Breathless ~1~...*Note - Page 143* - Page 76

Chapter 11: Butter Pecans and Bubblegum

"I swear to God Atul if you don't slow the hell down, I'm gonna have to kick you out of my god damn car and drive myself home!" Anjali growled at a smirking Atul.

Glancing over to Anjali's icy slits for eyes, he fought back a chuckle at her 'I'm going to slit your throat' act.

"Say what? Drive so fast that your eyes start watering and your head starts throbbing like a bitch? Sure thing baby."

Anjali shot her eyes to the needle on the dashboard that was inching it's way to 134 miles per hour. She crashed back in to her chair with a thud and bordered hyperventilation.

"This is it. This is how I'm going to die'.you're going to kill me. I can see my life flashing before my eyes'."

Raising an eyebrow at the oxygen deprived figure next to him, he slowly released the accelerator and sighed.

"Geez Anj'.my reflexes are frikkin perfect. Quit worrying'see? A safe 75 miles per hour now."

Anjali peeked with one eye and witnessed her surroundings morph from a black nighttime blur to the definition of the trees and the road ahead. Opening both her eyes and relaxing the muscles she didn't know had tensed, she looked over to Atul who was looking straight back at her with an amused expression.

Gritting her teeth she smacked him across the arm,

"What the hell's wrong with you?!"

With a nonchalant shrug he replied: "What can I say? I have a need for speed."

"Crazy dumbass"

"Uptight beeyatch"

After a few moments of idle silence the interior of Anjali's Mercedes Benz was bathed in a glowing red light.

"Is that Muskaan and Rahul in the car in front of us?"

"Sure is." Atul confirmed as he watched Muskaan's voluptuous curls bounce from side to side.

"Wait wait wait'.where are they going? Atul you missed the exit'maybe if you didn't have a god damn need for spe'"

"I didn't miss the exit" Atul interrupted coolly.

"What?"

"I felt like ice cream" he shrugged whilst Anjali glared at him like he had just stated that he enjoyed stabbing puppies.

"Ice cream?!!" she shrieked.

"Uh huh'you know'cold'gives you brain freeze'can be deliciously sweet but is insanely bad for you? Hmmm'.kind of like you."

Before Anjali had a chance to process his comment they had already reached the "Whippy Dip" drive thru, the crackling of the intercom distracting her from her thoughts.

"Welcome to Whippy Dip. May I take your order?"

"Sure thing. I'll have 3 scoops of butter nut pecan ice cream with hazelnut coffee syrup and she'll have 3 scoops of bubblegum icecream with extra sprinkles."

"Thank you for your order. Drive up sir."

"What the hell was that dude?!" Anjali yelled as Atul drew his window back up.

"That, my love, was an order." He stated sarcastically without making eye contact.

"No'that was a misogynistic, chauvinistic attempt to undermine me. What just because you're the man you get to order for me?" He almost expected steam to shoot out from her ears, almost.

"Oh I'm sorry Anj, what did you want to get? She's still here."

His statement was confirmed by a crackle and then a "Can I help you guys?" by the same high pitched voice on the intercom.

Pulling down his window he gestured over to their electronic server with his thumb and a raised eyebrow.

Anjali flushed shamelessly, with her eyes downcast she shook her head timidly. An almost 180 from her 'ready to pounce' tiger act.

"No thanks. I'm pulling up" Atul replied whilst smirking at Anjali.

"What a drama queen." He mumbled whilst pulling up to the window where their delectable treats were waiting for them in the hands of the sleep deprived Goan student.

"Thanks a lot. Keep the change."

"I could've paid you know" She whispered 10 minutes into their past midnight indulgence.

Atul had decided to go back to the road which faced the beach and their now extinguished bonfire. The sea was pitch black, the only illumination emanating from the silver moon reflecting off of the ripples. The only sound permeating the silence was the sound of crashing waves which paradoxically soothed.

