Chapter 2: Tom & Jerry...and Goldie?

"What the hell Raizada!"  Khushi stormed into Arnav's room bright and early, as usual, without knocking.

Arnav barely moved at her grand entrance.  He still slept peacefully on his stomach, shirtless as always.  She waited a few seconds with her hands on her hips.  She stalked to his bed, climbed up and sat on his back, crossing her legs.  His back was wide enough and she was small enough to perch there perfectly.

"Get up!"  She drummed her hands on his back, making him groan.

"Get out Khush."

"No!  Get up!  This is the third time I'm waking you up!  You're going to be late!  Your lecture starts in an hour!"  She punched his back lightly several times.

Then without warning, he rolled over onto his side and Khushi fell off his back and onto the floor.  She gasped out of annoyance and stood up stubbornly.  Grabbing a bunch of the blanket that he was sleeping on, she pulled with all her might until he half slipped off the bed.

"What the hell are you doing Tiny?  Let me sleep!"  Arnav whined trying to wiggle back onto the bed in a comfortable position.

"Get. Up. Right. Now!"  Khushi fumed.  "First I have to wake up at six thirty in the morning so that I can wake you up for your 8 o'clock class.  My class isn't even until noon, you ungrateful a**!  Get up and get moving so I can go back to sleep and dream about Salmaan Khan!"

This was nearly a daily routine.  Khushi was Arnav's alarm clock and Arnav was hers.  It was a completely different story that Arnav had a much easier time waking Khushi up.  He would simply lift her off the bed and put her in the shower, fully clothed, under freezing cold water.  She, on the other hand, had to go to the end of the world to wake up the giant that was her best friend.

She looked around his room helplessly, looking for something that could help her.  That's when she saw it.  She smiled evilly and picked up her weapon along with a pair of scissors.  Khushi cut off a piece the masking tape and put the tape on Arnav's forearm.  Grinning menacingly, she grabbed the end of the tape and yanked it off in one quick movement.  Arnav howled in pain and sat upright on the bed.  He looked at the burning area of his arm where the amount of body hair was considerably less.  What the hell!!  Had she just waxed a part of his arm?? 

But he was too late again.  She was already grinning from the doorway, ready to run if he made a move.  He narrowed his eyes at her.

"I will get you back for this Khushi." he glowered.

"Tsk tsk tsk."  Khushi made a pitiful face at him for a second and then smirked dangerously.  "Next time, I will actually use wax strips instead of tape if you don't wake up."

And then she stalked off mumbling something about Salmaan Khan and her dreams. 

As Arnav walked to the bathroom, he made a mental note to himself: hide all the tape in the house.

After the usual daily morning routine, Arnav strutted into the living room and found Khushi sitting on the couch, her textbook resting in her lap as she mumbled something to herself.  He shook his head at her.  So much for going back to sleep and dreaming about her Salmaan Khan.

"Stop stressing Khush.  You'll do fine on that exam."  Arnav stood behind her, bending as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed her temple.

"I hope so...the last one was horrendous..."  Khushi sighed.

"Horrendous?  Khush, for s**t's sake, you got a freaking 88 percent on that!" he rested his chin on her head.

"Exactly...2 percent less than a 90."  Khushi complained, making Arnav roll his eyes.

"It's useless trying to argue with you about this.  Are we still on for tonight?"  He changed the topic.

"Yeap...what are we doing?"  She tilted her head back to look at him.

Arnav shrugged.  "Depends on how your exam goes...I'll see you after your exam.  Make me proud Tiny!"  He kissed her forehead once before turning towards the door.

"Your breakfast."  Khushi said pointedly.

Arnav turned to look at her sheepishly.  "I'm running late..."

Khushi rolled her eyes and picked up a tin-foiled item and held it up under his nose.  "Cheese Sandwich."

Grinning foolishly, he took the sandwich from her and she immediately held up her other hand holding a travel mug.

"And your black coffee."  Khushi frowned as he took the mug from her hand and continued smiling like an idiot.  "You're welcome."  She grumbled.

The next second, Arnav planted a big kiss on her cheek.  "Thanks Khush.  You're the best!  Now I gotta run and you go ace that exam for me!"

And with that he practically ran out of the penthouse.  Khushi started at the physics textbook in her lap.  Oh how she hated physics.  Why was it mandatory for physiotherapy students, anyway?  A few minutes later, when she realized that nothing she was reading was registering in her brain; she groaned and walked into the kitchen.  She impatiently rummaged through the fridge to look for her stress reliever:  Jalebis.  She found none.  Of course, she'd finished them all yesterday after dinner.  Suddenly very annoyed, she opened the freezer and pulled out a container of ice cream.

She settled on the dining table this time, the book open in front of her, and the ice cream container resting next to it.  Within minutes, the house was hustling and bustling with the usual Monday morning rush.  Akash and Rohan were running late as usual.  The two ran around and about the house, gathering things they needed.

