Chapter 1: We Slept Together

"Holy fuck*!"  Arnav cussed and slumped onto the dining table.  His elbows rested on the table, his hands clutched his head which was pounding with a killer hangover-headache.

Arnav Singh Raizada, a 23 year old MBA student, loved his parties and his alcohol.  He hated the hangovers just as much.  This was a routine of every Saturday night.  Party hard and then writhe in pain the next day.  He also loved his women.  He went through his fair share of girls in the last few years he'd been a student.

He sat there, clutching his head, thinking about his recent break up which just made his head hurt even more.

A few seconds later, a slender hand with a milky complexion put a glass of lemon juice in front of him with an aspirin tablet.  He smiled weakly.

"Thank you Khush."  He took the pill and gulped it down with a lemon juice.

Khushi Kumari Gupta.  Or as Arnav liked to call her:  Khush, Witch, Tiny, and MTB (standing for Miss Tom Boy).  She was the only girl, whom Arnav Singh Raizada had failed to impress with his charms and money.  She had developed the kind of relationship he had never developed with any other woman.  Friendship.  She was, in every sense, his best friend.  She understood him more than his own Di.  She was always there for him.  She put up with his tantrums and he with hers. 

After his Di, she was the only one in front of whom he had broken down and cried remembering his mother.  The demise of Khushi's father four years ago had only brought them closer.  Now, they were inseparable.  Despite their pranks on each other, their countless fights, their rude exchange of cusses, it was always the two of them against the world.  You couldn't mess with one without angering the other.  You couldn't make one happy without making the other just as happy.

Khushi took a seat next to him and then set down her plate of breakfast.  Arnav looked at it with wide eyes.  He shook his head and picked up a fork.  He stabbed a strawberry from her plate and shoved it in his mouth.

"Tsk.  Get your own breakfast!"  Khushi rolled her eyes and spoke with a mouthful.  One thing Khushi couldn't stand was people taking away her food.  Food was something she loved dearly.

Arnav raised an eyebrow.  "I thought that was for both of us."

"You were busy sleeping so I didn't bring yours.  It's in the kitchen."  Khushi shrugged.

Arnav looked at her "plate" of breakfast again.  A pile of one, two, three, four, five...EIGHT pancakes, he counted, three toasts, a muffin, a bunch of fruits, and a croissant.

"Seriously Khush...stop eating like a pig or else you'll become fat like one."  He tried to steal a raspberry but Khushi slapped his hand away.

"Don't envy my metabolism just because you can't eat like this and stay skinny...I know you wish you could eat as much as I can...because then you wouldn't have to lose every time we had a competition."

"No thank you...I don't want to eat like a pig...and you know Khush...this isn't very lady like...the way you eat, I mean."  Arnav smirked.  He knew her response before she said it.

Khushi scoffed.  "If being a lady means being like one of your girlfriends who pick at their food rather than eating it...I'd rather not be a lady."

"Oh my god.  Don't tell me you two have started fighting already."  A slender girl with waist long hair and a sweet smile took a seat in front of Arnav.

Anjali Singh Raizada, his older sister who was finishing up her Teacher's school education to reach her goal of becoming a professor.  She was very dear to him as she was the mother figure in his life.  They had lost their mother in an unfortunate accident when she was fifteen and he was thirteen.  The loss of his beloved mother had taught him how important it was to love your close ones and appreciate them fully because fate's cruel games could snatch them away from you any unforeseen minute.

"We never fight."  Arnav and Khushi spoke up simultaneously making Anjali roll her eyes.

"Yeah, you two not fighting is just as believable as me being Salmaan Khan's wife!"  She muttered.

Arnav left the table to get his breakfast and came back within minutes.  Khushi raised her eyebrows at him once she looked at the bowl of cornflakes.

"Cornflakes?  Seriously?  You eat like a girl Arnie boy."  Khushi grinned.

"Ha.  Ha.  You're so funny Khush."  Arnav started munching on the cereal.

"Please don't start again..."  Anjali warned.  "I already have a headache.  These parties are fun and all but this hangover is so not!  How come you don't have one?"  Anjali asked Khushi.

Khushi shrugged.  "I did...when I woke up..."

"Ahh..."  Arnav drawled thoughtfully.  "That explains the crankiness...I mean...you never make such a fuss when you wake up..."

"How do you know she was cranky?"  Anjali asked with raised eyebrows.

"We slept together last night."  Arnav said casually.

"WHAT?!?"  Anjali's voice was echoed by three new additional voices.

Arnav turned to look at the usual addition to their group as they joined the table and took their seats.

Rohan Oberoi; Anjali's boyfriend of three years,  Akash Singh Raizada;  Arnav and Anjali's cousin, And Payal Gupta; Khushi's cousin, as well as Akash's girlfriend of six months.  These six individuals were nothing short of a family.  Having known each other since their high school days, and having lived together as housemates in a foreign country for the last five years had only strengthened their bonds.

