The Distance Between Us

Track Twelve - You've Got A Friend In Me

Armaan actually shuddered when he heard the voice. His expression morphed from playful to scared in a matter of seconds.

"Oh, she's awake! Shit!" Armaan exclaimed.

"What did you do?" Nikki asked.

"Um..." Armaan hesitated, but it wasn't necessary because the next minute, Tamanna was standing in the dining room and everyone knew what was wrong.

Looking at her, it was impossible to not to laugh. Armaan had painted her face, badly. She looked like a clown. For real. He'd painted a clown face on her.

As everyone started laughing, Tamanna got even more pissed at Armaan.

"You better run," she warned him.

Armaan who'd been laughing really hard, looked at her and stopped laughing abruptly. Her eyes were flashing with anger and he knew that she wouldn't hesitate to hit him real hard. And when she hit, it hurt. Armaan should know, he was the one who taught her to fight.

"Uhh... Welcome home?" He said, but it came out more like a question. Tamanna moved toward him purposefully and Armaan shot out of his chair, running away.

Tamanna followed him and the cat & mouse chase began. Armaan ran outside the house, getting more confident by the second. He was a little ways ahead of Tamanna and he was sure that she wouldn't be able to catch him. So, he turned around to taunt her about it. But, he hasn't realized that they'd reached the swimming pool area. As he wasn't paying attention, his slipped on the water and fell into the pool.

It was Tamanna's turn to laugh then. Armaan made a face at her and held out his hand, silently asking her to help him out.

"Oh no, you don't, mister," she answered. "I already know how that story ends. Help yourself. I'm gonna go clean up."

Saying so, Tamanna left Armaan in the pool. He sighed. Of course she would have guessed that he'd use the opportunity to pull her into the pool with him. He really was getting predictable these days. That meant he'd have to up his game when it came to pranking.

Armaan lazed around in the pool for sometime, because why not? Then, he let himself out. As he went into the house, he pulled his wet tee shirt off, putting his body on display. The eight pack really was something. Armaan had worked hard to get it. Sure, you could see the outlines of his abs earlier, but they weren't as well defined, and they were just six. But now, now they were eight and they were taut. Armaan was proud of it.

Muskaan whistled when she saw Armaan. He was taken aback on hearing it and looked around to see who might have done it. When his eyes met Muskaan's, she winked at him. Armaan smiled sheepishly at her and shook his head. She would never change.

Everybody was sitting at the dining table and Tamanna was fixing herself breakfast. The tee shirt she was wearing was a little too big for her and it slid off her shoulders, exposing her upper back. Used to it happening, Tamanna didn't give it a second thought.

"You guys have matching tattoos!" Naina exclaimed gaining everyone's attention, looking from Tamanna to Armaan, who had come into the kitchen for a cup of coffee, still shirtless.

Sure enough, both Armaan and Tamanna had an Ohana tattoo on their back on the right side.

"Oh that?" Tamanna asked, knowing what Naina was referring to. "Yeah, we do. As do Rahul and Jaanhavi. It's from Disney. Ohana means family." She explained.

"Family means no one gets left behind," Rahul and Armaan said in unison. They looked at each and other smiled. Really, it was a reflex after all these years. If someone said 'Ohana means family', they always replied with this phrase, just like in Lilo & Stitch.