R&D

Chapter 24

For Dev's birthday he had a typical, "cool" person party. It wasn't with the Indian community, it was a huge blowout with his friends. His parents rented a ballroom at the Grand America and it was shaping up to be bigger than the high school prom last year.

He invited the entire senior class and then some. Because of that Roshi, Peyton, and Belle got invited as well. Dev invited the entire senior class on purpose so Roshi could be there without it being suspicious.

She was still reluctant to go but he practically begged her. Even if they couldn't enjoy it together at least they'd both be there. Peyton and Belle also begged her. The rumors about the party were swirling and sounded like it was going to be something you'd see on MTV's Sweet Sixteen.

Roshi finally agreed. She told her parents where she was going and they said it was fine since they knew it was going to be a huge party. She did however lie to them and say she was spending the night at Belle's house afterward. When in actuality she and Dev were going to spend the night at the hotel.

Dev's parents rented him a room for the night so he and his friends could pass out there once the party ended. But he never told his friends about it. So as far as everyone else knew, the party ended at midnight, and then they just had to go home.

The party was even more extravagant than Roshi expected. There was an illusionist, a contortionist, a DJ. Roshi noticed there wasn't a single slow song the entire night. Dev told her beforehand he was going to tell the DJ that was banned. He didn't want the slightest chance of any girl at the party trying to dance with him.

Around 9pm they rolled out the 5 tier cake. Kaya, Cash and Warren were standing near Dev as the staff brought it out. Kaya cut the cake and then held a piece out to feed him. Roshi watched from the crowd. The scene reminded her of a wedding when the bride and groom fed each other.

Even though she hated the attention she felt a little sad that she wasn't the one up there feeding Dev the cake. Dev took the cake from Kaya's hand and smeared it on his Cash's face. The intimate moment became a joke the crowd laughed at, which made Roshi feel a little better for not being a part of it.

Around 11pm Peyton and Belle were beat. I'm tired, let's go, Peyton said. Yeah I'm done, Belle said. Okay, I'll see ya, Roshi said. Aren't you coming, Peyton asked. No my dad's gonna come pick me up, Roshi said.

I brought you here, I'll take you home, Peyton said. It's fine, my dad said he wanted to come pick me up, Roshi said. Peyton and Belle looked confused by that. I think he wanted to see how fancy the party ended up being, she said. The two accepted that answer and left.

At least half of the guests had also left and it was winding down to Dev's closer friends rather than his "fans". Half-way through the night Dev and Roshi had met in the hallway of the hotel and he had passed her a room key. The plan was she would wait there until Dev came.

Roshi went up to the room to see Dev's suitcase. Dev also had her bag in the room as well. She had given it to him the day before. She opened the balcony door and looked out at the view. It was nearly six months since the last time she was at the Grand.

The weather was definitely chillier now as it was later at night. She closed the balcony door and went back to the bed. It was 11:15pm. Dev would probably only get to the room closer to midnight. Roshi yawned, as she took her shoes off.

She laid on the bed and watched TV. And of course, she fell asleep. Around 2am she heard the hotel door open and woke up. Dev walked in tip-toeing. Hey, she said. I woke you up, he said. It's okay, she said. I'm so sorry, he said, the guys wouldn't leave.