When Arjun said yes to her request, her heart shone through her rib cage like a golden halo. It wasn’t like she was actually attracted to him, but the validation after a nerve-racking leap of faith was the best feeling in the world. Even better than the chocolate chip cookies she baked after a stressful day, or the way her dad tucked her into bed every single night with a kiss on the cheek, despite the fact she was almost a legal adult.
There was something special about the way Arjun smiled at her, cautious and confident at the same time. The last thing Madhuri wanted was to take advantage of him, but she was certain he’d survive her dating scheme. There was no way Arjun had feelings for her, not when they’d only ever been best friends for the last eleven years. Madhuri was confident that the risk the experiment posed to his heart (as well as her own) was completely and utterly nonexistent.
Before she could give Arjun a rundown on the hypotheses she’d already developed for their scientific relationship, her mother came running to them. She pushed past Madhuri like she didn’t even exist and knelt at Arjun’s feet, fingers tapping away at the bandages on his head.
“You’re so reckless, Arjun,” she muttered under her breath. “I saw you looking at us instead of focusing on your game. Why would you lose your concentration over something so small?”
He sighed, leaning his cheek into her palm. “It’s not a small thing to want the attention of the people I love. I couldn’t have made the winning shot if I hadn’t seen you all there, cheering me on.”
“How reckless,” her mother repeated, shaking her head. “And so cheesy, too.”
Madhuri let out a dry chuckle and turned to face her father, who had his arms crossed over his chest. Did he happen to hear her asking Arjun out? Was that the cause of his pout, the worry lines creasing across his forehead?
“You okay, Appa?” Madhuri asked.
Josie threw an arm around her, and she smiled at the touch, unwittingly using her best friend as a human shield. They’d coordinated their outfits to match their school’s colors, each sporting a blue tank top and white jeans.
Her father lifted a brow, watching her with an unrelenting stare. “Completely okay. I just thought you would have run it by your parents before you got yourself into your first relationship, but I guess that was a lot to expect of you.”
From her periphery, she could see Arjun and her mother eavesdropping on their conversation. With a disgruntled sigh, she grabbed her father by the elbow and veered him off the field. She placed her hands on her hips, willing the courage to speak to him as a friend, the way she normally did. Something about that felt harder now.
“I was going to tell you when we got home, I promise.” Madhuri tapped the pressure point on her hip with her finger, wondering if she could avoid confronting her father by forcing herself to pass out on the spot. Sure, that was dramatic, but if she could loop her best friend into an experimental relationship to prove an astrological prophecy wrong, nothing was off-limits. “I didn’t want to make a scene in front of everyone.”
A flash of hurt rebounded off her father’s face. “I never would have made a scene.” Her father looked down at the grass, toying with the button on his shirtsleeve. Madhuri wondered if he wasn’t necessarily sad about the dating, but more about her needing him less and less. That would’ve been so much more adorable behind closed doors, rather than in front of her school’s lacrosse team. “I thought we were close enough for you to talk to me about this, though. You’ve told me about all of your wacky ideas in the past. Why couldn’t you tell me about Arjun? You know I would’ve approved without question.”
How could she tell him that she was dating Arjun to prove a point, not to fall in love?
“I was going to, like I said earlier,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before I did it, though. I will next time.”
“Next time?” her father repeated. When he saw Madhuri hiding her laughter behind her freshly manicured hand, he broke into a small smile. “You wish you had a next time. I know you’re determined to only ever date for fun, not for love, but I have a good feeling about this one. You couldn’t have chosen a better boy to spend your time with.”
Madhuri grinned, trying to ignore the erratic beating of her heart. She didn’t know how to tell her father that she’d never fall for Arjun, not even in her wildest dreams. Their relationship would only ever be an experiment with an expiration date that would end their family curse and reestablish her free will in the face of her prophecy. A plan, a strategy, a game.
It wasn’t love, and it never would be.
“Give me some credit. When I choose, I choose the best,” Madhuri lied through her teeth. There was no doubt that Arjun was objectively the best, but she wasn’t choosing him. Her father, however, needed to believe that she was. Otherwise, she’d be on the receiving end of an ethics lecture presented by her hopelessly-in-love parents.
“That’s how I know you’re my daughter.” Her father pulled her into a hug, and she relaxed into his arms like she had when she was a child. He smelled like the detergent her mother used on their clothes, the special kind she bought in bulk from India when they traveled there during the summer.
Someone tapped Madhuri on the shoulder, but her eyes were squeezed shut and she didn’t have the motivation to leave the safety of her father’s hug. Her mother cleared her throat. “Are you serious, Dev? You’re going to start a family hug without me?”
“It’s technically not a family hug yet,” he teased, offering his second arm for his wife, and soon enough, the three of them were in a tight embrace.
It felt like Madhuri’s world was coming together all at once. Her parents were the Sun, and she was the Earth, constantly revolving around their attention. She couldn’t imagine fighting her battles without her mother’s witty banter or her father’s bouts of wisdom grounding her. She couldn’t imagine not seeing Arjun there beside them, laughing at her dramatics like he were watching an entertaining play.
Her eyes flew open when she thought of him.
Madhuri squeezed herself out of the hug and scanned the field for Arjun. They hadn’t discussed the plan yet and Arjun didn’t always process surprising information in the healthiest way. For all she knew, he could be pacing down the length of the boys’ locker room, plotting a last-minute escape before he was caught in her web of lies forever.
Right when Madhuri was seriously considering bursting into the locker room herself, Arjun walked up to them, his helmet swinging from his fingers. She heaved a relieved breath and made her way over, only to have him brush past her. Josie sent her a look, silently questioning Madhuri about the events transpiring on the field. It didn’t quite make sense to her, either, so she shrugged in response.
Arjun stopped in front of her parents, who watched him with confused stares. His helmet fell from his hand with a thud, and he bent over, touching their feet. Her mother gasped, her eyes wide with shock, and made a feeble attempt to stop him out of fear for his head injury. Arjun followed through with the offering regardless. In Indian culture, it was a sign of respect to touch the feet of elders, especially when they were related to a romantic partner.