"Holy crap Anj I'll pay you if you drop this whole man woman, male female, boy girl, cat dog obsession!" Atul groaned in between bites of his dessert.

"Why do you always order the boring, sophisticated flavors. What the heck is a butter pecan anyway?" Anjali changed the subject to satisfy the curiosity that had annoyed her ever since she'd first witnessed him order a yawn inducing Coffee Vanilla Delight. She still thought that place used the word 'Delight' very, very loosely.

"Hey which self respecting 23 year old still likes bubblegum ice cream with extra sprinkles?"

"I do! And it's real good too!" Sticking her blue tongue out at him she was a complete contrast to the workaholic business woman she was used to portraying outside of this fantasy world.

"Anjali there's a bug on yours'it's tiny though. Just down it." He said in a matter of fact tone.

"Gross!!!! Get it off'get it off'get it off!!"

She shoved her ice cream over to him; he chuckled and took a mammoth sized bite out of her bubblegum delight. With an approving nod he almost moaned with pleasure:

"Mmmm that is good!"

"ATUL! You are so immature!" Ironically she was whining like a five year old at the loss.

"Giiiveeee it backkkkkkkkkk!"

"Take it." He sniggered with a wink and a challenge.

She reached over in an instant to find her target disappear and then materialize in his hands outside of his open window. Son of a-

Jumping over the gear stick and awkwardly landing half way on the driver's seat she reached out of the window as far as her arms could take her but he was holding out her beloved ice cream a good foot away from her hand.

"Atulllllllll" she groaned.

"Anjaliiiiiiiii" he mocked.

Slyly enjoying the warmth of her body pressed awkwardly against him in contrast to the cool of the ice cream dripping down his hand, he watched her dainty arm stretched out of the window towards her prize.

Lowering his lips an inch to meet her ear he whispered playfully;

"Hmmm I had no idea bubblegum ice cream was the key to you being this close to me. You're right, this stuff is pretty damn good."

Her eyes shot up to Atul in an instant and she realized her face was about an inch away from his. Noticing his smug grin, she met him eye to eye and narrowed her glare. She sprung off of him as if she'd just been electrocuted and resumed her original position on the passenger seat of her car. As he threw his head back with a throaty chuckle, she bit back her grin and shook her head at him.

"Hand it over smartass."

Still chuckling, he handed the official mess that was her ice cream back to her so she could perform some major damage control. Anjali raised her eyebrow at her cone and slapped him lightly on the arm with a smile.

"Hey you should smile more often'around me that is. It's like everything about me makes you want to rip your hair out'..or should I say makes you want to pretend to want to rip your hair out."

Anjali focused all her attention on devouring her sorry looking ice cream and refused to make eye contact.

"What makes you think I'm pretending?"

Atul carried on with his treat alongside her and stated in a matter of fact tone:

"Because you're always so comfortable when we're alone and away from the crowd. Or when you're sitting on my lap'.which by the way is always available when you need comforting." He tested with a challenging wink.

Anjali broke away from her avoiding eye contact/major damage control/bubblegum heaven/weird abnormal and downright unhealthy heart rate distractions to slap him across the arm again and stick her tongue out at him playfully.

"Hey your tongue's blue" he said with a grin. He'd truly never seen Anjali so relaxed; she was normally always swept away with some thing or another. Even whilst hanging out and 'relaxing' in Goa, her one eye had always traveled to check emails, SMSs' and stock exchange rates.

"Really?!"

Looking at her protruding tongue, her downcast eyes were framed with luxurious lashes and loose pieces of hair had fallen to the sides of her face. A Kodak moment.

Reaching for his phone he snapped a sneaky photo of her and was just about to zoom in when-

No frikkin way!

His eyes were fixed on his phone as he frantically pressed the zoom button.

Anjali sighed,

"Stop!!! You know I hate pictures!"

Atul was beaming'there's just no FRIKKIN way!

