falling in love PART 11-12 UPDATED(kash ff) - Page 4

another new FF and on KaSh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! superb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1st 2 parts were awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

update soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Afrin

Chap 3

"I didn't know someone eyes could be expressive like hers shit crap I am in love with her eyes my god am I falling sick " Karan says to himself "Shit Jen saw me and Karan in one room what will she think of me I didn't even kiss such a handsome guy like him keep a control on yourself Shilpa he was already hanging around with that girl at the party " Shilpa says to herself

During the scene where the Rancho gets the pen from the professor I had tears in my eyes Karan saw that and he wiped my tears then I felt current flowing through my body and when I shut my eyes more tears had come and felt in his hand I hadn't noticed but I saw him take my tears from his hand in his mouth as if he was here to drinks away all my sorrows from my life I felt a high volt flow through my body and I looked at him with so much love but then the movie ended and the song all izz well started being played again and we came back to my senses and he said "hey this 21^st century girls don't cry grow up girl and get a life"

Karan walked me back to my room, as promised. I was still trying to get over how awkward Jen had made the situation. I was still wearing Karan's cloths upon his demand. He refused to let me change back into the beer covered Jen outfit. I wanted to give him back his cloths, but he was determined to give me a reason to see him again, and I wasn't going to argue that point.

At my door I was unsure what to do. I didn't know if I should invite him in. I didn't know if I should give him a kiss or if I should shake his hand. I knew I shouldn't shake his hand, that was just silly.

I was about to have a panic attack when he leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. "I hope tomorrow won't be too soon to see you again."

"N-no, tomorrow would be fine." I was dumb founded. I didn't believe he had just kissed me on the cheek. As he walked away, I touched my cheek afraid that I was dreaming.

I found my key and stumbled with it for a moment. If I had not known for sure, I would have thought that I was drunk. Finally I got the key in the hole and pushed the door open. Since I had already showered I just brushed my teeth and slipped into bed. It may seem silly, but I wanted to sleep in his clothes. I didn't want to lose his smell just yet.

I was almost asleep when I heard a thump on the door followed by an "OW." I also heard a tinkling laugh that I knew belonged to Jen. The laughter was cut short. I heard goodnights, the door opening and then the light above me was so bright it was confusing.

"Shilpa! I have got to know everything. I want to know exactly what happened before and after I left. Are you going to see him again? Please tell me you are going to see him again. You have no idea how right you two looked when I came in earlier." Jen wasn't really waiting for answers. I wasn't even sure she had taken a breath since she came in. She was now bouncing on the edge of my bed, begging for information.

"Jen, breathe. I will get to your questions in a minute." Jen pouted, she hated to wait. "First tell me what all the commotion was in the hall."

Jen giggled. "Well, Mayank is like two feet taller than me. I was leaning against the door and he was leaning down to kiss me. He hit his head on the door before he reached my lips." There was a twinkle in Jen's eyes. She was falling for Mayank quickly. "Now answer my questions."

I had to giggle at the way her expression changed from dreamy to serious in less than a second. "Well after you ditched me at the door," I glared at her for a moment then went back to telling her about the night, "I saw Karan on the couch. I was going to go talk to him, but he was talking to this gorgeous blonde. They looked so happy together that I had to walk away."

Jen interrupted me before I could continue, "Mayank says Karan's not dating anyone." She started to think out lout, "Beautiful blonde'beautiful blonde'beautiful' Oh! I bet that's Sunaina."

"Sunaina?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's Mayank's twin sister." Jen said slowly, "Actually, if I remember correctly, she's dating Karan's brother Pankit."

I had to admit that this made me feel better. I didn't want to think of Karan as someone who had more than one girlfriend at a time. Although, I still couldn't figure out why he had any interest in me. "Well anyway. I was kind of upset by that. I went to the kitchen to get a drink. When I got the beer, I decided that I hadn't really wanted it in the first place. I was about to put it down when Karan spoke in my ear from behind. I dropped the beer and it spewed. I was soaked so Karan offered me a shower and clothes. He didn't want to go back to the party so I watched 3 Idiots with him. This leads to what you know. You coming in making me feel awkward and that's it." I finished my story slightly out of breath.

