Friends, Sisters, Weirdos: S1-Falling In Love With Reyaansh Singhania - Page 2

Meet the 3Js (continued)

Arjun and I began to quietly tiptoe to our rooms once we entered the house, hoping that Sharon di wouldn't notice.

"Stop right there!" yells a very angry, red-faced girl.

"Busted," me and Arjun hiss simultaneously.

Remember how I said all that stuff about Taani and Kriya being tigresses? Well, Sharon di's a lioness. And right now she's a pissed off lioness, which is worse.

"Heeey dii," says Arjun, dragging out the syllables of each word, something he only does when he's nervous or scared, and this case, he's most definitely both.

"Hey di?" she says, her voice shaking with anger, "HEY DI?! Do you guys have any idea how worried I was?! You were supposed to be home by ten, it is eleven!"

"Di, we're really sorry! We just lost track of time and... I love you?" I say, the 'I love you' coming out as more of a question but whatever, I'm giving her the biggest smile I can possibly muster, I'm safe.

"Aw, come here," she says, pulling me into a tight hug.

Told ya'.

"Hey, how come Saara gets a hug and I don't?" whines Arjun, pouting. Oh god, he can be such a kid.

"Oh alright," sighs Sharon di, pulling him into our hug. "Now, who's hungry?"

"Ooo me, I am!" He is such a child.

"When are you not hungry?" I ask.

"Alright, alright. Go freshen up and get Vrushi," says Sharon di, probably trying to keep the peace.

"Okay di," I say as I skip off to my room.

Yes, I skip.

http://www.polyvore.com/cousins/set?id=149553540 (S-V)

I knock on my cousin's door after getting dressed.

Vrushika Rai Prakash, my other cousin. She's shy, quiet, and a total sweetheart who I want to shield from everything wrong with this world.

When I entered Vrushi's room, she was painting her nails white. All of them, except for her ring finger. It's this weird habit of hers. She always either does something different with it, or leaves it blank.

"Hey sweetie. You gonna' come have dinner with us?"

"Uh, duh! It's food, of course I'm coming. Honestly Saara, I thought you knew me better than this," she says dramatically. How am I related to these people? And why?

"Vrushi, before you get up, I need you to do something for me," I say, as she starts to get up.

"What, no. I want to eat."

"Fine. Then I'll eat all your dessert while you're doing the dishes because it's your turn to do them," I say, smirking. This makes her stop right in her tracks. She goes and sits on her bed like an obedient child. "Close your eyes and don't open them until I ask you to. Oh, and no peeking." She does as she's told and I go and get two bottles of nail polish.

After I'm done, I say, "Open your eyes."

Vrushi looks at her at nails and demands, "This is what you threatened my dessert for?!"

"Vrushi, Vrushi, Vrushi... I'd never eat your dessert. And besides, we're having pie. I thought you knew me better than that," I say shaking my head.

"Saara ki bachi I'm gonna' kill you!" she exclaims, but then stops and asks, "Wait... What kind of pie?"

"Cherry," I reply, my face scrunching in disgust. Personally, I like apple pie. Other than that, pies can die.

"Yum, let's go woman!" screams Vrushika, dragging me to the dining room.

"What took you guys so long?" asks Arjun, once we've reached the table.

"I was painting Vrushi's nails."

"What?!" demands Sharon di. "Miss Vrushika Rai Prakash let you paint her nails? That too before dinner?"

"She threatened to eat my dessert."

"That makes more sense," says Arjun.

"Okay, now everyone sit down and eat," Sharon di says cheerfully.

We all sit down, excited to eat, but the excitement dies down once we see the food.

At least, I think it's food.

"Sharon di, did you... make all this?" asks Arjun.

"Of course! In fact, I've decided to make you guys dinner every night," she declares, jumping and clapping.

Oh shit.

"So, what exactly is all of this?" asks Vrushi.

"Oh, that's matar paneer," which I'm sure has both matar and paneer in it, "those are kebabs," which I still think are potatoes, "and these are rotis," burnt, very burnt.

Again, oh shit.

"Di, why don't you get dessert out, and we'll start eating," I suggest.

"Okay," she says as she goes into the kitchen.

Once she's out of earshot, Arjun hisses, "Have her cook for us every night? I'd rather eat my own cooking!"

"We'll figure out what to do about that later. Right now, eat all this food as fast as you can," I command. With that, the three of us start eating, just to please our big sister.

When Sharon di comes back, she's shocked to see that we've finished eating everything.

"Guys, you didn't even leave any for me. I wanted to taste my own cooking." She looks a little disappointed, but happy that we ate her food.

"No you don't," mutters Arjun. I kick him in the shin, causing him to glare at me as he holds back the scream he was about let out in pain.

