Meet Me in the Middle

Chapter 21

Chapter 20

7 December 2018

I wake up to a buzz in my ear and face the regret head on, when I realize I forgot to put it on silent last night. I open the separate text chains one by one.

From Tiwari:

You always do this. Whenever shit gets rough, you push people away. You try to hurt them so they would leave, unable to keep up with you. And then you cry about people leaving you.

From Beta:

Morning!

I've got 'All of Me' stuck in my head today. Please expect to have it yelled in your ear all day.

Speaking of, I don't think we can hang out today ☹

From Pari to Nandu, Monku and Me:

Guysssssss... panipuri todayyyyyy!!!! MAJOR craving!

From Monku to Nandu, Pari and Me:

I knew she would be the first one to get knocked up out of you three.

I pull my blanket up to my head and groan into the pillow when I feel something wet and sticky on my feet. I retract my leg up and suddenly feel a ball of white fur pawing at my face. I try to enclose myself in the blanket but she starts digging at the mattress.

"Kids, wake her up!" Mom shouts from the other room in a rather delighted voice.

I hear a low growl near my feet again and then Brownie jumps up on the bed, while barking at me. I poke my head out of the blanket and she smiles at me, her tongue hanging out. She then immediately starts pulling the blanket by her teeth and bites my leg along with it. I yelp and she tilts her head adorably in confusion, her left ear flopping. I grin at her and she tilts her head the other way.

Angel uses that opportunity to launch onto my face and starts licking, all the while Brownie pulls away my blanket. I finally get off the bed and look for my slippers and find Jingle holding one of them in her mouth and growling at me. I try to take it from her and she growls at me, still smiling.

Knowing that it's a lost cause to fight her, I go to the kitchen with a single slipper on my feet and open the cabinet to retrieve their morning treats. I turn back to see all three of them giving me extra happy smiles and the patent puppy eyes.

"Jingle, you're seven years old! You're not still a puppy!"

She closes her mouth and glares at me as if she understood the dig but smiles again as I brandish the treats in my hand. I'm suddenly hit with triple forces of Doggo Stare and honestly, there are worse ways to wake up.

*******

Samar and Avi are arguing about something in hushed voices – just Samar though, Avi is physically incapable of whispering—as I approach them. They immediately straighten as they spot me and I walk over as Avi says, "Morning , hotness."

"Morning." I poke Samar's bicep (which not-so-surprisingly is not just a pale bone. Seriously, why do I even bother being surprised anymore?) "Morning to you too, John Legend."

He grins at me and tries to ruffle my hair as I swat his hand away. We start walking towards the food court for breakfast as Avi suddenly chirps, "You remember it's Puri's birthday tomorrow?"

Samar and I groan in unison as Avi laughs. Avi and I get seated at a table while Samar goes to get us food. Like he always does. The fact that dude keeps feeding me is not helping my case.

Avi whispers (attempts) to me, "He's probably worried that he'll have to gift her Victoria's Secret now."

I chuckle as Samar joins us, frowning. "Shut up. Seriously!"