Amaya

Thank God, it's Friday!

Working 5 days a week is mentally exhausting, we should really implement 4-day work and school weeks.

But the good thing about this week is that I'm done with the tasks assigned to me. I had to complete them to leave early, and I did complete a few extra deliverables too just to be in Rick's good books.

What can I say I am a sucker for my friends? I didn't want him to get into trouble about me so I did pick a few extra tasks and worked overtime this week.

I looked around my cubicle, to find something to entertain me because my one and only bestie, Sarah doesn't work on Fridays because she left for Texas to meet her husband, Problems of long-distance marriage. But I am surprised by how much love they hold against each other that's keeping them this strong. I admire them both and their efforts.

A big swoosh sound came out of my computer, which was the sound of an email notification making me look at the screen.

The email was a meeting invite about the application we completed last week, it was an in-person meeting with the product owner to monitor some User testing.

The thing I love the most about my work is that we don't have a dress code, the only days we have to be in business mode physically are the client meetings.

I am more of a comfort over style person, so that works out well for me except for days with client meetings. I might have to buy some clothes to get to that meeting.

Ughh...I hate shopping, I don't know why but the thought of browsing through clothes makes me sleepy.

"Earth to Amaya." Rick snapped his fingers in front of my face adjusting his position to sit on the desk. I gave him a goofy smile as I didn't know what to tell him.

"I've been calling you for the last 10 mins, Looks like you are somewhere over the rainbow, dreaming about your date next weekend huh?." Rick teased me with a smirk on his face.

My face flushed with embarrassment at his question and how the heck does he know about my arranged date?

Duh! It has to be Sarah as she is the only one who knew about it. I will see the end of that TRAITOR!!

"You sure are into gossip, and here I thought you are a no-nonsense kinda guy," I replied him avoiding the question and hoping that he doesn't ask about my date.

It's not a date, it's more of an arranged-perspective dude for a marriage date. My grandfather is now obsessed with getting me married. I protested hard but he was not willing to give up so I agreed to meet this one particular person, for his sake and he got me a dude 2 days after the agreement.

My grandfather works faster than any other dating app.

"I will be involved when it comes to you," Rick stated like it was a fact and I smiled internally at his care for me.

"Anyway! Sarah asked May to help you get ready for the date. May asked me to invite you home so that you can come over as we couldn't find a babysitter for the twins" answered Rick.

What in the world did this Sarah do? I will definitely kill her.

"Sarah asked May to help me! Do we get a holiday if someone in our team dies because we are gonna get one? God this is so embarrassing." I said feeling mortified by my friend's loud mouth.

"Very funny Amaya, there is nothing embarrassing about it. She was looking out for you as a friend." Rick said so that I won't get mad at Sarah.

"To be frank Rick, I'm not ready for the date thing yet," I told him what I felt because my family is super excited about this and I don't want to let them down.

Rick took hold of my hand and spoke

"Don't get worked up on this date. I know you have never done anything like this, think of it as going out with a new friend. You know what? May and I can come to the same restaurant for dinner if you want." Rick assured me seeing my panic-stricken face.

I must be lucky to have people who care for me so much.

"Aww! that's so sweet of you Rick! You don't have to do that, I've been postponing this marriage for the last 6 months and I have to get ready for it someday, with my grandpa in my life, the idea of marriage is inevitable. Thanks for comforting me though, I feel a lot better now." I told him with a smile.

I know the twins can be a handful and I don't wanna cause him much more trouble than this.

"I will always be there if you need anything. Anyway, didn't you tell me you wanted to leave early?  Stop worrying about this and go have fun kiddo." He stood up while patting my back with a smile and left.

Bite me! I'm late, It's 3:30 now, I was supposed to pick up Dru from his tennis camp at 3:30.

I shoved all my things into my bag and left in a hurry to his tennis court and saw Dru alone waiting outside the tennis center. I honked so that he can see me, he had his head hung low and was dragging his feet towards my car.

Is he mad?

Nah I don't think so.

He is mad,by the look on his face.

I'm so doomed.

"I'm so sorry Dru, I was talking to Rick and I forgot about you". I told, expecting him to forgive me.

He opened the car door sat in the passenger seat quietly and started putting his seat belt on. He is giving me his infamous silent treatment.

"Fine! if you don't talk to me now, we are not going home. And then we will be late for Arjun's match." I blackmailed him hoping that would get him to talk to me.

Nada, No reply!

"Sorry Dru. I can get you anything you want to eat at the match, no restrictions." That is my last card to play with Dru, he loves junk food and my aunt doesn't let him eat.

"Yay! No restrictions and no complaining about it to Mama," he asked me in an excited tone. My last card worked, awesome.

We went back home and refreshed ourselves, and had some snacks that my aunt prepared before they left for Summer field for a date. My uncle knows how to keep the romance alive between them, they go out on dates twice a month after 16 years of marriage.

After we got ready in warm clothes, We also got some throws to warm ourselves as it's super cold outside even though it's early October.

We drove to the school cheering for Arjun, with some loud music on, yelling the song we will rock you by Queen.

"Race You." Yelled Dru and he started to run as I parked the car without realizing we both started to run towards the stadium which was half a mile away from the parking lot.

"Yay! I won." Yelled Dru as we reached the queue to get the tickets, while I bent down and tried to catch my breath with all the running.

" I win you lose now you get a big fat bruise." He yelled and started to jump on me.

