New FF: Heer's Secret prt22 pg96 Jun9 - Page 32

"This is a clear violation of the no touching rule," Heer said. She didn't know what else she should say in that situation. She was just happy that she managed to say something some-what meaningful and didn't stick her foot in her mouth.

"Ok" was all Prem said to her. Heer looked at him with a hint of confusion because after he said that, he didn't do or say anything. A split second later Heer saw a hint of mischief in his eyes, and the right corner of his mouth went up in a sneaky grin.

Before Heer could do, think, or say anything, Prem did something. One second she is in the warm, strong, muscular arms of her ex; the next second she is in the cold, hard, painful arms of'the floor! She looked up to see that she was at the feet of her ex, whom she wanted to strangle at the moment, with him looking down on her with his warm, strong, muscular arms now resting on his hips.

"What the hell was that for?!"

"What?" Prem questioned, acting innocent.

"Don't 'what' me! Why the hell did you just drop me on the floor?!" Heer asked as she sat up and dusted her self off.

"Well'it's what YOU wanted."

"How did I want myself dropped on the floor?"

"If I remember correctly'" he said, as he bent down into a squatting position, now face to face with Heer, "'you did say that I was breaking the, what was it, oh yeah, the 'no touching rule'."

"But I didn't'" she began, but was interrupted my Prem.

"I wouldn't want to jeopardize this work agreement that we have going by breaking your precious rules, now would I? After all I am a business man; I know the worth of a verbal contract." Prem said underneath his grin.

"Prem Jhuneja'you'you'worthless little'piece of'" Heer couldn't finish her sentence as she fell into a fit of laughter. She was soon joined by Prem, and their laughter filled the room and the house. As they relived the incident they laughed even harder, to the point where tears were coming out from their eyes.

"I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard that it made me cry." Prem stuttered as he laughed.

"I remember the last time I saw you laugh this hard," Heer said. "It was the night that we had one of those rare at-home evenings. We had ordered pizza, wings and beer, for you of course, and we decided to have a Three Stooges marathon. That night we laughed so hard we cried and our sides hurt. Remember? It was'it was'" Heer was at a loss for words as she tried to remember that specific time in their lives.

"It was exactly three weeks before you left me," Prem replied, finishing her sentence.

Both of them became quiet not knowing what to say, again. They were fully aware of their past, and aware of the fact that the topic could possibly come up; but neither one was prepared to deal with it now that it had been brought up.

"I think that was the last time I laughed'period," Prem admitted.

Heer tore his eyes away from his because she couldn't take looking into those eyes any longer; those eyes that had just flashed with pain and confusion. The silence stretched, both of them still on the floor. After a while Heer finally had the courage to look up again. Slowly she lifted her head so that she was eye to eye with him, hoping all the way that he was no longer looking at her; no such luck as she saw that his deep, dark eyes were fused on her.

They both stared into each others eyes, not saying a word. It was like they were reliving themselves, when they were together, the memories, the laughs, the tears, the love'the kisses.

Heer watched as Prem's head began leaning in towards her. Slowly, inch by inch, he came closer and closer to her; his face now only millimeters away from hers, his lips just millimeters from hers. It was like she was frozen, she couldn't move or do anything, she just sat the way she was.

The next thing she knew, Prem leaned in causing the distance that separated them to disappear; she felt his lips meet with hers. His lips were smooth and soft, like they had always been - it felt like two rose petals meeting. It was soft and tender, yet toe curling at the same time. Heer couldn't move or do anything still because all thoughts went out of her mind as soon as Prem's lips found hers.

Since Heer was not pulling back or resisting Prem decided to push forward. His lips not leaving hers, Prem used his hand to cup the back of her head and tilt it giving him better access to her. Her arms went around his neck drawing him closer to her as well; and soon her hands began roaming across his back. Taking that as her body language giving him the green light, he slowly began running his hands over her body. His hands then began retracing the paths they had previously taken, but this time under her shirt; his hands on her skin. Under his touch he felt her body shudder and form to his body. Her hands were working on the buttons of his shirt, as they came undone one by one. He tilted her head back and began teasing the tender flesh of her neck, all the time his hands making their way to her breasts.

One of his fingers brushed across the sensitive tip of her breasts and an involuntary moan escaped Heer's lips. Before Prem could do anything else, he suddenly felt Heer's body stiffen under touch. Suddenly she had become closed, stopped urging him, her hands stopped their assault on his chest'she froze.

