"Karishma."
Alice answers the door after a few knocks. She looks panic. The door is half close and her hair is a mess. Something is up in the room and she is trying to hide it from Karishma; the one who looks almost too cheerful for Sunday morning. It is her day off but she chooses to wake up a bit early so that she will have a bit more time with Haseena. They can go for a walk. They can do the grocery. There are plenty of things she wants to do and she wants to do it with Haseena.
"Am I interrupting something?" Karishma says suspiciously.
"Hmm." Alice pokes back inside to check on something very quickly and pokes back out again to continue talking to her guest whom she isn't planning on inviting inside. "Haseena's left to see you, hasn't she?"
"Oh." Karishma exclaims quietly and checks her phone for a message that Haseena might have sent to let her in on her plan. "I thought I would surprise her."
"She thought the same. That's why you two make such a lovely couple." Alice smiles awkwardly and the compliment she has made doesn't make it less awkward. "Call her."
"Okay." Karishma looks up from her phone and smiles. "Are you with Benjamin?"
Alice nods.
"I'm sorry for interrupting."
"No problem."
Karishma dials Haseena's number with a smile on her face as soon as she steps away from the apartment. She likes Haseena's group of friends and it is a blessing to be able to fit in so perfectly. She doesn't feel like she needs to change in order to be with Haseena.
"Hey." Karishma greets as soon as Haseena picks up her videocall.
"Hey." Haseena smiles. The way Haseena holds her phone makes Karishma see her in a low angle; almost horizontal. She is in some sort of a supermarket rolling a cart in Karishma's med school t-shirt.
"Alice is with..."
"Ben in the apartment. They are doing some unholy stuff on the kitchen floor." Haseena smirks while looking at some cereal boxes on the shelf.
"Really?" Karishma who is now on the sidewalk looks back in the apartment direction wondering if they really do that and if her meal there will ever be the same. "We should try that."
Haseena clears her throat and looks around embarrassingly. No one can hear their conversation when she has her Airpods on but it is just so loud and clear in her ears that she has to check.
"Are you on your way to see me?" Karishma chuckles.
Haseena is always fun to mess with.
"Yes. I'm doing grocery for you." Haseena shows her a box of cereal that Karishma always has stored in her cupboard. "See you at your place in a bit?"
"Thank you, baby. Love you."
Haseena smiles. "Love you too."
Haseena hangs up the phone and puts her Airpods into her jeans pocket along with her phone. Zoe glances over after pretending to look at something on the shelf when in fact, she was listening to Haseena. She has her arms crossed on her chest and her mind crossed over to Haseena. They are doing grocery in Chelsea because it is their best hiding place. None of Haseena's friends has any business in the area and none of Zoe's friends plans to visit her today.
"Hm." Zoe makes a short quiet sound and keeps walking along the aisle with Haseena rolling the cart after her. In the cart, there are things for Zoe's apartment; things that people who moved into new place would need. It has been a couple of weeks but Zoe hasn't settled just yet. She needs a couple more things and there are a couple more boxes to unpack. "I thought you guys broke up or something. You didn't talk about her."
