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all the magic we gave off ch 2

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Devi scrubbed her makeup off her face viciously. Every time she tried liquid liner she regretted it. It was too hard and always ended up ruining the rest of her makeup. She picked up her foundation to start again. “Kanna, you were doing exactly that last time I was in your room – an hour ago!” her mom complained from the door. Devi met her eyes in the mirror and made a face at her.

“Mom, can you just be chill? We don’t have to leave til 11 anyway.”

“Pati and I have to talk to you.” Devi’s eyes widened and she turned, makeup brush still in hand.

“What? Why? What did I do?”

“Kanna,” her mother said with that raised brow look. Devi smiled sheepishly. “Just come downstairs as soon as you’re ready.”

Devi shrugged, turning back to the mirror. “Sure.” As she hurried to do her makeup, she ran through the past few days. What could have happened? Did her mom know about Paxton? She’d been so careful! She finished her face and picked her phone up, flicking to the text thread with Eleanor and Fabiola.

Devi: my mom and grandma ‘have to talk to me’

Devi: if you never hear from me again tell Paxton that I expect him to mourn me for at least three months

Fab: fuck Devi what did you do

Devi: I don’t know!

Devi: my mom has been so weird recently

Devi: she asked if I was dating Ben last week

Devi: after Aneesa came over

Eleanor: no way

Eleanor: that’s crazy

Eleanor: how did she feel about it

Eleanor: like would she have been okay if you were dating a dork

Fab: yeah surely that’s better for her than you dating a sex god

Devi: hahaha no

Devi: no boy is acceptable

Devi: especially not some white boy who can’t handle his spice

Devi put her phone down. She didn’t need to piss her mom off anymore by having her phone in her hand. Taking a deep breath, she smoothed down her dress and left her room, trying to make her tread soft like Kamala’s.

Kamala, Pati and her mom were all sitting in the living room when Devi arrived. Devi smiled nervously. “Hello. Is this an intervention? I really haven’t been eating that much ice cream!”

Kamala laughed and Devi chuckled, sitting down in the armchair. “It’s not an intervention, Devi,” her mom said. “We just have something to tell you.”

“We’re moving back to India?” Devi guessed, horrified.

Nalini laughed, shaking her head. “Calm down, kanna. No, we’re not moving back to India. But it does have something to do with India.”

“Are we visiting? I could get on board with that,” Devi said, bobbing her head. “Ugh, as long as we don’t have to go and stay with Kamala’s parents.”

“Hey,” Kamala protested.

“Sorry, but your sisters suck.” Kamala opened her mouth to respond but Devi’s mom cut her off.

“This is actually about my sister,” Nalini said. Devi furrowed her brow. “Her son, your cousin, is moving over to America to complete his studies.”

“Ugh, is he moving in? We really don’t have any more room for you to move in Indian relatives, Mom.”

“Devi,” her mom sighed. Devi put her hands up in surrender. “No, he’s studying at Columbia.”

“Woah, that’s cool.”

“Arudra has asked me to go to New York to help him settle in.”

“What?” Devi had not been sure what to expect but this wasn’t it. “What does this have to do with me?”

Nalini shook her head. “Well, Pati is going to come with me. We’re going for a week.” Devi tried to tamper the growing excitement in her stomach. A week. A week with only Kamala for supervision. This was going to be immense. “Okay, young lady, get rid of the smile. Kamala is going to be here and I will be calling regularly.”

“Of course, Mom, of course. Can I get take out every day?”

“No, Kamala will cook.” Devi shrugged and looked at Kamala who gave her a tight smile. “We’re leaving next Sunday.”

“Cool. Pati, are you excited to go to New York?”

“Oh yes, kanna. You think I’m going to help Punarvasu? Oh no, I want to see the Statue of Liberty!” Devi grinned and laughed when she saw her mom’s disapproval.

“Come on, Mom, you must be excited to go to Times Square and see the Brooklyn Bridge.”

“I admit that I am slightly excited,” her mom said. “I have booked tickets to see Hamilton on Broadway.”

Devi’s jaw dropped. “What?” she demanded. “I begged you to get us tickets for Christmas!”

Nalini smiled and Devi scowled at her. “If it’s acceptable, we could go again.”

