sorry, do you still like curly fries? And chocolate milkshake?” Raj pops from the back and asks me.

“Yes. I do. You remember!” I am smiling ear to ear right now. I quickly note the change in my voice and tone when I talk to Raj…It’s such a cute and sweet voice that I fake around him!

“Of course I do.” Is he flirting with me? Holy shit! He totally is. He touches my shoulder and walks back inside.

“What were you saying again?” I ask James on the phone. My voice tunes back to the bitch mode subconsciously.

“Am I disturbing your date?” he asks.

“Um…I’ll be a little late. Sorry about that. But I’ll see you soon.” I cut the call and push back my smile and walk inside.

If I thought that Raj was flirting with me before, I was wrong. He is flirting with me right now. And I am not holding back either. We’re making good conversations, but there are times where I have to fake a laugh. He does not have very good humour but that’s fine, I have enough for both of us.

“There you are.” a panting voice next to me has his head down.

“What are you doing here?” I get up and glare at him.

He lifts his head and takes a sharp breath and his eyes lock with mine. I can see something wild in his eyes this time and it makes me rub my legs together.

He doesn’t say anything, just slides next to me in the booth.

“James.” I bark at him but he doesn’t say anything, just glares at Raj.

“Marcus.” James shakes his hand with Raj and Raj introduces himself. And James' eyes immediately wander to find mine. I might have mentioned Raj once or twice by accident before. I bite my bottom lip.

“Have I seen you before Marcus?” Raj asks James.

“I play football.”

“Wait, you're Marcus James Williams?” Raj’s mouth falls wide open as if he’s star struck. And James just smirks. Ugh! Annoying.

“You’re a celebrity or something, Williams?” I whisper in his ear.

“Not for you.” he whispers back and I gulp hard.

“It’s nice to meet you man. I didn’t know Riya had famous friends.” I want to roll my eyes out of my eye socket, if it is possible. Raj and James give each other that ‘bro hug’. “Can you get me your father’s autograph?” Raj asks sheepishly. I probably imagine it but there is a tiny bit of disappointment on his face.

“I’ll see what I can do. Anything for my favourite girl.” he wraps his hand around my shoulder. I wasn’t even listening to what they were saying.

“Huh? What? Yeah.” I say something.

“I didn’t know you were together.” Raj raises his brow at me and then I see his hand around my shoulder and quickly nudge it off.

“No. We’re not.” Raj narrows his eyes at me. So different from the way he was looking at me before. “We really are not, Raj.” I reach for his hand across the table and give it a squeeze. I see something red from the corner of my eye. Yep. It’s James.

“Okay…” Raj forces a chuckle. This is obviously very awkward for him too. I quickly retract my hand.

“So Raj, since when are you and Riya dating?” I choke on my spit and start coughing uncontrollably. Raj offers me the milkshake and James offers me water. I chug some water and exhale.

“We’re not dating.” Raj is very blunt with his tone. And that stings somewhere. “We’re just good friends.” he adds. This is the second time I am being friendzoned in less than 24 hours! I think this is a way of the universe telling me that I am going to end up alone. Because it has to be me!

I turn to James “Just like you and me. Friends. ” I flash him a sarcastic smile and I almost think that he is trying to suppress a smile.

We finish lunch and James offers to drive me to his house for the interview. I drove to campus, but it would be weird going in two different cars.

“I’ll see you later, Raj.” Raj pulls me in for a full frontal hug and gives me a squeeze which makes me chuckle.

As Raj walks away, James exhales and says. “You’ve never hugged me like that.”

I glare at James. “I’m just saying.” He throws his arm around my shoulder and pulls me to his side. I know his arm is on my shoulder but it sends blood to my stomach and arousal in my pants.

“What are you doing?” I stop walking and ask him. He doesn’t budge his hand.

“What? We’re friends, right? You shouldn’t mind this. Unless you feel differently and we’re not just friends for you.” he’s teasing me. Two can play the game, Williams.

I hold his hand which is around my shoulder and start walking.

“Not at all, friend. ” I emphasise.

The drive to his place is intense. It is obvious that there is some sexual attraction between us, but we’re both enjoying playing this game of who gives in first and it is not going to be me.

“What are you doing this weekend?” He asks me to break the silence.

“Anything that doesn’t involve being around you.” I throw this one at him from my box of sarcastic comments.