Exchanging a quick good morning', have a nice day', and see you later' with Khushi at the dining table, exchanging quick kisses with their significant others, the two men ran out leaving the ladies to themselves.

"Morning Khushi."  Anjali beamed as she took a seat opposite her.

Khushi looked up with the spoon in her mouth and nodded to Anjali.

"Stressing over an exam, are we?"  Anjali leaned over to look at the book.  "Ooh...the ever so evil Physics."

"Seriously!"  Khushi slammed the spoon on the table.  "Who invented this stupid subject anyway?"  Khushi threw up her hand in the air in frustration.

"Should have listened to your mother and studied English literature instead."  Payal said as she took a seat next to her.

"And do what with that degree, exactly?  Do I look like the kind of person who sits around isolated and writes novels?"  Khushi looked at Payal with a bored expression.

"Why are you making her change her mind Payal?  Let her become a physiotherapist...that way if we ever need to see one, we can get free service any time!"  Anjali giggled.

Khushi rolled her eyes and chuckled.  "Yes, yes because carrying around shopping bags is bound to give you some serious joint issues."  Her voice was dripping sarcasm.

Anjali and Payal laughed. 

"We get it Ms. I-Hate-Shopping. We'll do something else for the girls' night this Friday."  Payal understood where Khushi was going to lead with this conversation.

The three girls had set out a few hours every Friday night where they spent time together and caught up.  Even though they lived in the same house, all three agreed that it was an entirely different feeling being together without any of the guys around.  The last couple of Fridays, they'd been shopping, much to Khushi's annoyance.  The girl hated shopping.

"Oh!  I know what we can do on Friday!"  Khushi started but Anjali pointed a finger at her.

"Don't. Say. Video games."   Anjali warned seriously.  "I'll leave that for you and Chotte for your Thursday nights...keep me away from all that violence and racing and screaming at the television screen."

"Don't worry...I've taken care of our next few Fridays...There was this class that I signed us up for.  It goes on for six weeks.  Two hours every Friday.  It works perfectly.  Fits our schedules, and then we can have dinner on our way back."  Payal beamed proudly at them.

Khushi and Anjali narrowed their eyes at her.  "What kind of dance class?"  Khushi asked.

"Um...err...you know...kind of...well...Hip-hop."  Payal was sheepish.

Khushi breathed a sigh of relief.  Anjali, however, looked horrified.

"Me?  Do Hip-Hop?"  Anjali inquired, looking self-conscious.

But before anyone could say anything, the phone rang.  Anjali beamed a big smile seeing the caller's name.

"Hey Dad!"  She sounded extremely excited.  Khushi and Payal exchanged a cheerful look too.

Mr. Arvind Singh Raizada.  Senior ASR as Khushi liked to call him.  Anjali and Arnav's father, Akash' uncle.  A very successful businessman.  He was among one of the richest people in all of India.  His business kept him busy back in India while his children and nephew studied overseas.  Arnav and Akash were preparing to join the AR enterprises once they completed their MBA degrees.

The man was so busy, he barely visited once a year and he called rarely too.  But when he did, the conversations lasted long and were always cheerful.  Today, however, was a short conversation but Anjali returned looking as excited as ever.

"Dad bagged another big shot deal!  And as his success party, he's coming to visit us in two weeks' time!"  Anjali announced, practically jumping on her feet.  Khushi and Payal gave her a hug, mirroring her happiness.  Khushi was very fond of Anjali and Arnav's father.  After he father had passed away, he was the closest thing to a father figure in her life and she admired him.

"Don't tell Chotte!"  Anjali warned Khushi.  "I want to tell him myself!"

Khushi agreed and Anjali skipped away to her room to get ready for her class, completely missing the hint of sadness on Khushi's face.  Payal, however, noticed it at once.

"Khushi..."  She started but Khushi shook her head.

"I'm fine Payal..."  Khushi took a seat and focused on the textbook again.

"You know Garima Aunty loves you Khushi...she's just busy taking care of the sinking business after your father..."  Payal said trying to sound soothing. 

"I know...but I miss her sometimes."  Khushi admitted.

"It's natural...I miss my mom too...but we all knew this would happen when we decided to apply to universities outside of India.  We all knew we'd have to leave our parents...but we have each other right?  Imagine if we hadn't managed to get admission into the same universities...we'd be separated too and it would be even harder...but it's not so bad with all of us together.  I mean, even during highschool, the six of us mainly stuck together, didn't we?"  Payal smiled encouraging.

Khushi smiled back and nodded.  Relieved that Khushi had responded positively, Payal decided to change the atmosphere a bit.

"Maybe you should start dating...that way you won't have time to sit around and mope."  Payal teased.

Khushi glared at her.  "As if I have time for a boyfriend after my studies, you guys, and Arnav.  Besides...I'm very happy being single...Not tied down...free to check out whoever I want, whenever I want."  Khushi winked at Payal.

"As if Arnav would let you do that."  Payal rolled her eyes.

Khushi chuckled.  "Oh He does.  He has no issues with me looking at men...he has an issue with them looking at me."  Khushi shook her head.