"Atul! I swear to God you better put that phone down or else-"she yelled with a wagging finger as she grew increasingly exasperated"

"Shh!! You'll never believe this Anj'" he said with a mix of excitement and well'.more excitement.

"What is it?"

"Look" he whispered as though he may be overheard.

Leaning over to the passenger side to where Anjali was staring at him like a deer caught in headlights he positioned his camera phone out toward her open window. With their faces side to side, he zoomed until no longer possible. She squinted at the screen and tried to make sense of whatever his night vision activated camera had to offer her.

"Oh my god something's moving"

"Uh huh" Atul tried to sound as inconspicuous as possible as she deciphered what he was trying to show her.

"Two things, there's two of them!" Her eyes were wide as she looked at Atul who was barely a centimeter away from the side of her face. Not being able to tear her eyes away from the screen she glanced back and gasped.

"They're huge! What are those things doing on the sand?!!"

Atul bit back a grin," I know".

"Wait I see arms'.no wait they're legs. Okay now I see arms, I can't tell it's all tangled. Oh I just saw a hand. Oh my god'.it looks like mutant human!! OH MY GOD! IS THAT AN ALIEN?!"

Atul rested his chin on her shoulder and carried on looking at his phone, trying desperately hard to hold back his chuckle.

"Wait'noooo. I see faces. They're people! But it's so late out'.it's a full moon tonight. They're not doing crazy voodoo stuff are they?"

Looking to her with a cocked eyebrow and a shaking head, he sighed again and resumed his position back on her shoulder smiling.

"Oh no wait it's a guy and girl, unless they're both guys and one has really long hair. Or they're both girls and one has really short hair."

"And the girl's on top of the gu-'ewwww gross! ATUL! You are disgusting'.sex on the beach?...Right?" She asked warily, not really sure if her eyesight was up to scratch but obviously not passing up the opportunity to call Atul out on his sick mind.

"Oh I seriously doubt the sex bit. I'd call it Nearly-But'Not-Really Sex on the Beach" He said with a smug confidence.

"How can you tell?"

"Well for one, they're fully clothed."

Anjai sighed and wondered if she'd really have to give Atul a talk about the 'birds and the bees' so late at night.

"Err Atul you can'ermm'.even clothed'all you need is-"

"No wayyyyyyyy!!!" He mocked sarcastically. Rolling his eyes he watched her look at him and his phone back and forth in confusion.

" I doubt it because-"

"OH'.MY''GOD"

Atul chuckled as realization hit her like a slap across the face.

Author's Note

Your love is SWEETER than ice cream and more HI TECH than Atul's night vision camera phone 😊

Anjali focused all her attention on devouring her sorry looking ice cream and refused to make eye contact.

"What makes you think I'm pretending?"

Atul carried on with his treat alongside her and stated in a matter of fact tone:

"Because you're always so comfortable when we're alone and away from the crowd. Or when you're sitting on my lap'.which by the way is always available when you need comforting." He tested with a challenging wink.

"They're huge! What are those things doing on the sand?!!"

Atul bit back a grin," I know".

"Wait I see arms'.no wait they're legs. Okay now I see arms, I can't tell it's all tangled. Oh I just saw a hand. Oh my god'.it looks like mutant human!! OH MY GOD! IS THAT AN ALIEN?!"

Atul rested his chin on her shoulder and carried on looking at his phone, trying desperately hard to hold back his chuckle.

"Wait'noooo. I see faces. They're people! But it's so late out'.it's a full moon tonight. They're not doing crazy voodoo stuff are they?"

Looking to her with a cocked eyebrow and a shaking head, he sighed again and resumed his position back on her shoulder smiling.

"Oh no wait it's a guy and girl, unless they're both guys and one has really long hair. Or they're both girls and one has really short hair."

"And the girl's on top of the gu-'ewwww gross! ATUL! You are disgusting'.sex on the beach?...Right?" She asked warily, not really sure if her eyesight was up to scratch but obviously not passing up the opportunity to call Atul out on his sick mind.