Not knowing what was going on through her mind, Prem didn't know what to do. He stopped kissing her, but kept himself positioned the way he was and didn't move. It was Heer who quickly pulled away, gave him a push to get some space, and quickly scrambled to her feet, tugging at her top attempting to straighten it out.

"This is wrong, we shouldn't be doing this'I shouldn't be doing this," Heer said as she looked around the room for her purse. Spotting it across on the other side of the room, she made a B-line directly to it.

"Heer'"Prem tries saying as he attempted to straighten himself out.

"No'no'" she remained adamant, "'this is wrong'so wrong." Heer continued to babble to herself as she made her way out of the room. "Oh, my shoes. Where are my shoes?" Heer searched for the flip-flops she had kick off when she wanted to get the box off of the top of the book shelf. Finally spotting them, she grabbed then, didn't bother putting them on, and headed to the door.

"Heer'wait'listen'" Prem said, still trying to get a word in edge wise, as he buttoned his shirt.

"No, this is wrong. It cannot happen again. I'm engaged to Preet. I'I'I have to go." Heer rushed to the main door leaving Prem quite a few feet behind her in the hall.

"Heer'" Prem said, and this time Heer came to a stop, but didn't turn to face him. Prem didn't know what to say, so he blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "'what about lunch?"

As soon as Prem said it, he wanted to smack himself up-side the head. Heer just turned to face him for a second before she ran out to her car, bare foot. That one look told Prem all he needed to know; the apprehension, regret and disgust clearly visible, nearly over flowing from her eyes.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Once Heer was in her car, she quickly put on her seat belt and put the car in drive and sped away from there like there was a fire behind her. After driving a few miles Heer pulled over on the side of the road. The whole time she was driving she was shaking. After she pulled over she took a moment to compose herself. Soon she put her can back into gear, her hands were firmly placed on ten and two, she took a deep breath and headed back onto the road.

She drove around for a few hours and some how found her way out at Malibu beach. She then realized just how long she had been driving; Malibu was at least a 3 hour drive from Santa Barbara. She pulled into a parking lot along the coast line, parked her car, and got out. She sat along the stone barrier for a few minutes just gazing out into oblivion. Getting back into her car she headed home.

Entering back into Santa Barbara city limits Heer noticed that the sun had set long ago and the stars had come out. Pulling into her drive way she noticed that the house was dark and that her parents SUV was missing from the garage. It was odd that no one was home at a time like this.

Grabbing her purse and keys she entered her house. Noticing a light on in the den she went to it. Heer saw that the light was coming from a lamp that was left on next to the couch. She was about the turn the light off, but she saw a white piece of paper sticking out from under the lamp. Taking it out, she read it.

Hi Honey,

Well the four of us couldn't just sit in the house doing nothing tonight; it is just too quiet without that little angel running around. Your father suggested that we go to a movie and dinner to take our minds off of Aarav, if that is even possible. However, we all decided that we needed to get out of our funk so as you can see, we are not at home.

We tried calling you but you didn't answer at first, and then the calls went straight to voice mail. I'm sure that everything is fine, your battery probably just died. But, I am your mother so I am bound to worry. Do me a favor, once you get home and see this note; give me or any one of us a missed call or text letting us know you are home. We will remember to bring you some desert from the Cheese Cake Factory.

Love You,

Mom

PS: If I get no call or text from you by the time we get home, so help me God, I'll have the entire Santa Barbra Police Department out looking for you. And if they find you at the beach staring off at the ocean because you are bummed out about Aarav, so help YOU God, I'll kill you.

Xoxo

Heer put the note down and couldn't help and giggle at her mother. "Love you to Mom," Heer said to the wind. It wasn't until reading her mothers' letter that she noticed her phone was dead. Before doing anything else Heer sent a text to her mother, father and sisters, knowing they would all go into a frenzy to tell the other they got the text first. Once that was done she dropped her coat, and flips flops - which had managed to find their way onto her feet - and headed to the kitchen for a drink of water.

