“Where’s Ankita?” Meghna shouted at him.
Rishi’s eyes popped open. “Bathroom,” he yelled back.
She flashed him a thumbs up, and he went back to his solo, getting lost in the music.
“Okay, I’m glad we skipped that dance now,” Karthik said flatly. Meghna laughed, happy that someone else was there to share in the absurdity of this night.
When they made their way to the restrooms, Karthik leaned against the wall in the hallway and crossed his arms, indicating that he’d wait for her out there. Meghna pulled the door to the women’s restroom open and called out, “Ankita?”
She took a step inside and immediately froze. She couldn’t process what she was seeing. She blinked, trying to clear her vision, but everything stayed exactly the same.
Ankita, her best friend—herengagedbest friend—was standing with an arm draped around a man’s neck. Her hand was tangled up in his hair, and her lips were locked against his.
Meghna could only see the back of the man’s head, but she knew exactly who he was. And it wasn’t Rishi. She’d seen Rishi on the dance floor just a few seconds ago, and even if she hadn’t, she would have recognized this man’s curly head of hair anywhere. Especially since his curls so closely resembled her own.
Ankita was making out with Samir. Meghna’s brother.
The door behind Meghna swung shut with a loudbang,and the couple in front of her jumped apart.
“Oh my God!” Meghna yelled.
The door flew back open.
“Are you okay?” Karthik asked, rushing inside. “I heard someone scream…” He trailed off, taking in the scene in front of them. “Oh.”
Ankita wore a guilty expression, and Samir’s eyes were wide with shock, but Meghna could barely think beyond the questions running through her head.
She turned on her heel and left.
“Wait,” Ankita called after her, but Meghna kept going, uninterested in hearing any explanations.
Her best friend and her brother. How could she not have seen this coming?
Ankita had always had a bit of a crush on Samir, but Meghna had thought she’d outgrown it. In high school, they’d made fun of the girls he dated. And one summer in college, when Samir had kept sneaking out of the house to hook up with some mystery girl, Meghna had jokingly asked Ankita if she was the girl he was going off to meet. Ankita had gagged, thoroughly disgusted by the idea. She’d said she would never in a million years ever,everhook up with Meghna’s brother. And Meghna had believed her.
But if that was true, what was going on? Why had she been kissing Samir? He’djustgotten back in town. And she was engaged! When had this started? And why had neither of them talked to her about this? Why hadn’t they told her the truth?
Hurt and confusion swirled in Meghna’s chest, and she picked up the pace, moving as quickly as possible toward the exit.
Between the call from Seth, Samir’s comment about “the family business,” her mom gushing over Karthik, andthis,she was done. She had reached her limit on what she could handle tonight.
Heavy steps sounded behind her, but she ignored them, stepping outside and pulling her phone out to get a car.
“Are you okay?” Karthik asked, catching up with her.
“No,” she said, not looking up from the screen. “I need to go home.” The night had been so much worse than she’d anticipated, and she wanted to crawl into bed and forget all about it.
He was silent for a moment. “Okay. I’ll call us a car.”
“No,” she said, embarrassed to find herself on the verge of tears. “I’ve got it.”
He hummed in acknowledgment but didn’t say anything further.
“You know,” he said, after a minute or two had passed, “if you want to go home, that’s fine, but I think we should get ice cream.”
“Ice cream?” She looked up, not sure if she had heard him properly.
He nodded once, his honey-brown eyes meeting hers. “Yes. I think we both need to go and get some ice cream.”
