Once Upon a Time in London

Chapter 49

"Are you happy then?" he yells, shaking me from my shoulders.

I bite my quivering lip as I try to push his hands away.

"Answer me Anjali" his voice piercing through the wind, he looks at me with tear brimmed eyes and shakes his head, finally letting go, his finger grazing my arm as he retreats from me.

And I feel as if he has burned me, as if Rahul had pierced my skin and left me bleeding.

— — — —

"Oh, did you guys not fight over that then?" Zeenat exclaims, half surprised as she bites into her veg dumpling.

"No" Tina smiles, shaking her head, smiling sweetly after being reminded of the memory, "Anjali and I never really fought" and then, as if remembering something, she frowns, "Except for this time when she locked me out of the changing room cubicle and-"

I lift my head up as I see something moving in my peripheral vision, only to see Rahul looking up at Tina, he must have remembered that day too then, and just as the thought crosses my mind, he turns his head slightly to look at me, he simply stares for a few seconds before touching his forehead slightly as he turned to look away.

My eyebrows knit together momentarily, but I turn my attention back to Tina.

"...so of course, I was all like 'No you can't do that Anjali, take me with you. I would hate to be stuck in the streets of New York alone as I am late another day to school' " Tina shakes her head slowly.

Zeenat laughs, even Zain smiling slightly as he cracked open another pistachio nut and chucked it into his mouth.

"But of course, I couldn't really say that" Tina smiles slowly, her thumb swiping across the cup of hot cocoa she was holding onto, "Anjali had to go to Harvard, and I couldn't do that to her, so-" she looks up at me, meeting my eyes hesitantly and yet I'm surprised at how warm her eyes are, "I let her go" Tina finishes, smiling in conclusion.

I can only smile back as I run a hand over the rim of my own steaming cup, "And yet here I am" I say, looking up at Tina and then glancing at everyone else, "Tina and I could never grow distant, there's a lifetime of memories we'd have to forget before doing that" I look at Tina again, "And you know too much for me to let you go" I tease.

She laughs, "Yeah Anjali wouldn't want me telling people things like she snores in her sleep."

"Hey! No I don't" I exclaim, as everyone smiles.

"Now who would admit to snoring Anjali but it's okay we accept you into the club" Robbie adds as both him and Zain press their hands together as in greeting and bow in front of me.

"Hey- there's really no need for that, I don't snore" I scoff, crossing my arms over my chest.

I'm still eyeing Tina, narrowing my eyes at her as she looks at me innocently when Zeenat brings out the ice cream bowls, she places one in front of me, slowly passing out the bowls to everyone. I thank her as I dig into the bowl of vanilla ice cream, she's garnished it with an array of chopped up nuts.

She takes a seat next to me as she hands out the last few bowls, passing one to Zain, as she turns towards Rahul, "Here Rahul, here's your bow-"

"He can't have that" I stop her, placing a hand gently over hers just before Rahul takes it from her, my fingers brush lightly against Rahul's, he meets my gaze, lips parting slightly.

My cheeks heat up as I realise I'd just said it without thinking too much about it, almost as if it were muscle memory, Zain glances at us, Zeenat looks at me expectantly, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion, "Ah, it's garnished with cashews as well" I continue, tucking back a strand of my hair as my neck felt warm, "Rahul can't have cashews, his stomach hurts after" I finish the sentence quietly, unsure of why I felt embarrassed.