Wandering into the kitchen, Heer noticed that the red light on the phone was blinking indicating that they had messages. Hitting the play button the messages began to run as she opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of sparkling water. A message from the camp counselor telling her know that the kids had all arrived safely, a message from her hair dresser rescheduling her appointment, three messages from her mom checking if she was home and didn't see her message in the den. The usual run-of-the-mill messages, until the next message'

*Beep*

Message left at 7:25pm. (the electronic voice said)

Hi Heer, it's me Preet. Been calling you babe but I think your battery died. Thought we could go out to dinner because I know how bummed out you are over Aarav. I should be worried out of my mind if I didn't know you better. I'm sure that you are off some place, most likely the coast line, after a long drive thinking about your special guy, and I don't mean me'not this time any way. You probably want to be alone right now, so I'm giving you your space. Good night, sweet dreams'of me. Call if you need anything at all'even if it's just to talk. Love you Babe.

*Beep*

The message was over. Heer was staring at the phone, her bottle of sparkling water opened but not a sip missing from it. Why did he have to be so damn good to her?! She was about to erase the messages when it beeped again.

Message left at 7:27pm (the electronic voice said again)

Hey it's me again'umm'erase the messages as soon as you hear them. I don't want your dad hearing me telling you to dream about me, it's weird'you are his little girl. God I hope you hear this first and not your father or Meher for that matter. She will go around telling the whole town! Ok bye'please Heer'erase ASAP. Love you'Bye. Umm'if anyone else hears this it's not Preet Singh, this is umm'this is Kreet Tingh.

*Beep*

No more messages (electronic voice)

A smile appeared on her face as she listened to Preet's message; that was Preet for you, able to put a smile on her face no matter what. As she looked at the machine her eyes began to tear. Putting the bottle on the counter, shutting the fridge and turning off the lights she walked out of the kitchen. She was in the hall, about to head up the stairs when her eyes fell on a vase of fresh yellow roses. As she neared it she saw a small card attached to it'

Hey Babe,

I know you are missing Aarav, so I thought I'd cheer you up. Here are a dozen of our Aarav's favorite flowers, the ones that look like sun flowers but are prettier. Enjoy them. I was going to send you chocolate too, but talked to your mom this evening - apparently cheese cake is on the way.

Love you Babe.

Preet

That did it, Heer couldn't take it any more; dropping the note she ran up the stairs to her room. Once she was in, she slammed the door shut and fell to the floor; that is when the tears started.

How could so do that to Preet? He cared for her so much; he worried about her, he loved her. What did she do? She has a make out and feel up session with her ex. She felt so dirty. She was engaged to Preet, she was promised to him, yet what had she just done? She felt so cheap and unfaithful. She began rubbing her lips as if to try and wipe of the taste and feel of Prem's lips from hers.

After crying and just sitting on the floor for a good hour, Heer finally got up. She ran herself a warm shower to get the knots and tension out of her body. She came out after a nice long shower wrapped up in her terry-cloth robe. She sat on the little bench attached to her bedroom window and began drying her hair, but not before she turned on the radio. The voice of the night time DJ took over the room.

Hello to all my late night listeners out there - this is 109.6 KFOZ sending you a shout out! The 11 o' clock hour is upon us, and you know what that means'Dedications!

Heer stared out of the window as she listened to the songs play; various people requesting various songs. It was nearly twelve when Heer was about to shut off the radio when the DJ came on once again.

This is our last dedication of the night. This is for a Ms. Heer from her fiance Mr. Preet.

Hearing the names that were just announced, Heer froze and sat back down.

Here is a message from Preet'and I quote'

"Hey Heer, I know that you are still upset about Aarav being gone for camp. And if I know you, then you are probably sitting in your room, in the dark listening to the radio. Enjoy the music and remember he will be back before you know it. Love you."

I got to say, that is one sweet message Preet my man. This song is for Ms. Heer and all the other love birds out there, on behalf of DJ Skillz.

The song began to play was Heer moved and sat on her bed, her eyes falling on a picture of Aarav that was on her bedside table; it was one of Aarav in his last years Halloween costume, he had been a pirate. A smile appeared on Heer's face as she remembered correctly; he had been Pirate Jr. because Preet had been Pirate Sr. Heer opened the drawn on her bed side table. Sticking her hand in, she rummaged in the back until she found what she wanted.

Slowly she pulled out a black velvet box, with gold trim. She opened it to reveal a ring resting in between folds of red fabric. It was a beautiful ring; it was a round 2 carat diamond set in platinum, with small diamonds running down the sides of the ring. No one had seen the ring except her and Preet. She didn't wear it, therefore her mother or sisters hadn't seen it. She said she would show them when she was ready.

Closing the box, she set it on top of the table. As the beautiful music and lyrics of the song filled the room, tears filled Heer's eyes. All she could do was close her eyes and let them fall'

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JAZ