"You're lying," Jen appeared to have seen something in my face.

"About what?"

"That's not all that happened. Didn't he bring you back?"

"Well, yeah." This wasn't something I had particularly wanted to talk about. It seemed so magical, so unreal, I was afraid that if I said it out loud, I would discover I had been dreaming. My hand floated up to the cheek that his lips had touched. I wished for the feeling again. It was like an electric shock had been sent through my body.

A hand was being waved in front of my face. "Earth to Shilpa. Come in Shilpa. What is going on with you? You can't space out every time I ask you about Karan. I need details."

"Well," I decided not to tell her about the kiss, I was still unsure of its meaning. He could treat all of his friends who were girls like that. "He asked if he could see me again tomorrow." I looked at the clock. It was 2 a.m. Where had the night gone? "Well, I guess he wants to see me today."

"What are you two going to do?" Jen was bouncing with excitement.

"I don't know, Jen. He just asked if he could see me. Maybe we'll just go eat lunch or something."

"Or maybe," Jen had a scary look on her face. She was making plans and I didn't think I wanted to know where her brain was going. "Y'all will hook up, there will be an accidental pregnancy, then a shotgun wedding." I was right

"Jen, I don't even know if he likes me yet. Let's not think about nuptials yet."

Jen was shaking her head. "You didn't see the way he looked at you. He's obviously attracted to you. You should listen to me. I see great things in your future."

I rolled my eyes. Jennifer Winget, the psychic. Yeah right. "Whatever you say, Jen. Now, can we get some sleep? It's been an eventful night."

Jen was still bouncing on the edge of my bed. "I can't, I'm too excited."

"Jen, where did you go?" I was afraid of the answer I might get.

"Starbucks," she was getting a little jittery.

Yup, not a good answer. "I'm going to have to talk to Mayank about you and caffeine. If he's going to give you coffee after noon, he's not bringing you back here."

"Why don't you just stay with Karan?"

Geez, she was really trying to get me into bed with him wasn't she? "Jen, I've only met the guy twice. Not gonna happen."

"Why not. You already look like you had done wonderful things with him."

"WHAT?" How could she possibly say that? "Jennifer Winget, you will tell me what you mean by that right now."

"Well you haven't bothered to change out of his clothes, your hair is a mess, and you smell like him."

Damn it, she was right. There had still been people at the party when Karan had taken me home. What did they think that we had been up to? I hoped I wasn't giving myself a new unwanted reputation. I bit my bottom lip.

"Relax, Shilpa." I tried, "Go to sleep, I'll write a report or something. That's sure to put me to sleep."

A giggle escaped my lips as Jen jumped from my bed to the light switch. I laid back on my bed and tried to find a calm. I let my hair fall in front of my face so the smell of his shampoo enveloped me. I drifted into hopeful dreams of a future with Karan.

Chap 4

When I woke up, I unsure of what I was supposed to do. Karan said that he'd wanted to see me again, but I didn't know when or where. We hadn't exchanged phone numbers, so I couldn't call him, though I wasn't sure if he was awake yet anyway. It was 10 o'clock. My stomach growled, but I decided to ignore it for the moment. I would go get something to eat as soon as I checked my computer. My dad was still in the dark ages so he only contacted me by phone, but my mom liked to feel young. Muskaan had set up a facebook account and was constantly on it.

I opened my account and flipped through. I had six notifications. My mother had written on my wall three times. The first was asking me about my first week of school. The other two were her asking why I hadn't responded yet. I typed a quick answer. I left out everything about the party. Muskaan wanted me to have a social life, but I wasn't sure where this was headed yet.

