Chapter 9: Begun Bhaji and Backlights
"Ahhh geez FINALLY!" Atul yelled as he dramatically clenched his stomach. The crowd ducked and dived their heads around the fire to see Riddhima's midnight blue car pull up in to the distance. Stepping out of the car, she turned to the gang and waved with a bright smile from afar.
"I knew one of us should've gone with her....she probably got lost in the dark." Rahul said half to himself and half to the gang.
"Ahh get over it Rahul. All of us got lost the first couple of days we were here...hota hai.... Right Muskaan?" Anjali sniggered as she leaned over and watched Muskaan's eyes narrow in to icy slits.
"Okay for the last time....why the HELL doesn't satellite navigation work in Goa?!"
Muskaan whined dramatically with her hands up in the air, oblivious to everyone's head held in their hands and groans at the mention of satellite navigation for the 1567th time since they'd arrived.
Atul, Abhi and Rahul all rose to help Riddhima as she fumbled with the 15 bags of heaven which were plastered in gold and red with the words: Tandoori Times. Eventually reaching her, she smiled gratefully and handed over a few of her bags and locked the car.
"Riddhima? What happened? Bahut der lag gayi?" Abhi questioned with concern lacing his voice. Atul and Abhi surrounded her on either side as they trudged along the sand back to the bonfire, equally worried.
"I errr..." Riddhima swallowed wearily as the flashbacks of the last hour swam through her head. Pink panties, big boobs, topless Armaan, white shirt, bed, red eyes, grey eyes.
"Did you get lost?" Atul prodded further, trying to get a response out of the now catatonic Riddhima.
"Errr haan! Yes....Err I got lost. Sorry guys."
"Don't apologize! As long as you're safe." Abhi scoffed and patted her on the back sympathetically.
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"Ughhhh! I think my stomach's going to explode!" Nikki lay down on the sand and patted her belly in pain.
"I know Nikz....you almost look....wait a minute!!!....you almost look PREGNANT?!" Rahul enacted a mock wide eyed gasp and smacked his palm to his mouth.
"Nahi!!! Tum uske bache ki maa bane wali ho!!" Muskaan held the back of her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes in true old bollywood style.
The crowd all burst in to fits of laughter, well nearly all.
Nikki sat up with both her hands behind her and shot Rahul and Muskaan death glares. Rahul and Muskaan winced at her vicious glower, looked to each other briefly and then shot their heads back down, failing to stifle their laugh.
Abhi shook his head and chuckled:
"You guys know I'm a doctor right? No fiance of mine is getting knocked up by mistake!"
The crowd roared into another fit of laughter while Nikki shrieked "ABHI!" and smacked him across his arms with as much force as she could muster. Which wasn't even enough to swat a fly...
"What?!! It's true!!" He defended himself playfully.
Nikki rolled her eyes and crossed her arms with a huff as she was reluctantly swept in to a bear hug by Abhi's large arms.
"No seriously guys...I had too many carbs man. Aloo tikki is going to be the death of me...I'm gonna have to pay for it at the gym tomorrow." Anjali moaned as she clenched her stomach with her legs curled underneath her.
"Me too Anj....Ras Malai overload! You would've thought I would stop at the 4th one but I just kept going! Damn me and my sweet tooth! No one wants a fat fashion stylist!" Muskaan gasped wide eyed and dramatically.
"Me three....Too...much....paneer! You know what they say...a moment on the lips forever on the hips." Riddhima moaned as she cupped her face dejectedly.
"I-I'm..I'm going to be a fat bride!" Kirti nearly wept insanely as she slid another spoonful of Shrikhand in to her mouth. Anjali marched up to her painfully and yanked the plastic spoon out of her mouth, throwing it in to the trash bag.
"Snap out of it Bhabhi!" She clicked in her face, bringing her back to reality.
Stomping back to her place she resumed her moaning and writhing until she caught Atul, Abhi and Rahul's 'What the hell?' faces.
"What?" She shrugged.
"Do you guys even hear yourselves when you speak?" Rahul questioned sarcastically.
"Oh...em...geee....I totally ate 1 whole paneer! It's totally going to be the death of me...like what an overload! You know what they say...a moment on the lips forever on the hips!" Atul broke out in to a girly sob on to Rahul's shoulder who mockingly rubbed his back and wept with him too.