“I thought I was your favourite person to hang out with!” He takes a quick glance at me.

“Sure. Let’s say that. What about you?” I tap on the windowsill, slowly.

“I’m going to Jersey with my friends. Thought you might want to join for fun.” he shrugs. Why would I go on a trip with all men to a different state when I don’t even know them properly?

“I’m going to New York to see my sister.”

“You’re kidding.” he widens his eyes.

“Nope.”

“Maybe we can meet up to do something or…” he goes astray. I am not meeting him because it is getting very difficult to keep my hands to myself around him or to not think dirty about him.

“You have fun with your friends. Why are you going there anyway?”

“There’s this event thing. It’s kind of like a gala.” So when he was casually asking me to go with his friends, was he asking me to go with them as one of his buddies or as his date ? I’m almost 100% it wasn’t the latter.

“Gala?” I raise my brow.

“Yeah, Daniel’s father is hosting it and he invited us all. It’s for charity.”

“So, you donate money?”

“Why yes, I do! I am not as bad a person as you think I am, Raven.” there it is, his signature cocky smile.

We reach his place and I interview him about his game and his future plans about getting drafted in the NFL. I take notes about when he explains to me how the game works.

“So, it is just a bunch of people tackling each other like bulls and running on the field across a couple lines?” He laughs out loud on that one. I don’t know what part of that was funny.

“No one has ever described it like that. But I guess, yes.”

“Doesn’t it hurt? Getting tackled?” I can only imagine the intensity of the game.

Growing up I used to watch rugby with my uncles in India and would play Kabaddi with my friends. Kabaddi is a sport where you get tackled and thrown outside the court by either one person or seven. And the goal is to not get tackled. Being the daddy’s princess that I was, I had only been tackled once by my brothers and after that I never lost a single game.

But that one time that I was tackled by my three brothers, I broke my wrist and fractured my forearm. So I can only imagine the pain that these boys go through on the field, constantly being tackled!

He holds his left hand out and holds his pinky. “Broke this one at least seven to eight times and I still continued playing.” He brags about being a macho man. So I hold his arm and twist it behind his back just the way I was taught in the taekwondo class I took last year in Australia. Only difference, James is huge compared to me. My chest presses against his as I hold his hand behind him. And there is not an inch of pain on his face, so I twist his hand more.

“Are you trying to get fucked, Raven?” he asks me in a very low voice with so much lust in his eyes and his whisper gives me goosebumps. I let go of his arm immediately and move back but he brings his other free hand around my waist and pulls me towards him.

“I asked you something, baby.” he whispers again. Why is he whispering in his sexy low voice? It makes my panties wet. I gulp hard. Words have escaped my mind. I can’t formulate sentences. I don’t know how to speak.

He brings his mouth to my ear and I inhale his scent. God he smells so good. Leather-y and woody and fresh. “Just say the word and I will make you come like no one ever has.” a soft gasp escapes my mouth.

He moves back and winks at me.

I hold his gaze and act as if I am not affected by his sexy demeanor at all. “A- I’m not your baby. Don’t ever call me that and B-” I gulp hard not believing what I am about to tell him. “No one ever has…you know.” I know that my complexion is wheat-ish, but I am 100% sure that my cheeks are red. “No one has ever made me come anyway.” his gaze changes. I think he took it as a challenge. I don’t have any idea why I told him that in the first place, but my body is not in my control right now.

He sighs and closes his eyes and I wonder what he’s thinking. I’m sure the other women he’s been with were very experienced. I’ve only slept with men when I was drunk, so I didn’t feel much and I didn’t remember much either. Not like I’ve slept with tons of men, but I guess three and a half is still more than one.

“Fuck. I can’t fathom all the ways I could make you come, Raven.” That's what he was thinking about?

“Yeah? Tell me your favourite one.” Who am I? Am I possessed? Where is this confidence coming from?

He nudges me slightly towards him and drags his hand through my hair. His calluses rub against my cheek. “I would make you sit on my face and eat your sweet little pussy.” I know his arm is draped just around my waist, but suddenly I can feel it all over my body. I want to.

But what comes out of my mouth is- “I wouldn’t want to suffocate you. I weigh a hundred and fifty pounds.”