"Kind of odd considering that he's always surrounded by all these women."  Payal frowned.

Khushi didn't respond.  She just shrugged and continued reading.

---

Khushi breathed out a sigh of relief as she stepped out of the exam.  That wasn't so bad.  She didn't know the answer to two questions.  Not bad at all.  She walked out of the building in good spirits and her spirits only lifted more when she saw Arnav sitting on the stairs, waiting for her.

He stood up as soon as he saw her and gathered in a lazy hug.

"How did it go?"  He asked with his chin resting on her shoulder.

"It was good...way better than I'd hoped."  She replied pulling out of the hug.

"Great!  That means we can do something today!"  He draped an arm around her shoulders as they started walking towards his car.

"I thought we were going to hang out today anyway..."  Khushi looked at him confusedly.

Arnav shrugged.  "Well...if your exam hadn't gone well, then we would have headed home and I would have listened to your rants while you made jalebis.  That's why I said that what we do today will depend on how your exam went."

Khushi rolled her eyes.  "How was your day?"

Arnav started telling her what he did all day in detail which was mainly about his lectures and his initial flirting with Shanaya Singh and then Khushi followed suit by telling him about her day which consisted of worrying over the damned exam.  She made sure she left out the part about Arvind uncle's call.

"So now that we've been driving for about half an hour...what do you wanna do?"  Arnav asked her while they waited for the traffic signal to turn green.

Khushi shrugged.  "I thought you had a plan..."

Arnav snorted.  "Come on Khush...us?  And plans?  When has that ever happened?"

Khushi looked at him with raised eyebrows.  "Thursday nights are always planned..."

"That's different...that's scheduled as our night out but what we do is never planned..."  Arnav pointed out.

"That's true...hmm...let's see...what spontaneous thing do we wanna do today?"  Khushi tapped her chin with her index finger as she thought of some ideas.

Arnav started driving and almost at the same second, Khushi started listing off things that came to her mind.

"We could start a collection today...we could play a prank on a stranger...no wait...we did that last week...we could do a good deed for a stranger...we could have a competition to see who can eat more burgers in one sitting...we can pick a fight with a stranger...we can gate crash a party...we can get a pet...we can take a random drive to the other end of the city..."

"Let's do that!"  Arnav exclaimed cutting her list off.

"Take a drive to the other end of the city?"  Khushi turned to face him.

"No...We've done that countless time...Let's get a pet!  We're not prepared for one, we don't know what kind of a pet we want...this is spontaneous enough...let's do it!"  Arnav sounded super excited about the idea and Khushi agreed just as excitedly.

And so, half an hour later, the two of them found themselves in a pet store.  They mutually agreed that puppies and kittens would be too much work and neither had the time for that.  They thought about getting a fish tank but then ended up arguing over which fishes to get and after fifteen minutes of bickering like a married couple, that idea was scratched off the list too.  Then, both their eyes fell on a cage simultaneously.  They both grinned widely and turned to look at each other.

"It's perfect!"  The chimed together and headed towards the attendant.

Another hour later, they were standing outside the door to their penthouse.  Khushi bit her lower lip and looked over at Arnav who was holding the cage.

"We didn't think about this part..."  Khushi pointed out the obvious and pouted.

"They are going to freak out!"  Arnav agreed with her, his eyes slightly wide as he imagined the kind of reaction their pet would induce.

"We'll have to sneak Goldie in..."  Khushi twisted her lips and tapped her chin again, thinking.

"Goldie?  Did you just name him Goldie'?"  Arnav looked at her with a frown.

"Shush.  We can fight over his name later...let me think!"  She waved her hand dismissively.

A painfully silent minute later, Arnav groaned.  "Hurry Kush.  We can't stand out here too long..."

"Wait!  Let me go in and check...I'll come out and get you..."  Khushi craned her neck to make sure the hallway was clear.

"Make it quick."  Arnav nodded, shifting the cage a little in his arms.

Khushi nodded back and opened the door ever so quietly...which was a big deal in itself, considering it was Khushi.  She poked her head in and scanned the living room quickly.  Leaving the door slightly ajar, she walked into the room with padded footsteps to make sure that the coast was clear.  Once sure of the same, she hurried back to the door and frantically waved him inside.

They nearly ran to his room and slammed the door shut behind them.  A minute later, both stepped out looking triumphant and high fived each other.

Fifteen minutes later when Akash and Payal entered the penthouse, Arnav and Khushi were in the dining room.

"Hi Payal...Hey Akash."  Khushi greeted them with a mouthful of pizza. 

Khushi sat cross legged on the dining table in front of Arnav, who like normal people sat on a chair.  Akash and Payal joined them and picked up a slice of pizza from the box resting next to them.  A few minutes later, Anjali and Rohan also stepped out of their respective rooms, hearing the loud chatter and laughter. 

The six of them had a completely unhealthy dinner with a healthy dose of happiness...only two out of the six aware of the animal now residing in a cage in Arnav's room.