Love Maze

Chapter 14

"Anya, wake up."

"What?" Anya groaned, her voice muffled by the pillow that her face was currently buried in.

"It's time for you to wake up."

"Go away. I have major jetlag right now."

"Oh, come on," Nikki whined. "I have a whole day planned for us. We're beginning by going shopping at the mall."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"It won't take that long!"

"Nikki, let me introduce you to a friend of mine. His name is No."

Anya was just about to drift off again when Nikki groaned in frustration. "What if we only went shopping? You can bail on the other plans."

She gave it some thought. It couldn't hurt to just go shopping, right? It wouldn't take more than two hours.

"Fine," Anya surrendered. "But only if you throw in a pizza."

"Deal," Nikki said happily. "I'll give you a half hour to get ready now. I'll be downstairs, so don't get any ideas about going back to sleep."

Anya grunted an affirmation. A second later, she heard the door click shut as Nikki left the room.

For a moment Anya played with the idea of catching a few winks before getting dressed, but quickly gave up on it. Nikki seemed to be hell bent on having their shopping trip, and would most probably kill Anya if she fell asleep.

She dragged herself out of bed and got dressed sluggishly. She barely gave her outfit a thought and simply threw on a simple white top and her old denim overalls.

When she entered the living room forty minutes later, she found Nikki deep in conversation with Aunt Priya, of all people.

"-that's a completely stupid, narrow minded way of thinking," Nikki was saying. "Why can't a guy and a girl be friends? Come to think of it, it doesn't even matter if they start dating. There's nothing wrong with knowing what your options are."

Wow. Anya, feeling incredibly awkward, turned to leave.

"Besides, he's my brother. I know him better than anyone does- and that's why I just know she's right for him."

Wait, what?

They were talking about Zayan, but who was the mystery girl?

Probably his girlfriend, Mira, Anya thought sourly.

She paused, and listened to some more of the conversation.

"Maybe you should consider his feelings too, sweetheart. You can't just play matchmaker for kicks. Do you know whether he likes her as well?"

Anya mentally cheered for Aunt Priya. Unlike the rest of her uptight Indian family, her aunt was pretty cool with things like dating and not always following the rules of Indian society, a quality that was often frowned upon by her close minded relatives, who were sticklers for tradition.

It was one of the qualities that Anya admired her for.

Anya was pulled out of her thoughts by Nikki's voice. Her friend's next words made her heart sink.

"He's been in love with her for years. I'm also quite sure they're both on the same page- they just don't know it yet."

"Well, if they do get together it's not going to be easy, considering that she lives all the way- oh, Anya! We were just waiting for you."