"What do you mean you slept together?  How could you?  She's your best friend!  And Khushi...how could you??  What will Garima Aunty say?"  Payal blasted at them.

"Chotte this is not right!"  Anjali slammed a hand on the table.  "Do you know how awkward things will be between you two now!?"

"Why?  It's not like we haven't slept together before..."  Khushi frowned in confusion, not understanding the reaction as she stuffed another big chunk of the muffin into her mouth.

Payal slapped a hand over her mouth in shock while Akash's head just swivelled to look at whoever was speaking.  Rohan put an arm around Anjali's shoulders and smirked.  He had understood exactly what Arnav and Khushi meant but he wasn't about to clear up the misunderstanding.  This was amusing to watch.

"And...And you didn't tell us?   I thought after Arnav, me and Payal are the closest to you!"  Anjali accused, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Didn't tell you what??  You know he sleeps in my room all the time."  Khushi said exasperatedly.

"And she sleeps in my room sometimes...what's the big deal?"  Arnav looked at them all like they had three heads.

Rohan suppressed a chuckle.

"But...you never slept with each other, you know?"  Akash said trying to make sense.

"It is kind of obvious if we're in each other's rooms isn't it?"  Arnav looked at Khushi and they shrugged at each other.

"How are you two so normal about this?  How long has this been going on?  Are you two...a...a couple now?"  Payal questioned.

"WHAT?!?!?"  It was Arnav and Khushi's turn to be shocked.

"Why would we be a couple now just because we sleep in each other's room?"  Khushi shot at Payal.

Arnav's brain gears turned and he finally caught on to what Anjali and Payal were thinking.

"Oh Hell No!  We meant that we sleep in each other's room...you know sometimes after a party...sometimes while studying...sometimes she comes to my room when she can't sleep...it's not...we didn't...like...we didn't sleep with each other..."  Arnav frowned at a chuckling Rohan.

"But you just said..."  Payal started.

"Payal!  We slept together as in on the same bed...not together together."  Khushi looked scandalized.

"So you mean you two didn't...you know..." Anjali started and Arnav rolled his eyes.

"No Di.  We didn't have sex."  He said casually.

Akash and Rohan burst into laughter at the horrified looks on Anjali and Payal's faces.  Khushi frowned at them.

"You two thought that me and him...?  Ewww...That's gross...I mean...Ewww..."  Khushi shuddered. 

Arnav laughed at her raection and then he suddenly realized what she'd said.  What did she mean by 'ew'?  He was aware of his good looks.  He was rich.  He was an attractive package!  What else could explain the long list of his ex-girlfriends??  Wait a minute.  Was she saying he was nothing special?!

Arnav's jaw dropped.  "Hey!  What do you mean Ewww?  Are you questioning my manhood?"

Arnav's tone feigned offense and Khushi rolled her eyes at him while the other four just watched on...awaiting the fight they knew would arise any second.  As usual.

"What if I am?"  Khushi challenged as she stood up holding the now empty breakfast plate.

The four spectators burst out laughing as Arnav gaped at her.  She had just taken a few steps towards the kitchen when Arnav walked up behind her and lifted her off her feet, one of his arms around her waist while the other took the plate out of her hands.  she was small enough for him to carry single handed.  He smirked when she swore.

"What the hell are you doing?"  Khushi tried to wiggle out of his grip.

"I'll show you how much of a man I am."  Arnav said mischievously as he walked into his room and kicked the door shut behind him.

Payal looked at Anjali and the two exchanged wary glances.

"Oh come on you two...you know what they're like...they're very comfortable with each other...emotionally and physically...and they're adults...let them be."  Rohan said wisely.

"Oh stop trying to be our father!"  Anjali glared at him.

"They've stretched their physical comfort level to its extent...I mean...any outsider will look at them and think they're in a relationship...I'm just worried...what if they cross a line?"  Payal looked at the shut door, the peals of giggles and laughter loud enough to echo in the entire penthouse.  Payal was horrified at the thought of what could be going on behind that closed door.

"That's just the sister in you speaking, Payal.  You know they've fallen asleep in each other's room when they're drunk...if they haven't crossed any lines in all these years...I don't think they're about to start now.  And stop looking at the door like that!"  Akash smiled at her.  "Knowing them, they're probably fighting in there..."

"Why are you two thinking along these lines today, anyway?"  Rohan asked with a raised eyebrow.  "They're always like this...so why these questions today?"

Anjali shrugged.  "Just because of the confusion about their sleeping arrangements I think."

A couple minutes later, the door to Arnav's room opened and a triumphant looking Arnav stepped out.  Khushi followed a few seconds later, fixing her hair into a ponytail.

"That's unfair Raizada!  You know I'm very ticklish!  You used it against me!"  Her hands were on her hips while she glared at him and Arnav just shrugged at her.

