Part 1: Crashing and Clashing
As the beat of the song began, she forwarded her hands to
turn it up. Her body moved rhythmically to the beat while she sang along.
"Lemme se see you get high, then go low…I wanna see you
work out for me, work out for me…"
She couldn't believe her fate. She was here…in San
Francisco…in the States…driving on the freaking Golden Gate Bridge. She
couldn't suppress the bubble of laughter that escaped her. She was free…no
naggings, no pestering, and no family drama for two whole years. In these two
years, she could do what she hadn't been able to in the last sixteen years of
her life. In these two years, she could make decisions for herself. In these
two years, she would have no self-pity. Instead, she was going to learn how to
live without restraint. She looked out of the window at the setting sun. Two
more weeks and she would start school. New school, new classes, new friends,
new ambitions, and maybe something else…
She had gone through enough to learn that life wasn't a walk
in the park neither was it rocket science. There were obstacles at every
corner…waiting for that first sign of weakness. She didn't believe in ignoring
problems. Instead of going around them,
face them headstrong. With a new resolution, a new attitude, she hoped she
could finally strive towards her dream.
She was shaken out of her stupor when she felt her phone
vibrating. Good drivers don't use the phone while driving. She took the phone
out of her jean and looked at the caller id. Her face lit up and she answered
the call, "Hi di."
A female voice answered, "Di ki bachi, where are you? Agar
bridge ki sair ho gayi ho to ghar wapaas aane ki kripa kareingi?"
"Kya,Di? You're such a mom. Enjoy bhi nahi karne deti. Im
sixteen years old and I can handle myself." She waited for the tirade and it
came soon enough.
"Hey, don't call me a mom huh? I feel so old. God, Ridzi,
I'm only twenty."
Riddhima giggled and turned off the freeway onto the main
road. "Just kidding, Di."
"Acha seriously, Ridz, when are you reaching home? I wanna
go out for dinner."
"Yeah, Di. I'll be there in a bit."
"Okay, bye." Riddhima hung up and stopped at a crossroad to
turn right. She had arrived here in the beginning of summer and one of the
first things she did was get her permit. If you couldn't drive, you might as
well be disabled. But Riddhima had another reason. She loved driving. Anjali di
said that it was a beginner's thing and she would get tired of it but Riddhima
brushed that off.
It was an extremely busy road and it being rush hour didn't
help much. Finally she managed to get out of the rush. She was just two blocks
away from the house when she spotted a dog rush out in front of her car.
Instead of hitting the brakes as she should have, she steered to the left
harshly and there was loud crash.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit!!" Unbuckling her seat belt, she
jumped out the car quickly. Making her way to the back of the car where the hit
took place, she saw a huge dent. Her car which had been a gift from Anjali di
was nothing fancy. It was just a small Honda civic but it was still her baby!!
She put her hand to her forehead and tried not to panic.
What was she going to do? There was no way she could pay for the damages and
she needed the car. Anjali di would obviously offer to pay but Riddhima would
never let her do that. She had already done so much for her and Riddhima didn't
want to be a burden on her favorite cousin.
Riddhima shook out of her thought when she heard a groan
from her left. She finally assessed the damage around her. There was a very nice
looking black and grey bike on the road which was currently lacking both its
mirrors and its driver. Riddhima spotted the mutilated mirrors next to her car
tires. She picked them up and saw that they were broken. Another groan led her
to the driver who was lying in bushes. She quickly rushed to him.
"Holy motherf—…Damn…Ahh."
Kneeling down next to him, she asked, "Oh my god, are you
okay?"
The figure was obviously male due to the clothing and his
physique confirmed that. His leather jacket was covered in dirt and his blue
jeans were torn at the knees…though Riddhima was not sure if she was
responsible for that.
Pushing himself out of the bushes, he answered in a gruff
voice, "Yeah, I'm perfectly fine. I get hit by cars every day so I'm used to it
and stuffing my face into sidewalk bushes is my favorite pastime. Are you okay?"
Riddhima made a face and said under her breath, "Kamina,
poocha hi tha…pata nahi apne aap ko samajhta kya hai. Kamina." The advantages
of being foreign begin with the right to cuss at other people without their
knowledge.
She gave him a tight smile and answered sweetly, "Yup, not a
single scratch. See." She spun around slowly for him.
