Indie-America

27

(((Edited•)))

"Teddy," The air is sucked out from my liver. He shrugs and looks at me softly,

"Were you expecting someone else?" He asks and I swallow.

"Mm...come in. Mum! Dad!! Teddy's here!!!" I step aside for him to come in and close the door.

Almost immediately everyone is outside, greeting Ted. Somehow nobody mentions that Luca isn't here yet.

"Ah, I thought you wouldn't make it," Dad says to Teddy who makes a face that says: why wouldn't I?

They all sit down but I hover around a bit, "you invited Teddy for dinner?" I ask Dad and he nods.

"I thought it's been a while since we had him over and his parents need some them time if you know what I mean," he laughs at his hidden joke while I make a face at him.

"Ravi come have a seat. We're starting dinner now," Mum says with a look in her eyes. She's a superwoman because somehow she knows that things are tense between Ted and I because of Luca and she knows Ted wouldn't exactly like to know that I invited him over but Ted is the last person I'm worried about. Luca will flip.

I sit beside Mara and opposite Teddy, try to avoid his eyes and focus on the food. The good food that Mara hates so much.
Dad prays over it and we start eating.

"So how have you been keeping yourself busy these days?" Mum asks Teddy and he pretends to think. I already what he's been doing. Reading, gaming and dreaming.

"Reading, gaming and dreaming. Oh and yesterday I tried tennis. That's pretty much it," He chuckles to himself.

They go on talking but between my anxiety and the sudden thunder storm their voices are muted.

It isn't long after that there's a knock on the door. My heart jumps out of my mouth and me and my mother share a millisecond glance. I slowly push my chair back and walk to the door.

Damn my hands are sweaty and I can feel my legs wobbling.
I open the door before he can knock again and stare at him. His Audi is parked on it's usual spot. He's wet, and he's smiling at me. A smile I have never seen on his face, no sarcasm, no annoyance, just pure joy.

And I'm going to break that soon.

"Aren't you letting me in? I'm getting soaked here," He says and I notice the water dripping from his curly hair. I step away and close the door. Just like I did with Teddy, but I don't have it in me to announce his arrival.

"Good evening everyone," Luca greets quietly and I force myself to look at Teddy's face, it's pure shock. Thankfully Luca's backing me so I can't see the look on his face.

"Hey! I was starting to think you wouldn't make it," Mara screams and rushes to hug him but he steps back.

"Woah I'm wet. You could catch a cold." He gives her a sad smile. I see something like hurt flash on Teddy's face, Mara doesn't rush to greet him anymore. Not like she does with Luca. Mum perks up and looks at me.

"Ravi take Luca upstairs and get him dried," She smiles at him, "welcome to the Singh's."

*****************
"Here," I throw him a towel and it lands on his face. He doesn't try to clean up his hair which is really what is soaking him up. I grunt and walk over to him but he stops me.

"Honestly, I would rather have gone to Julie's place. Regardless of your opinion."

I feel like I've been stabbed and it makes me so weak I plop down on my bed.

"I didn't know he was coming. Dad didn't tell me."

"It still hurts."

"I know," There's a pause and I reach for the towel again and he lets me. Slowly I stand and softly rub it through his hair. His glorious brown hair, so similar to Harry Styles'.

"I'm sorry I'm late, my mum was fretting over it," He says, his voice still quiet.

"It's ok. No problem."

"I'm also fretting. This is so freaking weird, especially with Morgan here," He admits and I stop then crouch so I face him.

"I know this is weird Luca. With Teddy down there but it's you. You charmed Mara, Ken, Simmi. Even my grandmother. You can charm my parents too."

He stares at me and I can't stop staring too. I try to stand up but he holds my hand in place.

"I can charm them all...but can I charm you?"

My breath circulation breaks and I'm struggling for air but he doesn't seem to notice. It's not an attack though and I force myself to manage. I try to roll my way out of the situation but he won't let me. I'm going to have to answer him if I want to leave this place and they must be waiting for us downstairs.

"We will see," I finally say and he lets me go. I give him the towel to finish cleaning his hair and leave.

Downstairs Mara has created space for Luca to sit. Next to Simmi, so that she's now between him and Teddy. She smiles lovingly at me and points to her creation but I glare at her.

Luca comes down moments after me, looking a lot more presentable.
There's a a minute of silence in the dining room until Aunt SanJ clears it.

"So Luca. I hear you play in the soccer team," She says and Luca smiles.

"American football actually but yeah, I got the spot as the Quarter Back," He says humbly and I roll my eyes the same time Kendall snorts,

"Would you get over it? Soccer and football are the same thing," I say but he shakes his head.

"More like you earned it. Dad did you know Luca's the best football player in all branches of Legacy?" Ken hypes like I said nothing and dad is clearly impressed.
"Really? You must really put in a lot of work in it," He says and Luca looks at his plate. He's pink and I can't help but smile at it.

"Yeah I guess. But it's mostly the team that helps," He says and Teddy rolls his eyes.

"No need for fake modesty McQueen. Everyone knows you've done your best to get to where you are," Luca swallows his first roti and shares his brain into two, one for decided if to accept that as a compliment or an insult and the other for deciding if Indian food is as appetizing as we make it seem.

"Thank you," He finally replies and smiles at the food. "This is really great," His eyes have a glint in them and we can all hear the unfinished question-who made it?

"Ravi made it," Mum replies, smiling at me. "She hardly ever cooks but she made the time for it tonight," She might have as well had winked at Luca.

"Um no, Simmi made those," I lie but he sees right through me. He tries not to grin at me from the other side of the table and I try not to turn pink so I turn my gaze to Teddy who is giving us a weird face. As if he's disgusted.

"You definitely did better than that last time you cooked. Remember that day? You had to feed me the food before I could eat it," Teddy brings back the old memory and everyone laughs but I can tell what he's doing. Emphasis on feed.

"Yeah. It was pudding and I had to force feed you. Do you also remember the first time you ate Indian food?" I don't have to finish it. Kendall is the first to spit out the water she was drinking on Raman's face. He frowns but doesn't overreact. They weren't there, they didn't see it.

"Luca's doing mighty fine if you ask me," I finish and everyone looks at Luca who is suddenly very conscious of his surroundings. The table is spread with several Indian dishes, roti, tandoori Chicken, chole and some murg makhani.

"He is," Grandma says in approval but Teddy frowns,

"That's because you didn't pour an entire jar of pepper into the food. You took it easy on him."

"It wasn't a jar of pepper Teddy," Mum says even as she laughs.

He doesn't stress it and we find something else to talk about. And that's how the night goes.