"Ugh...you guys are so NOT funn-"
Muskaan had just commenced her rant until she was interrupted by the obnoxious growl of an engine parking up in to the distance.
"Hmmm...looks like Armaan's back. Traffic must have been really bad." Abhi stated as he looked afar.
"He must have found a girl on his way there to keep him err...busy" Atul chortled while the crowd all smirked.
"I wouldn't put it past him." Anjali sneered as she rolled her eyes and flicked her hair.
"I really wouldn't put it past him." Rahul stroked his chin suspiciously.
"Tum log na! Mera bichara devar par kuch to vishwaas karo!"
*COUGH COUGH*
Riddhima felt herself involuntarily choke on thin air at her Kirti Di's comment. Bichara?! You HAVE to be kidding me! Before she had a chance to recover, the spices from her meal made their way back up, painfully sizzling her throat. Another round of painful coughing and spluttering began and suddenly she found herself surrounded by a flustered gang who were slamming her back and wiping her tears to not ruin her make up. Thanks Muskaan.
"Water!!! Get her water!"
Yes water! What in God's name was in that Paneer Tikka?!
Before she knew it her hand was yanked forcefully away from her mouth and was replaced with a bottle of ice cold water. Her eyes fluttered closed and she gulped it down, quenching the inferno that had ignited in her throat. When the flames had finally subsided and the water had come to an end, her eyes flickered back open to find Armaan crouched in front of her with a crooked grin....holding a bottle of water to her mouth. Riddhima's eyes widened and she hauled the bottle away from her. Please don't hyperventilate....
"Hey....you owe me a bottle of water." He whispered in amusement.
"Are you okay Riddhima?"
"What the hell happened?"
"It's okay.... your mascara's not running."
"I'm fine...I just choked or something. Thanks." She muttered in embarrassment.
The crowd all made their way back to their seats around the fire whilst Armaan planted himself next to her.
"Hey Riddhima....if you kept that up for any longer Abhi would've had to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre on you..." Atul laughed.
Abhi and Riddhima both held their faces in their hands at the sheer humility of the thought while the crowd all sniggered hysterically. Though all she could hear through the sea of noise was the distinct sound of the smooth chuckle next to her. Get over it Riddhima.
"Oh Armaan....Riddhima bought you some food too. Bhookh hai?" Kirti asked him across the bonfire in her maternal tone.
"You did?!" He turned to face her with genuine surprise.
Oh crap. Guilt drenched her as she flashed back to the phone call at the Tandoori Times.
"No Armaan hates anything with begun in it. Just get him a chicken biryani" Kirti Di had said as she was delivering everyone's orders over the noisy crowd who were shouting Indian dish names at her.
"Err yeh." She mumbled with her eyes downcast.
Kirti handed Armaan the bag and he eagerly received it. Shuffling through the bag he picked up the silver container and opened it up..... And then he cringed.
"Errr it's begun bhaji" He said queasily, staring at it like it had human body parts mashed in to the container.
Riddhima bit back a smirk at his expression while the crowd all sniggered at him. Well considering what I've just witnessed a few hours ago....I can have fun with this right?
"Why Armaan? Don't you like begun?" She fluttered her eyelashes innocently....almost too innocently. Armaan looked at her in confusion and then back to his repulsive dish.
"Riddhima I told you not to get the begun but the chicken biryani instead. You guys are so loud she probably didn't even hear me!" Kirti reprimanded the gang who just stuck their tongue out at her or rolled their eyes playfully.
Riddhima was desperately trying to stifle her laugh; she turned to the side to find Armaan staring at her with a wide smirk. He knew her game and he was more than amused to play along.
"Oh I'm so so sorry Armaan." She said fluttering her eyelashes vigorously and coating her voice with candy.
"It's cool....you probably couldn't hear right?" He questioned with a grin.
"Right." She muttered back...not looking him in the eye and still biting back her smirk. She felt immature and giddy but it felt good to get him back...even if it was in the form of a begun bhaji.
"Uh...I'm sure you'll survive Armaan. There's a tonne of leftovers...Riddhima went all out on everyone. " Anjali stated sarcastically as she ripped a piece of stale naan with her teeth and chewed blankly.
Suddenly the crowd turned to Muskaan who released a high pitched yawn with hooded eyes.
"Uh oh....bedtime for the princess." Rahul looked over to her and smirked, his golden green eyes twinkling across the fire.
"Yeh guys maybe we should head back. It's like 1am..." Atul agreed.