He said something but Riddhima couldn't hear. Then he
started to take off the helmet on his head. Riddhima crossed her arms and
watched him groan and grunt as he struggled to take it off.
"F*** it's stuck. Help!!"
Riddhima stood beside him and as she was taking it off she
began muttering, "Kuch akal nahi hai duffer main aur sir itna bada hai. Ladkiyon
ke samne gali de raha hai. Stupid, helmet. Its stuck."
"Uh…I think I just said that." Riddhima ignored him. She put
her legs on either side of him since he was sitting up with his legs out.
"Whoa." She heard that as well but ignored it as she really
wanted to take the helmet off now. As she put her hand on his shoulder, she
could feel the hard muscle underneath. She also ignored that. She pulled the
helmet from different angles but it refused to budge.
"What [jerk] the [jerk] hell [jerk]." Each jerk was followed
by a curse from the boy.
"Stop. What is wrong with you woman? I need to take the
helmet off not my head. Damn." Riddhima stepped away as he rubbed his neck she
had wringed.
"I was just trying to help like you asked me to so
stop crying." The guy stood up. Riddhima noticed that he was quite tall and
well built for his age which seemed to be around hers.
"Great, now I look like the second cousin of Darth Vader." He
began brushing the dirt off his jacket and stalked towards his bike. Riddhima
sensing an easy exit quietly made her way to her car. She was just about to
climb in when she heard him call out.
"Whoa, whoa. Slow down, girl. You can't just walk away. You
gotta pay for the damages." Slamming the car door shut, she stalked towards him
with her hands on her hips.
"Oh, hello, what damages? You see this? I should be asking
you to pay for my car but I thought to let you off the hook." Riddhima scoffed
with attitude and turned away. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye
and saw him put the visor up. For a moment she was stunned as she gazed into
the most mesmerizing set of blue eyes she had ever seen in her life. Pretty,
she thought.
"Thanks but I would prefer something like hot, mesmerizing,
passionate…pick one of those." Riddhima turned red as she realized that she had
spoken aloud. She looked at him again and could tell he was laughing at her.
"I wasn't talking to you. I was talking about the uh…the
bike. Yeah that's what I was talking about. That is one sexy bike. Too bad it's
dead now." The humor wiped away from his eyes and anger took place.
"This bike you just wrecked was a gift."
"So? My car was a gift too."
"What? Car? You call that piece of junk a car?" He began
laughing while Riddhima burned with anger.
"Shut up you a**crown. Not everyone is filthy rich."She shouted
at him. Riddhima realized that she was getting angry and cussing at a complete
stranger. But she couldn't just stand there and let him talk smack about her
baby.
The boy took a step closer to her and she took a step back.
This continued for a while until her back hit the car.
"A**crown? Don't you mean a**clown?" Confusion was evident
from his tone and amusement was evident in his eyes.
"No, I mean a**crown," she yelled to rid of her frustration,
"the crown on top of the a**hat that covers the a**hole of the a**clown. The
very zinth in the hierarchy of a**es." (Guys this specific sentence is from Mara Dyer and
remains to this day one of my favorite quotes and a perfect insult. Again I didnt
come up with this unique blasphemy.)
"How cute! We already have nicknames for each other. We're
going to be the best frenemys …and I'm
going to call you boo. How exciting!"
Riddhima watched his sarcastic-g*y-talk, "Uh no. Do not call
me boo because that is definitely not what I am to you. And it's getting late,
so I gotta go." She began to walk away but he held her hand. With an instinct
that every Indian girl seemed to possess, she swung at him except the result wasn't
what she had expected.
"Ow, ow, ow." Riddhima held her reddening hand to her chest
while the jerk was laughing his helmet off. She had forgotten he was wearing
the helmet and ended up hurting herself.
"That's karma for you, boo." He began laughing again.
Riddhima sensed that she was losing and acted impulsively.
When she put her hands on his shoulders, he stopped
laughing. When she moved closer to him, he froze. Locking her hands on his
nape, she paused by his ear and whispered, "And this is reality for you…a**crown."
Without warning, she brought her knee up in between his legs.
He went down clutching his crotch and watched the girl sashaying
towards her car. Before she climbed in, she yelled out, "See ya, sucka!"
As he watched her drive away, he whispered, "You bet your
sexy a**, you will!"
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