Since I didn’t have any classes on Friday, I spent the day in the comfort of my room. Late afternoon, I decided to finally get out of bed and get something to eat. Kripa was in the living room. “Hey.”

She jumped around at my greeting, the glass in her hand shattering on the ground. Her eyes were wide, “I didn’t know you were home.”

“You were drinking?” I questioned eying the liquid on the floor.

She started to plead, “Please don’t tell Arnav? You can’t tell him. It’s not like I drink daily, you know? It’s just once in a while.”

I assured her, “Kripa, relax. You’re my friend. Why would I tattle to your brother? Besides, I don’t talk to him. I don’t go anywhere near him, remember?”

What a lie that was. Atleast since this week, it was.

She relaxed and we set to clear up the mess. After, I asked if she wanted to go walk around since I felt we both needed some fresh air.

“Everything okay with you?”

I nodded but she gave me a look that forced me to be honest, “Just something at home.” Armaan had called again informing dad wasn’t getting any less tensed about business.

She nodded in understanding, “Yeah, always things at home.”

My eyes narrowed, “What problems could you have? You’re so close to your family.”

She corrected, “I’m close to my cousins, not my parents. It makes it hard to share things with them because when you don’t keep up with their expectations… I don’t know. I guess I’m just afraid I’ll grow apart from di and Aarav. We don’t think the same, you know?”

“I get that. But you gotta remember, siblings aren’t all same. There will be different perspectives and sure, you’ll argue from time to time but if you’ll remember to not hold grudges and be a little openminded here and there, there’s no reason you should fall out with them. And I don’t know too much of them, but I do think they love you. Don’t you see how protective Arnav is about you?”

She didn’t answer for a while and I suppose she’s thinking things through. I didn’t probe for any specifics, assuming it might have something to do with this family dinner Arnav mentioned the day before.

She turned the tables on me, “Anyway, what’s wrong at your place?”

I was saved from answering through Amanda who jogged over to us. “Hey guys! Khushi, hi! I haven’t seen you in ages.”

I smiled, “Hi, Amanda. I feel the same. How are you?”

“Good.”

Kripa asked, “What are you still doing here? Didn’t you say you were going home for the weekend?”

“I was but then I changed my mind. We decided to take a road trip.”

“We?”

“Oh, don’t you know? Arnav planned it after all.”

His name picked my interest. He mentioned nothing of this. And another part that bothered me was that despite telling him to stay away from Amanda, he hadn’t listened.

Kripa started to reach for her phone in her back pocket, “Wait, let me check." She opened her messages, “Yup, there it is. He did leave me a message. What do you say, Khushi?”

“Huh, what?” I blinked towards her hearing my name.

“Up for a road trip? If Arnie’s planning it, I guarantee it’ll be adventurous.” I must have looked apprehensive for she added. “Please say yes? I want to go but I don’t want to leave you all alone for the weekend either. Come with us?”

I gave in at her pleading eyes, “Sure.”

It probably wasn’t a good idea for me to stay alone for the weekend anyway. If there’s this road trip, I assumed Arnav had changed his mind about whatever he wanted to show me. I couldn’t help the added anger towards him. If such was the case, he could have let me know! I wasn’t dying to know where he wanted to take me but still would have been nice to be informed of the change in plans, right?

If you’ve already made plans and then something else trumps that, it’s only courteous to inform the people involved in the prior plans.

Kripa grinned in joy, “Yay, oh this is going to be so much fun! Let’s go. We have to pack. I’ll let Arnie know. Bye Amanda, see you soon.”

. . . ∞ . ∞ . ∞ . ∞. . .

Roughly two hours later, the doorbell rang. Kripa yelled out from her room, “That’ll be Arnav. Can you get it?”

Since I was already in the living room, I figured I should. He instantly greeted when I opened the door, “Hey, Kripa says you’re coming?”

I turn away from the door, “Yeah, and thanks for telling me about the change of plans.” I hadn’t planned on bringing it up or for it to sound like a snapping comment. Seeing him, the frustration naturally appeared.

“There’s no need for sarcasm.” He defended himself, “It’s not like I have your number that I could tell you.”

“Whatever,” I mumbled though I saw his point and my anger faded just a bit. I returned to my previous seat and resumed reading flashcards for my chemistry class. There was an exam next week and might as well be productive and study a bit right now.

He questioned following, “Okay, what exactly are you mad at me for?”

It seems he had figured out there was more behind this behavior of mine. Still, I denied it. “Nothing.” It’s just what we girls do. We never say it directly. We’d rather guys guess where they made a mistake.

“You’re obviously mad, sweet pea. Don’t lie.”

I was saved from having to answer as Kripa walked out of her room just then and talked to him, ordering him with her hands on her hips, “Took you long enough! Now come and help me instead of troubling my friend. How many times do I need to warn you not to flirt with my friends?”

My eyes widened slightly as he defended himself, “I wasn’t flirting! I was just asking her… never mind.” He made the smart decision to distract the topic and walked towards her, “What did you need help with?”

“My bag won’t close.”

He teased her while pinching her cheek, “Little sis, it’s a 2 day trip. Just how much did you pack?”

“For us girls, there is no such thing as over packing. Hasn’t Lavanya taught you that?”

He grumbled and since the door was open, I could overhear their conversation from Kripa’s room as all else in the apartment was dead silent. “Ugh, don’t mention her. She’s currently not talking to me.”

Kripa laughed, “What do you expect? The poor girl is stuck at home when she should have been here right now.”

“It’s not like I told her she couldn’t come.”

“Her job, yes, I know. It still comes down to your fault.”

“Whatever, it’s stupid to blame me and you all know it too. I’ve just become an easy scape-goat.”

They returned to the living room with Arnav carrying her bag. Seems he managed to get it zipped up.

I gathered my things too as I take that as cue. I had no idea what the siblings were talking about or this girl Lavanya whom Arnav seemed to talk about fondly and even Kripa seemed to like her. Normally, Kripa did not like any of the girls Arnav was ‘dating’.

Wait… why am I curious?

. . . ∞ . ∞ . ∞ . ∞. . .