In Between The Stars

The Agreement

His Mustang rolls through the open gateway of Kriya's mansion the way a boat glides on still water. He parks behind a long line of cars and stills for a moment with his hand on the steering wheel. I brush his cheek and he looks at me with a smile.

"Ready, babe?" I ask and he chuckles.

"Ya-huh." He says and takes a deep breath.

I get out of the car and walk over to his side. He places a hand on my waist and pulls me close. We wait for Nitin and Trisha to show up and I watch his Ford pull into the driveway about five minutes later. Trisha and Nitin step out of the car and so does another guy. I take a minute to notice that he is Nitin's brother Sahil. I haven't seen him in a long while since he's never really home. He looks a lot like Nitin except that he's a tad slimmer than his brother.

"Hi, Akira." He greets me with a warm smile and shakes hands with Dylan when Nitin introduces him.

"You look great, Sahil." I comment. He's wearing a light blue sweater that brings out his eyes and beige chinos.

"Thank you. I wish I could tell you that you look hot but I'm afraid your boyfriend will punch me." He says with a goofy smile. I chuckle and Dylan gives him a small smile.

I feel the tension in Dylan's body as I stand by him. I'm worried about what's bothering him, so I ask the others to go in and I pull Dylan to an isolated corner of the porch.

"What's wrong?" I ask with concern as he avoids my gaze.

"Nothing." He says and I snort.

"Baby, just spit it out. You're going to tell me anyway."

He runs a hand through his recently tamed hair and looks me in the eye. "I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't have come." He says edgily and turns away again. "I mean, this isn't me. I think I'll just screw up."

I start laughing at his words and he looks at me like I've lost my mind.

"Dylan, baby, listen. You're going to do great." I tell him. "Just look at you. I'll probably be clubbing girls down all night. Because you look like... like....well, no one's ever looked like you. What are you even worried about?"

"I don't know." He says again. "Okay, fine. Let's just get this over with."

I get hold of his arm as we walk in through the intricately carved wooden entrance of Kriya's house. I find Trisha and Nitin standing by the large TV at the far corner of the room, socializing with a bunch of people.

The room is jam-packed with teenagers from Westwood University. Everyone is busy talking or dancing or drinking. There's no alcohol, of course. Only soda and punch. Since it's a small town and pretty much everybody knows everyone else, underage drinking is extremely rare. I look around for Kriya. I find her talking to a new group of friends by the kitchen and she rushes over to us as soon as she spots me.

"I'm so glad you made it!" She squeals and pulls me into a tight embrace.

"I'm so happy for you, Kriya." I tell her once she lets me go. "That loser's going to regret this for the rest of his life. Oh and... uh... this is Dylan. My boyfriend."

It's strange to call him that. He's a lot more than a mundane title, but Kriya doesn't need to know that now. She looks up at him and I can see her pupils dilate. I giggle to myself as he disarms her with his million dollar smile.

"Hi." She says in a nervous tone. "I'm Kriya."

"Akira?" Someone calls and I turn around to find Sahil standing behind me with an unsure look on his face and a paper cup in his hand.