Chapter 7: Pocket Full of Sunshine
"Ow." She let out a soft whimper while sitting up in bed and holding her head. It felt like someone had taken a hammer and slammed it against her skull, and every time she opened her eyes, a stabbing pain shot to the back of her head due to the blinding sunlight streaming in through the windows. "Somebody close the dang curtains!" She croaked.
"Glad you're up." She heard Reihana's voice as she felt the bed dip slightly, before her hand was tugged and Reihana offered her an aspirin. "I think someone spiked the drinks yesterday. A lot of people got drunk."
"Those stupid fools." Khushi muttered while reaching for a glass of water.
"You were kind of one of the people who got drunk."
She started choking on the water she was drinking while looking up at Reihana, aghast. "Nuh uh." She said disbelievingly. She'd only had 2 glasses of coke last night, that can't be enough to get her drunk even if the drinks were spiked. Right?
Come to think of it, she couldn't even properly remember exactly how many glasses of coke she'd had.
"Yeah, and Bhaiya did too. You guys even made a bet. Don't you remember?"
A frown made its way to her face as she tried to remember the remnants of last night. Unfortunately, thinking hard was difficult because of the killer hangover she had. "Laad Governor got drunk?"
"Yeah, and you made a bet." Reihana said with a small smirk that she was trying, and failing miserably, to hide.
"What bet?"
Just then, the door slammed open and the devils spawn himself walked in, in all his glory…err….wickedness. She meant wickedness.
"You!" He snarled while pointing an accusing finger at Khushi. She raised her eyebrows in response while he muttered profanities and dug his hand inside his pocket, pulling out something that glimmered against the sunlight. She squinted, trying to get a better look, before gasping upon realizing what it was.
"How did you get my earring?" She demanded, headache forgotten as she scrambled out of bed and snatched it out of his hands. "Stupid fool." She muttered quietly.
"I heard that!"
She turned around to face him, her glare equaling his own. "Good!"
"Why you little–"
"Stop it!" Reihana shouted at them both before pointing a finger at the bed, indicating for them to sit down. She smiled smugly at Arnav and Khushi. "Bhaiya, why don't you tell her what happened last night?"
Arnav squirmed in his seat, as if uncomfortable talking about the topic she'd just breached. Khushi shot Reihana a confused glance to which she shrugged before turning back to Arnav. "Bhaiya?"
"Nothing. Nothing happened last night." He snapped, his voice edgy.
"That's not what it seemed like to me. Well, I'll tell her. Khushi, you guys–"
Khushi nearly fell off the bed as Arnav shot up and glared down at her bitterly. "No!"
Khushi in turn grabbed onto her head and looked down, moaning painfully. "Stop yelling you quack!"
****
He rubbed his temples while sitting up and grunting painfully. Images of last night flashed before his eyes and he scurried off the bed, flabbergasted as her voice, clear as day, rung in his ears.
It's a bet.
Let's both make each other fall in love. With each other.
What had he done?
****
Khushi stared at Arnav, horrified as he explained what had went down last night, how they had made a bet, how Reihana had heard everything and tried to tell them it was stupid, how they had both ignored her. It all came crashing back, and she wished it was all a nightmare that she could wake up from and have a good laugh about.
"Well, we were drunk. So it doesn't even count." She tried to reason while getting off the bed and making her way towards the bathroom. She came back out with a toothbrush in her mouth and looked at Arnav curiously, wondering why he was still there.
"It doesn't count." He repeated slowly, looking down at the floor.
"Of course it counts. This is your pride at stake. Come on, this is like the most interesting bet I've heard of! You can't just pretend like it never happened! Chickens!" Reihana exclaimed, then proceeded to quack like a chicken to prove her point.
"I'm not a chicken!" Arnav and Khushi said in unison.
"Obviously you are. Why else would you be so scared?"
Arnav have his sister a 'what is wrong with her' look. "Reihana! Enough!"
"Chiiickeeensss." She sang.
