All Along

chapter 28

When I reached home I was greeted by the presence of Aaron sitting on my living room couch, playing with Kris. When he saw me he smiled and waved at me. I smiled back and headed towards kitchen to grab something to eat since I was starving.
“Mom, please give me something to eat. I’m starving.”
“There is some pizza in the box. We saved some for you.”
I looked around and found the pizza box on the table near counter. I grabbed it and started eating it.
“Kayla, you know the rules of this house. You should sit down while eating.” I huffed and grabbed a nearby chair and started munching on my beloved pizza. After I was done eating I headed towards my room.
“Kayla, where are you going?” Kris asked me once I passed the couch he and Aaron were sitting in. I turned in
his direction and they both were looking at me.
“To my room,” I said pointing towards upward direction with my thumb.
“Sit with us for some time. Even Aaron is here.” I looked at Aaron and he was staring at me. I couldn’t tell him that Aaron was the reason I wasn’t sitting with him. I still needed
some time to control my emotions and being around Aaron made it even more difficult to do so.
“Umm… I would really love to join you guys but I’ve to wake up early tomorrow and help Sakshi. There is so
much work to do. Guests are arriving tomorrow and we have to prepare for the henna ceremony that is happening in the evening. And also I’m tired and I need to be active
tomorrow.”
“It’s okay. You must take rest then.” Aaron said with a smile. I felt a little guilty. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” It was
more of a question then a statement. I gave him a slight nod and turned to go to my room.
“I should leave too.” I heard Aaron say to Kris.
“Complete the game first. You’re about to lose anyway.”
“You wish.” I think he sat back down because I heard their shouts in my room. I drifted off to sleep listening to their laughter and shouts.

I woke up the next morning to the sound of my phone ringing. Sam’s name displayed on my mobile screen.
“Hey Sam.” I said groggily.
“It’s me Jen.”
“Oh! Hey.”
“Don’t oh hey me. Have you checked the time?” She shouted.
“No.” I admitted.
“It’s freaking eleven and you’re still sleeping. Sakshi is going to murder you.” On hearing this I shot up from the bed.
“Shit. Let me get ready and I’ll be there soon.”
I threw my phone on the bed and rushed to bathroom. My family never wakes me up on days like these when I would have really appreciated it. I took a quick shower and put on black button shirt and blue jeans. I hastily ran a comb through my lavender scented hair and put on black boots. I grabbed my phone and rushed to the
garage, shouting goodbye to my mom on the way out and not even waiting for her answer. I was almost near my car when someone honked three times near my garage. I turned to
look at Aaron in his car. He smiled at me and gestured me to come to him. I sighed and walked towards him.
“Hi Aaron.”
“Hey. Going to Sakshi’s?” I nodded. “Well then hop in. I’m going there only.” I had no excuse to decline the offer so I complied and got in the passenger’s seat. I reminisced about the kiss that we shared in this car, in this very spot. I closed my eyes to hold back the tears that were forming on the brim of my eyelids.
“You look cute.”
“Thanks.” I blushed a little at the compliment.
The ride to Sakshi’s was mostly silent. Sometimes Aaron would try to start the conversation but due to my lack of
participation, it subsided pretty quickly.
“So, big Indian wedding,” he said with a huge smile.
“Yeah.”
“It’s going to be fun.” I nodded and sensing my lack of enthusiasm, he dropped the topic.
“Are you okay?” He asked when we were about to reach our destination.
“Yeah. Why?”
“You’re very quiet.”
“I’m alright.” He didn’t look convinced but nodded anyway.
“Where is Jamie?” I asked him, hoping he would finally tell me the truth about the two, that I already knew, yet dreading it at the same time.
“At home,” he said simply and continued driving without saying another word. We got out of the car and walked to Sakshi’s house. As we entered Aaron walked the opposite
way and I was greeted by the furious Sakshi.
“Is this the time to come?”
“I’m sorry. I fell asleep and no one woke me up.” I said pouting a little.
“Well. Get to work then.”
“Okay but what should I do?”
“You were supposed to go pick up the guests with Sam but now Jen went with him. Now, help Irelene. She is there arranging items for the henna ceremony.” She said pointing towards Irelene’s direction.
“Okay.” I sprang in the said direction.
“Hi.” I greeted her and she felt relieved once she saw me.
“Thank God you’re here. I’m lost. I arranged this stuff three times but something is missing every time I check it and Sakshi; well she has turned into a she-devil.” I chuckled.
“What are you arranging by the way?” I asked looking at few sheets of paper, henna cones, flowers, round small
baskets, name tags and few other items.
“I’ve to put all these items in this small basket along with the nametag and then cross check with this list.” She said exasperated.
“Okay. Let me help.”