I already knew he is going to hit me, so I moved to the other side swiftly trying to avoid the punch. While trying to protect myself, I bumped into someone or something which resulted in my butt kissing the ground.

I heard a faint sorry making me realize that I did hit a person not a wall in the middle of nowhere.

"Ha! Ha! You fell. " Dru was laughing hysterically making me look at him.

And all the people were looking at us like we were crazy, so I immediately got up and joined the queue not able to apologize to the person that I hit.

Dru kissed and apologized for pushing me, and I being the nice person had to accept his cute apology. After standing for a good 30 minutes we bought the tickets and went towards the bleachers.

"Amy! The Stadium is fully packed, can you find us a place fast?  I don't wanna miss the game." Dru started yelling as the game was about to start while I was looking for a place for us.

Arjun told us not to sit in the student section as they were going to have a baby powder fest today.

"Hey Dru, let's go sit behind the band anyway they are gonna play if we score a touchdown right," I said as we moved towards the band section while speaking.

Arjun is a freshman and he made it into the varsity team. He is damn good at the game, but I know he is not gonna make football his career as he is worried that my aunt and uncle will not accept it.

The game was going really well. It was half match break and the score now is 21-7. And my loving cousin scored 3 touchdowns. Arjun's friends Mark, Camden, Josh, Mia, and Aymara joined us during halftime. We were talking about random stuff about school. Dru is completely hyped up with all the sugars from the candy.

"Amy, I wanna pee," Dru said looking at me with a desperate face, and by the look on his face you could see that it was an emergency, so we bid bye to everybody around us and went inside the school building.

I sat in the lunch area, the school waiting for him to come out and the school was pretty much empty.

There were two guys sitting at the adjacent table wearing suits. One guy back facing us and the other guy was talking on the phone animatedly.

Who wears a suit to a football game? Why do I care anyway?

I didn't want to look like a creep staring at them. So, I opened my phone and started scrolling through my Instagram. It was either honeymoon pics or Wedding pictures. Why is everyone in such a hurry to get married?

As I kept browsing, I heard some footsteps behind me, making me panic. I swiftly moved my elbow to give a rear elbow strike and hit the person successfully.

"AAAGGGHHH" the guy yelled, and I turned my face to look at him.

Oh my god! I punched a kid, that's a kid from the school, I had seen him on the field during Arjun's practice sessions. I could see his face clearly now, he looks like a younger version of Theo James, the lead guy from divergent and he is Arjun's teammate.

I started regretting my stupid decision of hitting him. Damn you panic! for throwing me into a full-on wonder woman mode. I am definitely gonna get sued for harassment, there are witnesses against me and camera proofs too.

I am screwed if I don't apologize.

"I'm sorry, I thought it was someone trying to... It doesn't matter. Are you okay? Does it hurt? Should I take you to the nurse? What's your name?" asking him I helped him to sit beside me.

I could see Dru coming out of the bathroom, I asked Dru to get me a Soda to tend the place where I punched him so he wouldn't get a bruise.

"It's fine. You punch hard, and my name is Jayden," he said rubbing his stomach.

Before I could ask him what he was doing here. He opened his mouth and then happened the weirdest situation of my life.

"You don't have to say your name Amy, I know you are with that freshmen kid. I have been seeing you at all the matches. I wanted to ask you if you could go on a date with me tomorrow?" he asked with a smug look marring on his face.

Did I hear that right? Or did I lose my mind?

"How does Tomorrow 6. P.M sound?" He asked again.

I felt like a deer stuck in headlights. Mother Earth please swallow me this instant as you did for Sita in Ramayana. So, that I wouldn't have the opportunity to answer this kid's stupid question.

After a few seconds of composing and brainstorming on how to get out of the situation before Dru comes in and announces this to the whole family, I prepared an answer for him.

"Jayden right? That freshman kid you are talking about is my cousin. And just so you know I'm a 23-year-old. I'm more qualified to be your sister than a date." I said thinking that would get him to back off.

He looked gloomy after listening to my reply, and I could hear his friends whispering in the background.

I knew what his problem was the next minute, peer pressure and the good old pride.

"If you think you'll look bad in front of your friends that I said no. You can tell them I said yes and later you can tell them I was not good enough for you or something like that." I whispered to him and that made his face light up.

"Thank you, Amy! And I really don't mind taking you out on a date. Age doesn't matter to me." He said and I cringed on the inside.

"You might not but I and the police do. Thank you for the invite though. If you tell your friends that I slept with you or stupid shit like that I will come back and kick you in the nuts. So, you better keep it Pg-13 okay?" I told with a serious look on my face

And then Dru came back with the soda and gave it to Jayden and I got up from the chair and told him that we were leaving. To make his friends believe the whole thing. Jayden asked me if he could come to the parking lot to drop me off to which I said yes.

Dru and I got back to my car after picking up Arjun and drove back home.

By the time we got back Aunt and Uncle were not there, I spoke with my grandparents. Then we went down to the theater room and started watching Big Hero 6 which is my all-time favorite and comforting movie.

There you go. the second chapter is done.

How do guys like the story so far?

I know we have not gone to the lead guy yet. The lead guy already met her but not noticeably so guess where she met him in this chapter in the comments.

Thank you for reading

Please let me know if this has any writing errors, Thanks in advance

Don't forget to vote and comment.

Love

Sneha