The other three notifications were friend invites. One from Karan Grover, Mayank Anand, and this kind of scary guy Pankit Grover. I friended them all, but I was a little scared of the last. Karan had not been a wimp by any stretch of the imagination, but I was sure that if he stood next to his brother, he would appear to be the captain of the chess club rather than the toned athlete I knew him to be.

As soon as I'd friended them two chat boxes appeared at the bottom of my screen. The first was Mayank

Hey Shilpa, has Jen woken up yet? I think her phone died because it keeps sending me to voice mail. Mayank was obviously falling hard for Jen.

Sorry, she's still sleeping. I don't know what time she went to bed. Someone let her have caffeine.

Sorry

I laughed then moved to the next chat. It was from Pankit. I was scared to check it.

So I finally get to meet the infamous Shilpa.

Infamous? What had I done to make myself so well known to him?

Karan hasn't stopped talking about you since you fell on him last week. My girlfriend is so excited for him that she spends more time talking to him than me. I swear if he hadn't seen you last night, I wouldn't have had her the whole night.

Relief. That had been Sunaina that he had been talking to last night. I quickly checked to see if Karan was on facebook, but it said he was offline.

Do you know if Karan's up yet?

Yup. He's on his way to your place now. Don't tell him I talked to you. He would kill me if he found out I told you he like you. He's so scared that you'll turn him flat on his face.

I almost laughed. Me hurt him, I wasn't sure that was possible.

Your secret's safe with me, Pankit.

A moment ago I had been terrified of Pankit. Now I had a feeling that we were going to be best friends. I quickly told Pankit goodbye and got up from the computer. I didn't want Karan to see me still wearing his clothes. I almost skipped to my closet to get a pair of jeans and a baby blue tank top. I didn't recognize myself. I was so happy and upbeat.

I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth when somebody knocked on the door. Luckily I could hear Jen stumble to the door. "Hello" Her voice was drowsy, but there was enthusiasm as soon as she saw who it was. "Hey Karan. I think Shilpa's in the bathroom. Come on in."

"Thank you, Jen." I had to grab the counter at the sound of his voice. My knees reacted to its beauty.

"So what are you doing here so early?"

"Well I'm on two missions. One, Mayank wants you to call him, he's been freaking out all morning because he hasn't been able to reach you."

"Oh!" I heard Jen jump up and run across the room. She couldn't even find out what his second mission had been for me?

I spat and rinsed out my mouth knowing that I wasn't getting any more information. I pulled my hair into a pony tail and quickly washed my face. I finally went out to see him. "Hey." My voice cracked. I must have been more nervous than I thought.

He smiled at me and stood up from my desk chair. He had been studying the pictures on my desk. Some of my friends from home and some of my parents. "I thought that you might want to go get some breakfast."

I nodded and smiled. I pulled on my converse and pulled open the door. I nodded goodbye to Jen before I locked the door. When we were outSide I began to head to the student center, but Karan reached out and grabbed my hand to stop me. "I thought you wanted to get something to eat." I was confused.

"I want to take you to this little place I found last week. I think you might like it." He didn't let go of my hand as he pulled me in the opposite direction.

Just off the campus there was a small coffee shop, called the Moon Caf. It reminded me of coffee shops in old movies. I was distracted by the paintings on the walls and the colorful lamps hanging from the ceiling. Karan pulled us right to a booth in the back. There was a single lamp hanging over us, but otherwise, the table was dim.

"Everything here is good, but since it's your first time, I would suggest the Monkey Coffee with a cream cheese chocolate cake. You will never want to school's coffee again."

As he finished speaking a drowsy waitress walked over to us. As soon as she saw Karan her eyes sparked. I knew what she was thinking. She looked directly at him, ignoring my presence. "How are you doing this morning?"

Karan was still looking at the menu, "We're doing fine." I was glad to hear him include me.

"Do you know what you want?" She had yet to acknowledge that I existed.

"Shilpa, do you know what you want?" His eyes met mine, much to the waitresses disgust.