The crowd all rose one by one, all except for Kirti, Nikki and Abhi. After cracking joints, stretching, yawning and moaning everyone finally focused their attention on the three figures still seated.
"Ermm guys? Do you wanna camp out here or something?" Armaan asked sceptically.
Nikki and Abhi looked to each other apprehensively and then looked to Kirti in confusion.
"Erm guys....me and Nikki are going to stay."
"Why?" Everyone nodded at Riddhima's question.
Abhi looked to Nikki and smiled, "Because we haven't had any time alone for days...no offence."
The crowd all knowingly glanced at each other and grinned....
"No offence taken.....just remember ...don't do anything Armaan would do." Atul gestured over to Armaan with his thumb and smirked.
"Real funny dude...seriously. I'm in stitches." Armaan stated with a blank face and a bored voice whilst everyone else muffled their laughter. Atul gave Armaan a thumbs up and a wink playfully.
"Kirti bhabhi are you going to watch?" Rahul asked sending the crowd in to hysterics once again.
"Dhat! I was just going to err....erm I...maine Shubhankar ke saath ab tak baath nahi ki naa. Toh maine socha abhi karti hoon....beach par." She mumbled awkwardly.
"Ai hai...." The girls all sighed in a high pitched swoon together while the guys rolled their eyes and grinned.
"Cool you can just get a ride back with us. We'll be here for an hour or two." He nudged Nikki for confirmation who nodded shyly.
"Teekh hai" Kirti replied happily knowing that her conversations were bound to last longer than an hour or two.
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Five minutes later, after kissing Abhi, Nikki and Kirti goodnight. The gang had gathered around Riddhima, Armaan and Anjali's car. Riddhima and Anjali both got their keys out of their purse and unlocked their cars before walking towards them.
"Woah woah woah....where do you think you girls are going?" Armaan asked incredulously as he tugged Riddhima with the back of her dress and Rahul and Atul held back Muskaan and Anjali with their arms.
Riddhima whipped her head round and narrowed her glare before he let go of her dress and held both hands up in the air. Anjali smacked Atul's hand away from her arm while Muskaan looked to Rahul in confusion.
"To our cars? You know....the things that are going to take us all home?" Anjali said sarcastically as she crossed her arms and wondered where this was going.
"No no no....you see it's nearly 3am and Goa has no streetlights. It wouldn't be very safe....even though you throw a mean smack Anj!" Atul retorted with a mock frown while rubbing his sore hand.
"So we should just pitch a tent here till the morning?"
The guys all smirked devilishly at Muskaan's innocent question.
"Forget it guys. Wipe that dirty little smirk off." Anjali argued. "Can we please get out of here?...I'm cold."
"Sure...BUT none of the girls can drive." Rahul said nonchalantly.
The girls all looked to the guys who nodded in silent agreement.
"What?! No way, I'm driving my car." Riddhima defiantly retorted, crossing her arms.
"Agreed." Anjali snapped.
"Okay look guys, we just want to keep you safe...don't get your panties all in a bunch." Rahul smirked with his hands on his hips.
" Look...I think it's very sweet you all want to be…manly and protective, but, we look out for each other. Who dropped you three off last Saturday after the club when you couldn't stop throwing up?" Muskaan shuddered at the memory.
"Ugh!...That was not pretty!" Anjali cringed.
"Yeh and neither was my car afterwards....ATUL." Muskaan growled over the boyish chuckle of the three. Armaan and Rahul smacked Atul on the back who gave her an apologetic look while stifling his laugh.
Riddhima shook her head, glad that she'd missed that particular night.
"I think what we're trying to say is that any one of us could have an accident. Just because we're women doesn't mean we're more accident prone. We're equal." She said with as much passion as Martin Luther King had exuded in his 'I have a dream' speech.
" O-kayy then....if we're equal, let's compromise. You girls can drive as long as one of us guys' is in the passenger seat. Just in case something happens...deal?" Armaan negotiated in a matter of fact tone.
"Deal!" The girls yelled in frustration, half at the guys and half at the chill in the air. Another icy breeze brushed past the girls who crossed their arms and shivered.
"Wait!....My car's at the mansion." Muskaan groaned alongside the rest of the gang who were still bouncing on the spot in the cold.
"Mine too..." Rahul agreed.
"It's cool.. Head's up!" Armaan swiftly threw him his car keys, Rahul shot his hand in the air and caught it reflexively.