Together we prepared all the baskets along with their decorations and cross checked them twice with the list.
“Ah! You’re done. Kayla can you get my saree for tonight please?” Sakshi said with pleading eyes and I couldn’t
resist.
“Okay but I don’t have my car with me.”
“That is not an issue. Aaron is taking you.”
“What?” I said quickly. Both, Irelene and Sakshi, looked confusedly at me. “I mean I can go on my own. He must
be busy.” I said before they could’ve said anything else.
“I can take you.” Aaron’s voice came from behind Sakshi. We all looked at him and his face was emotionless. “But only if you want to.” He added after a pause. I felt a little guilty.
“Okay let’s go then.” I walked with Aaron trailing behind me. Aaron didn’t say a word to me the whole ride to the shop. We got Sakshi’s saree from the shop and I kept stealing glances at him the way back but he looked straight ahead, not acknowledging my presence. His cold
behavior was like a knife to my gut but it was the result of my own doing. I was getting payback for what I did to him earlier.
“Are you angry with me?”
“No,” was his only answer and I remained silent again.
When we reached back to Sakshi’s place the guests had already arrived along with Jen and Sam. I handed Sakshi her saree and Jen came running towards me.
“They like me.” She was excited and I looked confused, not understanding what she meant.
“Who are they ?”
“Sam’s family from India. I was freaking out thinking that they won’t like me but all turned out well.”
“Do they know you’re his girlfriend?”
“No.” she said as if this was the world’s most obvious thing. “We told them I was his friend.”
“Yeah and you just forgot a tiny word to add to it; girl.” She gave me a sheepish grin.
“Anyways, how was the ride with Aaron?” she asked mischievously. I shrugged.
“Nothing special. Silent.”
I introduced myself to the guests and they all were very nice people. There were almost ten boys and girls of our
age, three boys and seven girls. Some of the girls were eyeing Aaron and I got jealous. Jen asked me to meet
Sam’s grandmother.
“Hey Sam wanted you to meet his grandmother. She is such a nice lady.”
“Okay.” I followed her and she led me to an old lady with grayish white hair and cute wrinkly face. She had same
eyes as Sam; dark brown and she was wearing light pink salwar suit and two gold bangles, gold chain and gold
earings. She smiled when she saw Jen and then smiled at me too.
“Namaste.” I said joining my hands; having learned the only word 'namaste' from Sam.
“ Jeeti raho beta. Kaisi ho beta?” She said in Hindi that I didn’t understand so I looked at Jen for help.
“She blessed you with long life and then asked how are you child.” I raised my eyebrows, surprised that she knows Hindi. “I learned some from Sam.”
“Preparing already?” I teased with a smirk. “Okay now what should I say?”
“Tell her mai theek hu .” I repeated the words Jen told me which meant I’m fine. Jen helped me with some more
Hindi and we showed Sam’s grandmother to her room.
After showing every guest to their rooms we all left for our homes to get dressed for the evening. Jen dropped me at home and she was going to pick me up again.
I changed into saree that I had bought the other day with girls. It was teal colored and complimented my eyes. I
applied light makeup and completed the look with straightening my hair. I stepped into black and golden sandals and put on emerald and golden earrings and went downstairs to wait for Jen. After five minutes I heard a
honk and went to the door and saw Jen in her car with Jamie sitting in the front. They both looked beautiful in
their white and lemon colored sarees respectively. Jen’s hair was tied in a bun and Jamie’s blond hair was curled. I got in back seat and they both turned their heads in my direction. I raised my eyebrows questioningly.
“What? Did I forget something?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“That how beautiful you’re.” Jen answered.
“You look stunning.” Jamie said smiling at me. I smiled at their answers.
“You both look extremely beautiful.”
“Not as beautiful as you.” They said in unison. “Someone is definitely going to lose his heart today.” Jen added with a wink.
I blushed, knowing who she meant but she was wrong. He had already lost his heart to someone else and
that someone else was sitting next to her.
“Let’s get going now.”
When we reached the house it was illuminated with the lights and Indian music was playing inside. Every female was either in beautiful different colored saree or lehanga.
They all looked exquisite and males; they were either in jeans and shirt or in kurtas .
“There they are.” Jen said standing next to me. I followed her gaze and saw Sam and Chaz in black and light blue kurtas respectively. They looked handsome and Aaron was facing them, his back towards me. Jen was staring with love struck eyes. I gave her a nudge to break her out of her
trance and we walked over to them. While we were walking someone called Aaron on his phone and he walked away and I felt sad because of his absence and when we were almost few steps away Sam acknowledged our presence. He looked bewitched by Jen’s beauty and then Chaz saw us and smiled.
“You all look beautiful.” Chaz said and Sam nodded in agreement.
