A Few Hundred Poppies

18. Sixteen Going on Seventeen

"I literally don't know why the hell he hasn't asked you out yet," Lee complained, stowing the folded clothes delicately inside the closet. I was grateful for her intervention, but it was a reluctant gratitude. I liked my room like I liked myself - messed up.

"I know, right? I'm getting tired of his shameless flirting," Art said, lowering her feet from my desk and swiveling on my chair to face me. I squirmed under their gazes.

"Why're you guys looking at me like it's my fault? It's really not. Or maybe it is, I dunno," I swung my feet, resting limply on the bed, to the soft texture of the green carpet. It caressed the soles of of feet as I drew patterns on it with my toe. The carpet became a darker green when swiped my toe forward and lighter when I moved it backwards, and this phenomenon seemed considerably more engaging than our conversation.

"Hey," Art leaned closer to me conspiratorially. "What if you ask him out?"

"I was kinda thinking the same thing," pleased, I muttered, covering a yawn with the sleeve of my black hoodie. Sneaking a glance at the mirror, I found that my eyes were reddened and hair tousled.  Art and Lee hadn't said anything when they'd barged into my room and found me crying my eyes out, primarily because it had now become a tradition for the three of us to cry on our birthdays for no reason. None of us really knew why it happened, it just did.

"Oh, shush," Lee scolded. "If he wants it, he'll come get it. Let the girl keep her dignity."

Art scoffed, pouncing up from her seat and dramatically brandishing her iPhone with the vigour of a pirate with his sword. "Dignity! It's nothing but an excuse for those too afraid to get what they want. What if he's thinking the same thing?"

"No, he's a guy. Guys don't think like that," Lee stated with confident authority, beginning to pick up the books strewn all over my room. I sighed. This girl was going to clean up my room and kill the homeless vibe I was trying so hard to establish because somehow, the homeless vibe helped me study better.

"Why?" I asked, aware that Lee wouldn't answer. She didn't.

"Anywho, here's your birthday present," Art chimed, zipping her bag open and rummaging through it for several seconds. She pulled out a pretty white asymmetric top that made me praise her sense of fashion.

"Thank you, Art. It's lovely, and it'll cover my ass, so Ma won't mind," the dress dangling from my grip, I wrapped my arms around Art in a sweet hug.

"You're wearing this to the party," Art muttered into my ear. "We're throwing a party for you. Shh, don't say anything, the guys will kill me. I just don't want you ugly cry in front of others out of happiness."

"What're you two whispering about?" Lee asked, positively alarmed, shoving the last of the misplaced books from the hanging flower pot back into the bookshelf. I tried my best to remember why the hell I'd put it there, but couldn't.

"We were saying what a big bloated git you are," Art grinned, swinging her bag onto her shoulder. She snatched up a couple of dices of guava that Ma had called and ordered me to serve my friends, unceremoniously shoving all the cubes inside her mouth at once.

"Okay," Lee drawled, as if she couldn't decide whether Art was lying or not. "Anyway. Adi, we can't just have the birthday girl shopping with us looking like a hag. Go change, I'll help you put on makeup. It'll be a great girls' day out until the guys show up at Domino's."

I went in to change, smiling to myself. The smile melted into nothingness the moment I remembered Sharmaji again, how he would feed me free sweets whenever I told him that it was my birthday. No more free sweets for you, Aditi.

-

Maroon 5's Sugar is an unbelievably happy song, but hearing it blaring through the speakers suddenly reminded me of 2014 and made me feel deflated. I annoyed myself. This wasn't supposed to happen. All the popular people of Edelweiss Academy were dancing around at Ever's house, along with their hot friends from out of town, for my birthday, and it wasn't even 6 o' clock yet. I was supposed to be feeling important.