Khushi went back into the bathroom and came back out after washing her mouth. "Fine! I'll do it! He's gonna lose anyways!" She smirked at Arnav smugly, while his jaw dropped.
"I'm going to lose? Yeah, right. In your dreams. You're the one who's gonna lose."
She smirked while walking up to him. His eyes widened as she stopped only inches away from him, until she could feel the heat emanating from his form. "We'll see about that, Raizada." She drawled.
His eyes were still wide as he gulped, his eyes darting from Khushi to Reihana before he muttered something under his breath and stomped out of the room.
She turned to Reihana with a smug smile. "This will be fun."
****
She walked downstairs for lunch and took the only seat available, next to Arnav. He gave her a fleeting glance and continued to eat his food, pretending like she wasn't even there. Khushi turned to Rahul, who was sitting to her left, and gave him a dazzling smile as he started talking about going sightseeing today.
"I think that would be a great idea Rahul ji! And then maybe we can all go to the movies afterwards!" She squealed enthusiastically while looking around the table at everyone's faces. Aryan and Reihana smiled their approvals while Arnav muttered something about movies being stupid and boring, and how he had better things to do.
"Oh yeah? Like what?" Khushi deadpanned. A snigger escaped Anjali's lips as Arnav scowled at Khushi, but didn't say anything.
"We are all going to the movies. You need to spend some time with family too, Chotey." Nani interjected while shooting Arnav a disapproving look
Arnav glared at Khushi. "Whatever."
****
Arnav felt something soft hit his shoulder and looked down, surprised to find Khushi resting her head on his shoulder, her eyes closed as she breathed softly.
She drags the whole family to the movies and then falls asleep. Typical.
He shrugged his shoulder, hoping she would wake up and not drool all over his shirt. But the woman was such a heavy sleeper, he was sure someone would probably have to carry her to the car after the movie ended.
An image of Rahul carrying Khushi flashed before his eyes, and he clenched his fists.
For some strange reason, that thought irked him.
He leaned over her and shook her shoulder gently. "Khushi." He hissed, not entirely sure if he should be glad that they were in the corner away from others or not. "Wake up!"
"Huh? Where's the fire?!" She yelped while grabbing onto his arm and looking around wildly.
"You fell asleep." He stated with an irritated frown. "And you were drooling on my clothes."
She let go of his arm and gave him an awkward smile. "Sorry."
****
He tossed and turned while looking out at the moon through the French windows. It had taken a yellowy tint to it and was illuminating the room in its calming glow. He gazed up at the stars while thinking back to the past 24 hours. Just yesterday, around this time, they had made the bet.
He shook his head, as if berating himself for thinking about her and swung his legs over the side of the bed, making his way towards his en-suite. He needed to get her thoughts out of his mind and taking an ice-cold shower seemed just like the thing that would help.
"Where are the damn towels?" He muttered to himself while looking around the bathroom crossly and making his way towards the hall bathroom. He opened the door and immediately squinted his eyes against all the steam whirling around inside. "What the…"
"I got a pocket got a pocketful of sunshine
I got a love and i know that it's all mine oh, oh oh oh
Do what you want but you're never gonna break me
Sticks and stones are never gonna shake me oh, oh oh oh
Take me away, a secret place
A sweet escape, take me away
Take me away, to better days
Take me away, a hiding place."
Khushi's faint but melodious voice could be heard over the water running and for a minute he just stood there, listening to her sing, not thinking about the fact that he was inside a bathroom with her while he was showering, or the fact that she was merely 6 feet away from him, naked, with only a simple glass as a barrier between them.
No, he didn't think about that at all.
The water turned off, and he could notice the faint outline of her arm snaking out the door as she grabbed a towel hanging next to it. A few seconds later, she stepped out, wrapped in nothing but a thin white towel while she shook her head, sending small droplets of water to go flying everywhere.
He crossed his arms as a smirk made way to his lips. "Pocket full of sunshine huh?"
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