"Di, I was thinking that you should just let kaka do all the cooking. I really want to spend some time with my Sharon di," I say sweetly, batting my eyelashes.

"We'll have a ton of time to talk Saara, no biggie."

"Di, what if we all help you cook?" suggests Vrushika.

Say what?

"Yeah, then we can spend time together," adds Arjun. I glare at the two idiots I'm somehow related to, mentally crushing their empty skulls with my hands.

"That's a great idea Vrushi! Now everyone, finish up your dessert and go to bed. I have some work to do," says Sharon di. I face-palm myself after di leaves, and wonder how and why I ended up in this family.

Taani's POV

After Saara leaves, I go to my room to finish unpacking. Well, technically, I share it with my cousin Kriya, but still, you get the point.

The last thing I unpack is my memory box. This box includes some of my most prized possessions.

My memories.

I take them all out, one by one. The first was a picture of me at age ten, hugging mom before she left for her last concert. It was her last concert because her plane crashed on the way back. The second was another picture, but this time of me and di with bhai during our very first raksha bandhan. I think we were mostly likely five, with bhai being six since he's a year older. Next was a picture of the first time me and di met Saara when we started going to school at the age of six. When we first became best-friends. A picture of me at my first violin concert, at the age of 10, was next. I don't know why I even kept this one. I hate it.

Then came my friendship bracelet from Saara. Me and Saara made each other friendship bracelets back in grade school, and when we asked di to make one with us, she said no. She's a stubborn one my sister. Girly things aren't really her thing, but both me and Saara knew that she wanted to make one. She just didn't want to get over her ego. After that I pulled out my princess ring. Last year for raksha bandhan, bhai gave me a ring shaped like a crown, and he gave di a four-leaf clover ring; because di's his lucky charm, and I'm his little princess.

After that, my hands found yet another picture. This one was of me and another girl. Ruhi. My ex-best-friend. I wanted to tear it in half and throw it on the floor so that I could burn it later, but I just couldn't do it. And then, it was as if that one picture cursed me to find more memories from school, memories that bring me nothing but sadness and anger.

First was a bracelet. A bracelet made from old guitar strings, by an old friend. Next was a necklace given to me by that same old friend. Aarav Saxena. The guy who turned my life upside down. Who changed it for the better. Who taught me how to live life. Who taught me to play music for myself and not other people. Who came into my life like an angel.

And then left me forever like the devil he is.

I look at more pictures of me and Aarav, some of which I'm not where I even got. We'd come a long way from not even acknowledging each other to becoming the best of friends.

Ah! Just the last thing I wanted to find. Aarav's letter, the one he left for me on graduation night, along with the necklace.

That stupid, goddamn letter! It makes me angry, it makes me sad, and sometimes, it even makes me laugh at how seriously screwed up life is. That's what all my school memories are; a sad, painful reminder of what I went through then. I wish whatever part of my brain had control over my memories would just... erase them.

At this rate, I can count on failing APS.

"Princess?" I hear my sister's voice ring out, thankful that it brought me out of my trance.

"Yeah di?"

"What are you doing?"

"Just unpacking," I say, putting everything back in the box.

"More like taking a walk down memory lane," she says knowingly, crossing her arms over her chest. "You're thinking about Aarav again aren't you?" I stay quiet. "Taanu look, I know how important Aarav was to you, but do you really think he'd want you to be sad because of him?"

"No," I groan.

"Exactly! Now come on, get up. Time to make dinner," she says as she drags me to the kitchen.

"Finally you both came!" yells maasi, once we walk into our disaster of a kitchen. "This boy is so useless."

"Mom!" shrieks bhai, outraged, while di and I giggle.

"Okay maasi, what are we making?"

"Ooo, ooo, pasta!" exclaims di, jumping up and down.

"Is she a girl or a monkey?" mutters bhai, which causes di to step on his foot. He glares at her and she happily returns the favor.

"I want to make pasta. Di let's make pasta. Bhai, go set the table," I say quickly.

"Okay, so do we want cheese or tomato?" asks maasi.

I say, "Cheese," just as di says, "Tomato."

Maasi just looks at us, almost as if to say 'are you kidding me right now?'

Then I say, "Tomato," but di decides to say, "Cheese."

Maasi sighs. "Alright, let's go with both," she says, throwing her arms up in the air, giving up on us at that point.

Maasi boils the pasta while I cut up the vegetables and di gets out the shrimp, chicken, tomato sauce, and cheese. When we're done, it looks and smells amazing.

Di and I devour our first helping in seconds while bhai and maasi are still eating the first half of theirs.

"Bloody animals," mutters bhai, which earns him a kick from both of us. He should really stop muttering stuff if he wants to live to the age of twenty.

Once we're done eating, di and I go to our room and Skype Saara.