I smiled, "I think I'll have what you suggested."

He smiled up at me and told the waitress, "We'll have two monkey coffees and two slices of your cream cheese chocolate cake." He never looked up at the waitress and she walked away completely dissatisfied.

I started to play with my silverware, "So'" I bit my bottom lip and stared at the silverware. I wasn't sure how I would approach this. "What was your second mission?"

"Hmm?" He sounded like I had pulled him from some other train of thought.

I looked up at him. "When you came in this morning you told Jen you had two missions. I was curious what your second mission had been."

He looked back at me a little nervous, "Well I wouldn't call it a mission exactly." He brought both hands on the table intertwined and watched his thumbs fight for dominance.

My cell phone began moving furiously across the table. Jen's name was flashing across the screen. "Sorry, I have to take this." I pulled the phone to my ear. "Jen, is everything okay?"

"What were you wearing when you left the room?" She sounded mad.

"Jen, why does it matter?"

"Because I did not pre-approve your outfit."

I rolled my eyes. "Jen, just wait till I get back to yell at me. BeSides, wouldn't you rather be with Mayank than on the phone with me?" I was trying to get her off the phone. Karan was laughing at my irritated expression.

"I am with Mayank and this is important, Shilpa. What you wear on your first date with a guy is crucial."

I rubbed my temples. "Jen, he's seen me covered in beer and in his sweats, I'm not sure his impression on me cannot be changed." Karan's expression changed slightly. He now looked intrigued. It must have just occurred to him that we were talking about him.

"But Shilpa," she was whining now. She was trying to annoy me enough to get her way.

"Jen, just give up, I've already left. I'm not coming back so you can waste three hours of my day."

I was going to continue, but Karan held out his hand. I hesitantly put my phone into his hand. "Jen." He waited for her to respond. "Jen, I'm not bringing her back for a few hours." A few hours? What did he have planned? "I think she did an amazing job dressing herself." I blushed out of habit and I saw him smile. "You'll have to work that out with her, but for today, she's mine." My heart stopped when he said those last two words. What wouldn't I do for him to say those words and mean them the way I wanted him to? "I'll talk to you later, Jen."

He handed the phone back to me looking very pleased with himself. "Jen?"

"Fine, you get your way today, Shilpa, but this will be the last time. You mark my words."

I sighed, "Jen, I'll see you later and we can negotiate this then."

"Have fun on your date, but there's no negotiation coming your way." With that, the line went dead.

I glared at the phone as Karan laughed. "She's a feisty little thing isn't she?"

"She's my best friend, but sometimes she's like a pixie from hell." My anger seemed to amuse him more.

The coffee and cake arrived then and the waitress was giving her flirtation another attempt. She put both her hands on the table and leaned towards Karan so the unbuttoned flap of her shirt opened. "Is there anything else I can get you?"

I unintentionally growled causing Karan to look at me in confusion. I shook my head. He finally looked at the waitress. "Yes, you could move so that I could have a clear view of the beautiful woman sitting in front of me."

The waitress sneered and I nearly fainted. I know that I was blushing, and I couldn't bring myself to look at him.

I felt a finger underneath my chin coaxing my face up. "I'm not usually rude to people, and you're wasting my efforts by hiding your face from me."

I looked up into his beautiful emerald eyes. They sparkled like the gems that they resembled. I couldn't do anything, but sit there, trapped in his gaze. He melted away all of my nerves about being so close to him, all of my anger at the waitress, and all my frustration with Jen.

I could still feel the heat in my cheeks. They must have been fire engine red. He let his thumb trail along my burning cheeks before dropping his hand from my face completely. Again, I felt a loss as soon as his touch was gone.

He picked up a casual conversation allowing us both to finish the amazing coffee. He was right. The campus coffee couldn't compare to this at all. Starbucks would never again be worth my time, though I imagined Starbucks with Karan would have been a different story.