"Hey?! What about me?" Muskaan whined while the crowd let out another annoyed moan.
"Sorry honey....we're insured on each other's cars." Armaan shrugged.
"Looks like you're riding shotgun baby." Rahul smirked as he walked over to Armaan's Aston Martin and opened the passenger door out for her.
Muskaan waved over to the girls and strolled over to the passenger seat before Rahul made his way over to the other side coolly. Two beeps and a backlight flash later, they were shooting down the Goan highway with a growl.
"Holy crap Armaan....why do you guys have to drive at 100 miles per hour?? And we're supposed to be the bad drivers...." Anjali rolled her eyes.
"Hey it takes an excellent driver to be able to drive at 100 miles per hour everyday and have a clear track record Anj...." Atul retorted whilst Armaan nodded his head in agreement.
"Yeh well it's a good thing I'm gonna be driving..." Anjali said as she turned to walk to the other side of her silver BMW.
" Anj you know you're backlight didn't flash when you unlocked you're car." Atul stated as he stroked his chin and concentrated on the car.
"Of course it did."
"No it didn't Anj" Armaan agreed.
"Really? I just got it checked out a couple of weeks ago." Anjali contemplated in frustration.
"Let me check..." He said seriously, in the way he normally does when he was engrossed in something technical.
Anjali obliged and handed him her keys, waiting for his mechanical analysis. Atul hit the lock button and then hit unlock again, earning a backlight flash on both occasions.
"Oh look....at.....that!! It works now! I must be a friggin genius." He exclaimed, a complete contrast from his earlier tone. He chuckled as he brushed past a dumbstruck Anjali and made his way over to the driver's seat.
Armaan and Riddhima stifled a laugh and watched realization hit Anjali, by which time they were sure that steam was about to shoot out of both her ears.
"ATUL!!" She shrieked as she marched over to the driver's end of the car.
"Yes sweetheart?!" He yelled sarcastically as he stuck the key in the ignition and fired the engine up.
"I'm not getting in until you let me drive my own damn car!! Let's see how safe I am when I stay here all night asshole!" She growled with her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed in to an icy glare.
"Really? Well then allow me to be fully comfortable! You won't mind if I unzip my pants on your seat right? I've eaten too much and I feel err....too constricted if ya know what I mean." He moved his hands dangerously close to his zipper, calling her bluff. You know I'll do it honey.
Anjali nearly exploded with frustration, she gritted her teeth and her eyes officially transformed in to slits. You wouldn't dare!
When his hand reached eventually reached his zipper she let out a dramatic "UGHHHH!!!" and stomped all the way round the passenger seat. Not tearing her death stare away from Atul from the windscreen with each step. Atul puckered up and blew her a kiss with a grin.
"Don't breathe too much in here!! I don't want your breath polluting my air for the next few days." She yelled as she strapped herself up with the seatbelt.
"What was that Anj?" Atul released a breathy gasp between each word which nearly drove Anjali insane with fury.
"Ugh...step on it sucker!"
With that they zoomed off in to the night, well not before Armaan and Riddhima heard Anjali shout profanities at Atul's speed. The roar of the engine disappeared in to the distance and suddenly the crashing of the waves was the only sound penetrating Armaan and Riddhima's atmosphere.
Armaan turned to Riddhima who seemed to be fiddling with her keys absentmindedly. Her eyes downcast with her long lashes curled upwards.
"Errm....can I get a ride back with you please?" He asked awkwardly.
Riddhima looked up at him through the veil of her hair, her wide green eyes penetrating in to his. After a few minutes of silence, he sighed:
"Orr....I could just walk home. What is it? Like 35 miles?....I should get home for like afternoon time tomorrow right?"
Riddhima fought back a smirk and rolled her eyes. Walking to the driver's side of the car she opened the door and looked over to Armaan over the hood of the car.
"Come on then."
Author's Note
Hey guys...okay this chapter was intended to be ALOT longer than this....like my beloved gang was actually going to move more than a few feet to their cars. But once again...length issue. Seriously....I have no idea how I'm going to finish this story if I'm 9 chapters in and it's still the first day!! ARGHH....This is why me and one-shot FFs will never work!!
Here it is.....next chapter?? What will our pairs get up to on their ride home?
Please comment/hit like!!
You're love is brighter than the flash of a backlight!
Shiv Shakti
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