"Hey guys," she says.

"Are you okay? You look like you're about to puke," remarks di.

"Well, my wonderful Sharon di decided to cook for us, and she made matar paneer, which didn't look like it had matar or paneer in it, kebabs which I thought were potatoes, and rotis which were burnt. Very burnt." Di and I burst out laughing at her suffering.

"You guys it's not funny!" she yells. Oops, looks like our Jwalamukhi just erupted.

"Sorry Jwalu, but this is just too damn funny," I manage to say through my laughter. '

"Of the animals in the world, you guys just had to be hyenas," she says dramatically.

"Who are you calling a hyena?" demands di.

"You, who else?" Di glares at her. "Anyways, my cousin Vrushika and my idiot brother made it worse. Now, we have to help Sharon di make dinner every night."

"I said I'm sorry woman!" I hear a female voice, who I'm assuming is Vrushika, yell.

"Sorry ain't cutting it!" Saara yells back.

"Oh get over it ya' big baby!" I hear Arjun shout.

"Shut up!" Saara shouts back.

"We can bring you leftover pasta tomorrow if you want," I say, hoping to lighten up her mood.

"You'd really do that for me?" she asks, wiping away a fake tear.

"Jwalu, you're such a drama queen," I say, shaking my head in disbelief.

"I know. But you love me anyway."

"Crazy girl," I mutter.

"Hey, I have Arjun as a twin brother, and you and Kriya as best-friends. Of course I'm crazy!"

"Hello, still here!" di 's voice booms throughout our shared bedroom.

"Oh there's Kriya. Finally! I was getting sick of that hyena," says Saara.

"Jwalu!" yells di.

"Okay, let's change the topic shall we?" I suggest, weirded out that I was the one keeping the peace for a change.

"You're absolutely right Taanu! I mean, tomorrow's our first day at St.Louis! Aren't you guys excited?" says di, her eyes lighting up like a little kid's. Saara and I smile at this. These are the rare moments when you see Kriya Shekhawat as herself. A happy and carefree girl. Not the guarded, tomboyish, stubborn Junior Rani Lakshimibai the rest of the world sees.

"Totally excited!" exclaims Saara. They both look at me. Look, I may get excited over practically everything, but not going to St.Louis. Why? Because I live breathe music, and music is the last priority at St.Louis. I did get into SPACE Academy which is one of the most prestigious art schools in the country, but I decided to go to St.Louis instead. Why? Because there I have my two best-friends in the whole universe and beyond. And I can't live without them.

"Hello? Taanu?" says di, snapping her fingers in front of my face.

"Sorry guys."

"You know, you space out a lot," Saara points out.

"And we all know why."

"Aarav again?"

"Yeah."

"Hello? I'm right here," I remind them, frustrated that they were talking about me as if I wasn't even there.

"Sorry," they both say, causing me to roll my eyes. Aarav wasn't my only problem!

Saara's cousin's yelling - man she can yell! - at her to go to sleep is what caused me to come out my own world.

Great, I spaced out again.

"Gotta' go guys," says Saara.

"See you tomorrow," says di, as she turns off the laptop. She then turns to me. Almost as if di had been reading my mind, she asks "Taanu, is this about your dad?"

"No, why?" I ask, surprised that she'd mention him. I mean, Aarav may not be my only problem, but my dad hasn't been a major concern for me in a while.

"Well, you may have been just a tad pissed off when you couldn't change your last name from Bakshi to Shekawat," di points out.

"It's not that big of a deal," I assure her, not even buying the crap I'm selling.

"Taani, I know when you're lying," says di, in her 'tell me or I will make you tell me' voice.

"Okay fine! It's a huge deal. I just don't want to have any relation to that man!" I yell, becoming even more frustrated. She comes near me and hugs me, which is any other person would find strange because di doesn't seem like the type of person to enjoy physical contact of any kind, but it's actually me and Saara that are usually like that. We love di's warm, comforting hugs.

"Taanu, even if you're still legally a Bakshi , you'll always be a Shekawat to me. To all of us."

"Thanks di. You always know what to say," I whisper, trying not to cry.

"You know, for someone who's always telling me that crying is healthy, you tend to not take your own advice," di says jokingly. "Tomorrow's a big day, so just get some sleep okay?"

This is why I can't live without my best-friends. They're everything to me, and I'm nothing without them.

Originally posted by: foramradhika

Nyc character sketch diya

Being a huge kriyam fan mre den happy dat dey r siblings.

I love d fact dat u added bth sneha n vrushika.

So wat u decided?

Its gng to end up wid sum couple or jst a tale abt 3 besties?

LOve

Radz

Originally posted by: dewcute

nice character sketch

interesting concept

can't wait to read

update soon