Karan paid for my coffee against my wishes and took my hand, leading me outSide. We walked further from the campus toward a park I had not known existed. At the center of the park was a pond that kids were swimming in as their parents sat around in chairs talking. It was a very peaceful setting. Karan kept hold of my hand and pulled me to a trail that lead through the surrounding trees.

Karan began questioning me, and he listened as if every answer I gave was of vital importance. "What about your parents, what do they do?"

"Well my mother lives in Arizona with her husband Phil. He's a baseball player and she's a kindergarten teacher. She love's working with children. I think it's because she is one."

He looked confused. "You don't look like you're from Arizona. No offense, but you're really pale."

"Well I don't live with my mother. I live with my father; Retired army general Chief Anand."

"General? Really?"

"Yeah"

"My parents are about to move there. They're currently in Seattle, but my mom's getting tired of city life. She wants to move somewhere smaller and quieter. So my Dad got a job as a doctor in Washington Hospital."

I both rejoiced and groaned internally. "Your father is going to get to know me really well."

"Why?"

"What happened the first day we met, well that isn't a rare occurrence with me." I pulled out my cell phone. "I have all the doctors' home numbers on my speed dial."

He chuckled, "I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on you." His hand tightened around my own as if to reinforce his words.

I wanted to keep him talking, "So what are you majoring in?"

"Well I'm currently doing pre-med. I was a biology/education major last year, but I visited a high school last semester and realized I didn't want to go through that again."

I thought about him as a teacher. There wouldn't be a girl in his class that didn't get straight A's. They'd all want to impress Mr. Grover. Though I had to admit Dr. Grover sounded better to me.

"And what about you?"

"Journalism, I think. I love to write, though if I could get paid to read, I'd be even happier."

He smiled at my comment. "What do you like to read?"

"Classics, mostly. Shakespeare's always a good option, Wuthering Heights, Dickens. I'm not picky, I just like to be reading something."

He smiled. "You and my mother will get along. She loves to read. I'm sure that she'll be giving you more books than you can handle. She used to teach Literature, but gave it up to be a stay at home mom. I've tried to convince her to go back, but she tells me that she is too happy the way she is to change things."

Only one thing caught my attention in what he'd said. "I'm going to meet your mother?"

He laughed, "Sure, the way that people talk about India and since you spend some time she would be surely happy, there's no way not to meet someone." That was true. It made situations like breakups and divorces very difficult. It's part of the reason that my mother had fled India. "And I would like my father to meet you on better terms than in the Emergency Room."

I blushed, "Don't count on it. I'll probably trip the moment I step out of my truck and get a concussion.

He shook his head dramatically, "If your truck is that dangerous, I will be driving you home."

I liked that idea. The hours of time that I wouldn't have to worry about beautiful women trying to take his attention away from me. I wasn't selfish, I just knew that his presence in my life was not something that I was going to waste.

The rest of the day was spent at the park. I discovered a lot about him. He was a sophomore, he was born in Chicago but moved to Seattle with his parents four years ago, which was where he met Mayank. He had done football in high school to keep in shape but didn't feel the need to play in college. I could tell that he loved his parents from the way that he talked about them. He liked to spend time with his family, even his brother who liked to throw parties at their apartment. I was still keeping my promise to Pankit that I wouldn't mention out conversation to Karan

Soon the shadows of the trees were longer than the trees themselves. My stomach growled in complaint to the long absent presence of nutrition. I laughed.

"Hungry?"

"A little," I admitted with a blush.

He contemplated that for a moment. "There should be something at the apartment, that is, if Pankit hasn't eaten it all."

We walked back to his apartment. Karan's hope was sadly misplaced. A few empty boxes were all that were left in their pantry.

I had a sudden idea. I flipped open my cell and dialed the number. "Hello?" Jen's voice was a little annoyed. I must have interrupted something.

"Hey Jen. If you'll pick up a few things for me from the store, I'll make lasagna for you and Mayank at his apartment."

