“How are you doing there, Arjun?” A familiar voice sang from behind him. He whirled around to find the source, only to have the nurse screech in dismay. With a huff, she pressed an ice pack to his temple and left the bench. Madhuri occupied the seat next to him, a soft smile twisting her lips. “You don’t look too good.”
“I appreciate the kind words.” Arjun withheld the urge to roll his eyes at her.
“Fine, I deserve that.” Madhuri placed her palm against his cheek, eyeing the bandage on the side of his head. She leaned in so close that Arjun could smell the Orbit gum on her breath, the brand she used to cover up the remains of her garlic-infused meals. “I hope you know that I was watching your game the whole time. I just wasn’t in the bleachers with the rest of the family.”
She could read his mind, just like her mother.
“You should’ve been. I couldn’t find you in the stands and I got distracted,” he said, pointing to his injury like the outcome was obvious. Arjun couldn’t see it at the moment, but from the way the cut stung, he knew that the blood caked into his skin would soon be replaced by a frighteningly large purple scab. “And then, this happened.”
She sighed, her fingernail gently grazing the edge of his jaw. “I’m so sorry.”
Another shiver danced through his spine, waltzing with the layers of cartilage and marrow etched into his bones. “You don’t have to be sorry. It’s not your fault. But where were you if you weren’t in the bleachers?”
“Right here.” Madhuri patted the bench they were sitting on. “I wanted to hold up your poster when you scored and scream at the top of my lungs, so you knew I’d be here for you even when we fight. Even if it’s over something as ridiculous as astrology.”
A small chuckle left his lips, and he bumped his shoulder with Madhuri’s. “I was wondering why you were kissing my ass all of a sudden.”
“I was not! I’m being a good friend.”
“That’s rare.” He stuck his tongue out at her like he would when they were kids.
“I’ll let that insult slide, for now. I have more pressing matters to discuss with you.”
“Sounds ominous. Tell me more.”
Madhuri didn’t roll her eyes at his comment the way he’d expected her to. Instead, she toyed with the gold pendant on her necklace, a nervous tic Arjun had picked up on years ago.
“Right.” She nodded, turning to face him clearly. “I want to date you, Arjun Mehta.”
She couldn’t possibly be serious. There was no way she wanted to date him, not in a million years, and not even if they were the last two people on the planet after an apocalypse.
Her words, not his.
Before Arjun could respond, the bleachers behind him erupted into cheers and the school band played their fanfare louder than before. He turned back to the field, and he saw that, despite his slipup, his team had managed to win the match by one point, which would have been fantastic if the sudden excitement hadn’t distracted him from what really mattered. Madhuri, the girl who’d owned his heart ever since she stole a jalebi from him when they were six years old, wanted to date him.
Arjun didn’t know what to say, so he blurted out the first thought that came to mind.
“Are you fucking with me right now?”
“How romantic,” Madhuri deadpanned. “No, Arjun, I’m not—” she motioned two air quotes with her fingertips “—fucking with you.”
Arjun nearly sank into the bench when he saw her face, serious and downright unamused. She obviously meant business, whereas he’d suddenly become incapable of having a normal conversation with his childhood best friend.
“Let me start over,” he began, and in the process of drawing out his words long enough to figure out what to say next, he’d left an opening for his teammates to sprint toward the bench, pulling Madhuri and Arjun into a group hug turned mosh pit. The nurse grabbed Arjun by the jersey before he was thrown in, dropping him back on the bench with another huff.
When Madhuri entered the circle, she threw her head back, laughing, and for a split second, Arjun forgot all the pent-up anticipation and anxiety that came with the thought of Madhuri dating him at last. The wind caught her hair, swinging the highlighted strands of black and blond in the faces of his teammates. No more than a minute passed before Madhuri turned around and found Arjun sitting on the bench by himself, and her smile instantly faded. She forced her way out of the circle and sat back down beside him, squeezing his hand in hers.
He looked back to the bleachers that were now empty of people and littered with confetti. Auntie and Uncle Iyer were nowhere to be found and neither was Josie. He tugged on Madhuri’s hand, which was still encased in his own, to get her attention. “Your family is going to come here soon, so I’ll get straight to the point. Why do you want to date me? And why now?”
“Well, it’s not really dating in the traditional sense. I mean, we’d have a set of hypotheses detailing the expectations of both parties involved, control variables that would scientifically guarantee our success, and we’d have an end date. June fourteenth, the day after our graduation,” she said, both of her hands in Arjun’s now. She leaned forward, so close that he was worried he’d smell the minty-fresh gum again, and he wasn’t quite sure what he would do if that happened.
“This sounds more like an experiment than a relationship, Madhuri.”
“An experiment is exactly what I have in mind.”
Her words hit him like a bullet. Of course, there was always a catch.
That was also the exact moment his heart skipped multiple excited beats in a row because, oh, God, his reading was already coming true. He scanned the area around them for Auntie Iyer and saw her marching toward him, face set in a stern expression. Behind her was Uncle Iyer and Josie, smaller in size when compared to Auntie Iyer’s booming presence.
He didn’t have much more time to think, and Madhuri was giving him her trademark puppy-dog eyes. He felt himself melting away, tumbling into the hopes he’d hidden away in his soul for so long. Maybe that was why Arjun agreed to her terms. Maybe that was why he decided that, no matter what, Madhuri would always be perfectly on time when it came to their relationship—even if it was purely experimental.
“Yes. Let’s do it.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Madhuri
In Madhuri’s seventeen years of life, she had never been rejected by a potential boyfriend. She’d like to think it had something to do with her charm, her eloquence, that rendered boys at the mercy of her will. In reality, it was only true because she’d never asked someone out. That level of vulnerability scared her away.