“Are you trying to insult me, Raven?” the pad of his thumb brushes the naked skin on my waist. “I bench more than twice your weight. And being squashed by your pretty ass seems like the only way I’ll ever make it to heaven.” I want to kiss him. My legs rub together and he sees that. “Seems like she wants it too.” he smirks looking at my pelvis.

She does.

I am fully clothed but I feel more exposed than I have ever.

I lean in to kiss him and just when our lips are about to meet the door swings open and I immediately pull back. But he doesn’t budge his hand. “ Hey cap, there is a package for you.” George walks in with a package in his hand.

What the hell was I doing here? He is a fuckboy, and like every other girl he’s slept with, I was falling for his charm! Get a grip, Ri! Don’t fall for his sexy grin and dirty talk that you really loved. James is still looking at me. Not daring to move and not letting me move either.

George comes and sits on the bed and starts opening the package.

“I really ought to teach you guys some manners.” he finally breaks off his gaze and looks at George. He undoes his hand around my waist and it feels so lonely. I fall back into my chair as I feel my legs shake with excitement and my knees buck.

“What the fuck is this?” George pulls out a glass artwork which says FRIENDS. “It lights up too? Aww, that’s really sweet of you, M. But we all already know that we are friends. Is this a decoration for the house? I’m plugging it in the living room.” I am really trying to hold back a laugh, pushing it back physically with my palm but I can’t. I burst out laughing. George looks at me as if I am possessed.

“It wasn't for us, asshole.” James snatches the package from his hand.

“Geez…alright. By the way, dinner is ready. We also made some for you, Riya.” I look at James and then back at George. I wasn’t going to stay for dinner.

James senses my awkwardness and tells me that the dinner was actually just made by Siddharth and not all of them. Not what I wanted to know or hear.

“Okay kids. Let’s go. Enough study.” George pulls my chair away from James and turns me around. He lifts me up effortlessly and makes me stand on my feet and wraps his hand around my waist and pulls me closer to him. My eyes widen when he does that.

“That’s better. A hot girl closer to me. And all is right in the world.” Okay so maybe, James isn’t the biggest playboy here. But up close George looks devastatingly handsome. I get why it must be easy for him to pull girls. They must be falling at his feet. If I was into blonds, I would definitely sleep with him!

James glares at George as if he’s going to tackle him right here, right now. And without saying anything, George lets go of my waist and takes a couple steps away from me.

“Thank you, but I should get going. I have early classes tomorrow. James, could you drop me back on campus? My car is parked there.” I gather my notes and my bag.

“Dinner will hardly take half an hour, Riya. Stay?” Riya? My heart wavers every time he calls me by my name. Which is stupid! I know. James' eyes mellow as if he’s saying please with his eyes. Those puppy dog eyes… how can I ever say no to them.

“What’s for dinner?” I ask George.

“We made thai curry and rice and there’s ‘take out spring rolls’”

“Sure. I’ll stay for dinner then.”

George walks like a happy duckling to the door and bows. “After you.” His behaviour is very contradictory to his looks sometimes.

“Such a gentleman.” I laugh and walk out the door. James is right behind me.

Dinner with the boys is loud. They talk a lot, mainly about football and they eat. They eat four times what I eat. I feel sad for Siddharth who I’m sure cooks all the meals.

“The curry is really good, Siddharth.”

“I thought I told you we made it.” George points towards Daniel and himself.

“Stirring the pot doesn’t count as helping cook, George.” I squint my eyes at him.

“Sure it does. At least I know more than M.” I look at James.

“I can cook, asshole. Stop spreading false rumours about me.”

This feels so natural. The last time I had dinner like this was when I was in India. The boys told me each other’s embarrassing stories. It took me back to my life in India, when I used to have fun with my neighbourhood friends. I better text them before sleeping.

I’m missing them like crazy.

After dinner, James drives me to the campus parking lot where my car is parked. I am texting my friends back home and a smile appears on my face after a certain person texts back on the group chat. I might have liked him from the moment I met him back in fourth grade. But it's just an innocent crush, nothing else. I like to admire him from a distance. James pulls the car over and probably sees that I am blushing and smiling ear to ear.

He snatches the phone from my hand.

“I was asking you something, Raven.” he looks at my phone and sees that I was totally stalking that friend of mine.

I try to snatch my phone from his hands “Give it back, James. ”