Jen perked up at the sound. In the past couple of weeks, she'd come to love my cooking. She'd be obsessed now that I could use a real kitchen. She agreed to get the ingredients and left me awkwardly wondering how to pass the time. My hunger had interrupted our easy conversation, and now I didn't even have something cooking to keep me preoccupied.

"So you can cook?"

I couldn't tell if he was just trying to make conversation or if he was genuinely curious. "Yeah, neither of my parents can cook. My mother will set a kitchen on fire before she even got the food in the oven. My dad can do simple things, but nothing really comes out tasting goo. I don't know what I'm going to go home to over thanksgiving break." Though it had been meant to be a joke, I was suddenly worried about the prospect. The last time Amit tried to cook for me, the simple spaghetti dish turned into a mess. If I hadn't stopped him, he might have blown up the sauce can in the microwave.

I was glad when Jen arrived. I needed to get something in my stomach. While I started to put the dish together, Jen pulled out a few movies that she picked up on her way. She picked up Emma and Pride and Prejudice for me because she knew how much I loved Jane Austin. She had picked up a few more guy worthy movies, but Mayank was all in for watching a romance with Jen. Karan agreed on Pride and Prejudice, though I wasn't sure if that was because he actually wanted to watch it or because he knew he was out numbered.

"Shilpa!" Jen yelled from the living room. "Are you done yet? I'm starving."

I giggled at her impatience. "I'm about to take it out of the over. You can wait five minutes, can't you?"

"No, the wait is torture. You have no idea how good that smells."

I smiled. The thing that I loved more than cooking was having people like what I made them. I pulled the lasagna out of the oven and set it to cool for a few minutes. I was looking around the kitchen for plates and silverware when Karan appeared at my Side. He began to pull things out of cupboards like he could read my mind.

In less than five minutes, everyone was stuffing down the lasagna. I had a strange feeling that this would not be a rare occurrence.

"This is amazing, Shilpa," Mayank said between mouthfuls. "You're almost as good of a cook as Sonia."

"Who's Sonia?" I asked with genuine curiousity.

"My mom," Karan said. "She hasn't come across a dish yet that she can't master."

"I don't know man." Mayank shuddered at some memory. "Remember the time she tried to make sushi."

Karan laughed. I loved his laugh. Nothing in the world could be wrong when he laughed. "She's getting better at it. It won't be long before she has it down."

"You mean she's trying again?" Mayank seemed horrified. "I thought we all agreed that she was never to try serving raw fish again."

"You know my mom. She has to get everything perfect. It bugged her for months that she had screwed it up. So she had to get it right."

Mayank shuddered again. All I could get from the conversations was that something had gone horribly wrong when Sonia had served sushi.

After devouring half the pan, Karan and I moved to the living room to set up while Jen and Mayank washed the dishes. I tried to help, but Karan wouldn't let me. He said it was only right that I should rest after I cooked.

Karan pulled out a few blankets while I tried to figure out how to work his TV. It looked too expensive for a college apartment. I had gotten the DVD in the right slot, but I was having trouble switching the screen from cable to movie.

I heard a chuckle behind me and turned to see Karan holding a remote. He pushed a button and the DVD menu was displayed on the screen.

"Show off," I muttered. I knew that he heard me because his smile widened exponentially.

He sat down on the couch and gestured for me to sit next to him. If I sat on the couch, that would leave the love seat for Jen and Mayank. Jen would love that, so I took the available spot next to Karan. He placed a blanket around my shoulders as we waited for Jen and Mayank to finish.

Finally they walked in and sat down in the love seat, with Jen on Mayank's lap.

Karan pressed the play button and we sat through the movie, trying to ignore Jen and Mayank making goo goo eyes at each other. When the movie was over Jen decided to pop in Emma. I love Emma, but it's a long movie completely comprised of dialogue. I began to nod off before Jane Fairfax had even arrived. I felt Karan rest my head on his shoulder, but I wasn't awake long enough to register anything else.