“I’ll read it this week,” she told him.
“Thanks, Meg. Your feedback on my last song is truly the only reason it sold.” He shook his head. “It was a mess before you looked at it.”
“Really, it’s fine. I like to do it.” In their college Intro to Creative Writing class, she and Seth had tried a little bit of everything. Poems, short stories, songs, and plays. He’d gravitated to songwriting, and she’d found her niche in theater, but both had dabbled a bit in the other’s craft. She’d written a handful of songs back then, and Seth had liked them just fine, but he’d been much more encouraging and supportive of her plays.
She’d secretly written a few more songs over the years, but never shared the new ones with Seth. His songs were amazing. And he wasa professional. She was terrified to see what he would think of her amateur efforts. Plays were familiar. Safe. And she already knew he loved them. Something about songwriting felt more…intimate. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to subject her songs to Seth’s usual blunt feedback.
Seth rubbed the back of his neck, a sheepish expression crossing his face. “And I know I’m really behind on responding to that revised draft you sent me a while ago. I’m so sorry.”
“That’s okay,” she said, though she felt a touch of annoyance. He hadn’t responded to anything she’d sent in the last few months, and his comments from before then had been vague but critical. She didn’t mind criticism, but he hadn’t pointed out what he thought could be improved or how. He’d only said it wasn’t working. Though his instincts about these things were usually right. Maybe what she’d sent wasn’t working at all. Maybe he had meant that she should scrap it all and start over. What she’d written must have been unsalvageable. She made a mental note to go back and consider yet another rewrite.
“It’s just that wedding planning has been eating up all of my time,” he said, letting out a big sigh.
“Right,” she said, traces of annoyance returning. “And I wouldn’t know anything about that.”
“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that. I know you’re probably busy with wedding planning too.” His eyes traveled over her face. “Hard to believe we’re both engaged, huh?”
“I guess,” she said in a deliberately casual tone. “Though it was bound to happen sometime.”
“You’re right.” A strange look came over his face. “Did you ever think…” His voice trailed off into silence.
“What?” she asked, her heart beating faster than normal.
He shook his head. “Nothing. It’s just a little weird for me to think about both of us getting married. You know, I don’t think I’ve ever even met one of your boyfriends before?”
Meghna almost rolled her eyes. Of course he hadn’t. She’d endedthings with a number of guys over the years, just so she could seem available around Seth.
“It’s going to take me a little while to get used to thinking about you as…someone’s wife,” he said.
She scrunched up her nose. “What does that mean?”
“Only that my little Meg is all grown up,” he said with a grin.
Okay, she was fully annoyed now. “I’m not your little anything.”
His eyebrows jumped. “Meg, what’s going on with you? I’m just joking.”
She forced out an exhale. This was Seth. He was just teasing her like always. And itwashis trip. There was no need to fight over something so trivial. Especially when he didn’t mean anything by it. “Yeah, I know.”
“So,” he said, shrugging off their almost-argument. “Where should we go tonight? I’ve narrowed it down to three places….”
Meghna listened as he described the options, but found her attention wandering. Sometimes her friendship with Seth felt so one-sided. Like he was constantly asking for her advice. Like she was giving and giving and giving without getting anything in return. But hewasbusier than usual right now. And stressed. Planning arealwedding had to be a lot more complicated and time-consuming than her fake one.
Things between the two of them would get back to normal after the wedding was over. They had to.
She refocused on their discussion, helping him pick a place for all of them to go tonight. She pasted a smile on her face when he clinked his drink against hers in celebration.
Karthik stood in a corner of the hotel lobby, waiting for Meghna to come down. He’d taken only a few minutes to get ready and hadn’t wanted to wait in their room one more second. Not when the one king-sized bed seemed to mock him, looking almost cartoonishly large. They hadn’t talked about their sleeping arrangements since they checked in, but he knew he’d be sleeping on the floor. He kept reminding himself of that, but images of the two of them on that bed had flashed repeatedly in his head until he’d had no choice but to physically remove himself from the room.
He flexed his fingers out in front of him. They were wrinkled and dry from his time in the ocean, but he could somehow still feel Meghna’s smooth, satiny skin beneath them. After the sunscreen incident, he’d stayed in the water for as long as possible, needing the distance, but he had eventually returned to the group. After all, he was there as Meghna’s “fiancé,” and he figured that meant he needed to be polite and courteous with everyone there. Even Seth.
It wasn’t that he disliked Seth. He didn’t really know him. But he couldn’t understand what Meghna saw in him. Couldn’t understandwhy she would be friends with someone like that. Seth struck him as someone who was a little too convinced of his own “genius.” In the short amount of time they’d spoken, Seth had name-dropped several artists who had recorded the songs he’d written. By Seth’s preening, Karthik assumed they were all successful or famous singers, but he hadn’t recognized a single name. Still, he’d pretended to be impressed. Seth was one of Meghna’s best friends and this was his bachelor party. Karthik wanted everything to go well. Wanted Meghna to be happy.
And shehadseemed happy with his efforts. She’d thought they’d been successful in convincing everyone that they were really together. But the true test, Meghna had said, would be tonight. She had warned him that after dinner, they would all be going dancing. She’d said the words with an apology in her eyes and promised that they wouldn’t have to dance for too long. He’d been confused, but had just nodded politely. She seemed to think he hated dancing, and he wasn’t sure what had given her that impression.
“Hey! You ready to go?” Meghna’s voice called from behind him.
He turned around. Meghna wore something black and slinky and shiny. Her hair was piled high on the top of her head, and she was walking on the kind of spiky, skinny heels that made him wonder how the people who wore them weren’t constantly breaking their ankles. She beamed her signature megawatt smile, sending a jolt through his chest. She was gorgeous.