"You'll regret this Arnav."  Khushi threatened.

"We'll see..."  Arnav plopped down on the couch and turned on the TV.  Khushi groaned and then plopped down next to him, punching his arm.

Akash turned to Payal with an I-told-you-so' look.  The four finished breakfast chatting about school and the previous night's party while Arnav and Khushi watched 'Van Helsing'.  The two picked their characters and spoke along with them. Having watched the movie a gazillion times, they knew the lines by heart.  This was one of the reasons why no one would watch a movie with them if they'd already seen it more than twice.  They always did this "talk along" thing and it drove everyone nuts!

As the movie came to an end, Khushi finally stood up and stretched.  "Ahh...I think I'll go take a shower now..."

"Oh so that's what the smell was..."  Arnav joked.

Khushi looked at him with a bored expression.  "Do you know you've tried to use that joke for the last week and it only worked the first time?  And for your information...I'm going to take another shower...I already took one this morning unlike you."

Khushi stalked off to her room leaving Arnav with another movie to watch on the TV.

"When are they coming back?"  Arnav questioned regarding Akash, Payal, Rohan, and Anjali who had gone on a double date lunch.  Something they'd started doing every Sunday recently.

"I don't know...probably around three in the afternoon as usual."  Khushi called out from her room.

---

"You're still here?  I thought you'd be out with Natasha..."  Khushi sat next to Arnav and he immediately put his head in her lap and lay down across the couch.

"Oh right...I forgot to tell you...we broke up last night."  Arnav looked at the TV.  "NO!  Catch that, you fool!"  He screamed at the cricketer on the TV screen.

"What was the reason this time?"  Khushi rolled her eyes.

"I told her that she deserved better and that I was a jerk and didn't deserve her."

Khushi threw back her head and laughed out loud.  "And she believed that?"  Khushi said in between her peals of laughter.  "Wow...I think she was the dumbest one you've dated so far."

"Yeah?"  Arnav turned his head and looked up at her.

"Well yeah...I mean...she was working for her history essay and she asked me when the war of 1812 happened and I told her 1946 and she believed me!!"  Khushi shook her head and laughed.

"Not the best brains, I agree, but she was hot!"  Arnav shrugged.

"So who's the next target?"  Khushi picked up the remote and changed the channel on the TV.

"Shanaya Singh."

Khushi gasped and looked down at him.  "Oh my god...that...that Dear me chick?"  Khushi imitated the girl perfectly with the self fanning gesture making Arnav laugh.

"Yep.  That's the one."

"Uggh...I think your taste is getting worse and worse by day."  Khushi made a face.

"I wouldn't say that if I were you...you've been single for as long as I can remember."  Arnav said casually, eyes still glued to the TV.

"That is because you scare the crap out of anyone who tries to hit on me."  Khushi argued.

"As if you'd say yes to any of those guys."  Arnav rolled his eyes.

"That's true."

"Besides...I'm not about to let anyone take you away from me."  He muttered, more to himself, than her.

"What?"  Khushi asked.

"What?"  He countered.

"Nothing...I thought you said something."  Khushi turned her eyes back to the TV.

---

Anjali and Payal walked behind Rohan and Akash respectively when they returned.  Rohan frowned seeing a post-note over the keyhole.

Khushi and I are gone to get some groceries.  Will be back by 4. - Arnav.

"Well...that's one less chore for me to do."  Anjali sighed thankfully.

They had walked in merely two steps when suddenly, they all slipped and tried to hold onto each other but only ended up pulling each other down.  The next second, a cold splash of water and a shower of some kind of power were dumped on them.

Laughter echoed in the living room of the penthouse as Arnav and Khushi doubled over, laughing at the state of their victims.  The four of them wiped their faces and looked around and found Arnav and Khushi on the floor, literally rolling around laughing like no tomorrow.

"Ha!  That's for this morning!"  Khushi laughed at the four of them who resembled some horror movie characters.

"Oh come on!  That's unfair!  I didn't even say anything this morning!"  Rohan argued, trying to stand up but slipping on the slippery floor.

He touched the floor with his hand and then brought his hand to his nose, sniffing the slippery material.  Baby oil.  The mixture of baby oil, water, and flour stuck to them in a gooey form and the four had quite a hassle trying to get up.

"Mission accomplished."  Arnav and Khushi high fived each other.

Arnav draped his arm around Khushi's shoulders casually and Khushi's arm went around his upper back since she was much shorter than he was.

"See ya later!"  Arnav grinned at them as the two walked out, picking up their tennis racquets, leaving their poor victims in their struggle.

"I don't get it...why do we always end up falling into their pranks?"  Akash dusted his hair free of the flour.

"Because Anjali and Payal can't shut up about how much they want Arnav and Khushi to become a couple."  Rohan glared at the two women who exchanged a sheepish look.