“Yeah you all do and babe,” he said and then turning to Jen said, “I want to kiss you right this instant but the only thing stopping me are all these people.”
“Me too.” They smiled adorably at each other, their eyes filled with love.
Soon Irelene joined us. She was looking ravishing in raspberry colored saree and Chaz forgot about us all and placed a quick kiss on her forehead. We all beagan talking
but I was looking around for any sign of Aaron. Jamie asked Sam about him and he said his father called him.
“I’ll be back soon.” They all nodded.
I was walking the hallway when a voice from behind me said, “You look beautiful.”
My heart started beating faster.
I turned around and my heart skipped a beat. Aaron was looking like a model in his white kurta and perfectly gelled hair. I was stunned. He looked me up and down and his eyes on me made me nervous and gave me butterflies at the same time.
“You look great yourself.”
“Where were you going?” He asked keeping his eyes on me.
“No where.” I said forgetting where I was going.
“Let’s get to the guys.” I nodded. He walked next to me and I could feel his eyes on me. Aaron greeted the girls. I
watched the interaction between him and Jamie carefully.
When he saw her he gave her an approving nod. Sam saw me looking at them.
“Kayla?” I looked up at him. “A word please.” He gestured me to follow him.
“What?”
“Did you talk to Aaron about Jamie?”
“No. I’m not going to tell him anything. If he wants me to know he will tell me himself.”
“You’re making a big mistake. Talk to him before it’s too late.”
“It is already too late.”
We all danced for some time and then some girl started applying henna on Sakshi’s hands another one on her feet while women began singing Indian songs related to the ceremony. After Sakshi applied henna all the girls decided to apply as well. Since it was still wet we couldn’t do anything with our hands. All of Sam’s cousins along with me and my friends decided to play the game of truth or dare except it was only truth for girls since we had our hands occupied.
Game started and the bottle landed on Sam. One of his cousins, Amar, dared him to shout in Hindi in the middle of
the room filled with guests. He got up and shouted, “Mai Sam hu aur mai pagal hu .” which meant, “I’m Sam and I’m mad.” Everyone grew silent and looked at him with wide eyes. Then Sam added, “It was a dare.” Some people gave him weird looks while many others continued their
previous activity.
Game proceeded with many dares and lot many truths. Sam’s cousins came to know that he was dating Jen since they asked her whether she was dating someone. She looked at Sam and he nodded his head allowing her to tell them the truth. The bottle finally landed on me.
“Truth.”
“Have you ever kissed someone? If yes, who did you share your first kiss with?” Sam’s another cousin, Pratik, asked me. He was eyeing me for some time. Every eye in the group was on me and I shifted nervously and gulped hard. I lifted my eyes and they landed into Aaron’s brown ones.
“Yes, I’ve kissed someone.” I heard a gasp tha definitely came from Jen.
“And who was the lucky guy?”
“Aaron.” I said quietly but everyone heard that.
I looked at Aaron and he looked surprised, guess he didn’t knew the kiss we shared was my first kiss. Jamie was… amused? Sam was smirking and Jen, Irelene and Chaz had the same expression. They looked shocked and Jen looked slightly angry I guess.
I gave them a slight smile hoping they could continue the game and leave me alone. My eyes flickered again towards Aaron and he was still looking at me, deep in thought. I looked at my hands and the henna had already dried so I excused myself from the group and walked towards
the washroom.
“So it was your first kiss?” Aaron said standing few steps away from me.
“Yes.” I said with a slight blush. He was silent for few seconds and I looked up at him. We stared into each
other’s eyes for few seconds until we were interrupted by Jen’s angry voice.
“Kayla, we need to talk.” She grabbed my hand, our dry henna falling between our hands, and led me to the
washroom. I turned to glance at Aaron. He had an amused smile on his lips.
“You kissed Aaron? And you didn’t even bother to tell me.” Jen shouted as soon as we were inside.
“I… I…”
“I’m hurt, you know.”
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to tell you after I was sure it meant something.”
“I don’t want to listen to that. Every girl’s first kiss is special especially when you share it with the person you love and they tell their friends about it.” I was silent knowing she was right.
“I’m sorry.” It was all I could say. She shook her head and turned to leave. I wrapped my arms around her from
behind and hugged her.
“I’m sorry. Please forgive me, Jen Please.” She sighed.
“You know we are your friends and we love you and you’re like a sister to me. I share my every secret with you but it seems like you don’t trust me enough to share yours.”
“Please don’t say that. I trust you. I really do. I’m just stupid. Please forgive me. I promise it won’t happen
again.” I said turning her around to face me. She finally let go of the anger.
“So? When did you kiss? Today?”
“No. On the night of my birthday, while we were returning home.”
“How was it?” She asked mischievously.
“Perfect. It was perfect.”