"I think you should stop being so mean to me, Zahed."
"Why would I ever do that?"
Aryan grins, a bright, wicked thing.
"Because I kiss you like this."
•
Mira Zahed and Aryan Shankar are at war.
When her best friend and his cousin decide to fall in...
hello yes this is your sexually explicit content warning for this chapter. like— v e r y explicit. you guys know what's up. ♥ ♥ ♥
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♥ ♥ ♥
AS EXPECTED, I STEP OUT OF LECTURE HALL in darkness. I'm halfway to my car when I remember Shankar.
I go the rest of the way out of spite. He can wait.
I drop my books into the front seat of my car and turn about in the dark lot. There are a few cars left but, for the most part, the campus is empty for the evening.
So, what the fuck is he still doing here and where the fuck is he?
I don't even have his number. I'm annoyed at Charlie all of a sudden. Who forgets their phone?
Suspicion lingers at the back of my mind. Did he set this up?
You'd make a good pair, he'd said, leaving no room for me to figure out what his thoughts and opinions are.
I'd decided that Charles was too nice for me to say no to but if this proves to be some sort of schoolboy setup on his part, I'm not going to hesitate to beat his ass.
My impatience rears as I retrace my steps, passing the vast Engineering building only to see it mostly dark. I doubt he's there. My feet are getting tired by the time I'm standing back at where we'd locked eyes earlier.
The campus is quieter than it is during the rush of the day and the moon has made an appearance, peeking at me between the thin tree branches sheltering the walkway. I'm standing alone, distinctly aware that being a girl all alone on campus after dark isn't in my best interests, when a shout rises somewhere in the distance, piercing my wary silence. I breathe out in relief.
I breathe out in relief at the last name I'd ever expected myself to feel relief at the sound of. But I follow the shouting anyway, because it's still going, rumbling against the stillness.
"It's just Aryan, actually," I hear his dry reply, spoken with less volume applied than his counterpart, which makes me conclude that I'm getting closer.
His comment sparks rounds of laughter. He's good at standing in the spotlight like that. The only time I've ever seen him not look good with attention on him was when I threw coffee at him. I bet there was some freshman who swooned over that sight too though.
I'm rolling my eyes when I run straight into a group of sweaty boys, Shankar spliced in neatly at their core. One of them is halfway through the process of emptying a bottle of water over their head.