“Traitor.”

XXX

Devi lay in her bed that night, thinking of her plans for the week that her mom and grandma were away. This sort of thing just didn’t happen that often. She had to take full advantage. Her phone buzzed and then again. Devi picked it up.

Eleanor: Devi Devi

Eleanor: did u die

Devi snorted and tapped out her response.

Devi: don’t worry not dead

Devi: just scheming

Eleanor: ooh why are we scheming

Devi: my mom and grandma are going away

Devi: for

Devi: a

Devi: full

Devi: week

Fabiola: WHAT

Devi: yeah I mean kamala will still be here

Eleanor: does this mean you and Paxton are gonna go at it in your bed

Devi laughed out loud. She and Paxton were going well and she had been thinking of having sex with him. They had done – other things. The last few weeks had been a bit of an adventure in what felt good and what did not. Even so, having to be quiet so that Kamala didn’t hear them wasn’t really what Devi wanted for her first time.

Devi: nah I couldn’t do it with Kamala that close

Devi: still I mean he’ll probably stay here a few nights

Eleanor: have you told him yet

Devi: no still scheming for how to take advantage of this

Fabiola: I hope we’re gonna have a girls night

Fabiola: we’ve not had a games night in ages!

Fabiola: I can get brain cranker out

Devi: sounds good Fab

There was a gentle knock at the door, which pulled Devi from her phone. “Come in,” she called. The door opened to reveal Kamala. “Hey, Kamala.”

“Devi, I need to tell you something.”

Her cousin was whispering, which made Devi smirk a bit. “What’s up?”

“The week that pati and auntie aren’t here – I want to go and stay at Manish’s.”

Devi’s mouth parted. “What?”

Kamala perched on the edge of Devi’s bed. “I want to go to Manish’s.”

Devi was full-on smirking now. “Why? Not that I’m complaining.”

“I just don’t get to spend much time with him because Pati hates him and I can’t exactly bring him here.”

“Yeah, please don’t.”

“Do you mind? If you do, then I don’t have to go to his! I can stay.”

Devi shook her head. “No, go, Kamala. I can cope for a week on my own.”

“You sound a bit too happy. You aren’t going to throw a party, are you?” Devi briefly considered it and then shook her head.

“No. Way too risky. Mom would never trust me – or you – again. I probably will have Eleanor and Fab over.” Kamala smiled.

“That sounds nice.” Kamala smiled. “If you needed anything, you know you could call me.”

“Of course, of course,” Devi agreed. “But I’ll be fine! And you and Mr K should spend time together.”

“Thanks, Devi.” Kamala left then and Devi threw herself back on her bed, grinning.

Devi: guys

Devi: Kamala isn’t going to be here either!

Devi: house to myself

Eleanor: does this mean you’re gonna make love to Paxton

Devi: idk

Devi: the option is there though!

The option was there. Which meant that Devi needed to seriously consider things. Like whether she was ready to lose her virginity. Yes, she’d wanted to for like a year. She just didn’t want to have any regrets. Her phone buzzed and she looked down to see a gif from Eleanor of someone putting a hot dog in a bun. Devi laughed out loud.

XXX

Ben Gross was not a bad boyfriend. He actually thought he was a pretty good one. He bought Aneesa flowers. He always commented on her Instagram posts. He held her hand when they walked from one lesson to the next. All the boyfriend things. So, when he received this message from Aneesa, he was confused.

Aneesa: we need to talk

Nobody ever wanted to receive that message. It was the worst message a boyfriend could ever receive. Still, Ben took in a deep breath and pushed forward. He was a grown up. He could be mature about things.

Ben: sure

Ben: I’ve just parked up at school

Ben: where are u

Ben: I’ll come meet u

Was she going to break up with him? Ben analysed how that would make him feel. They’d been together about 2 months. He liked her. She made him laugh. But they were very different. There were times that she clearly didn’t get him and who he was. And he knew there were definitely times he didn’t get her. He didn’t want things to be awkward though.

He liked being friends with Aneesa’s friends way more than he’d liked being friends with Shira’s friends. It had even meant that he and Devi had sorted things out. He’d miss that a lot.

Ben swallowed and headed over to where Aneesa said she was, in the library. His stomach was in knots now. He’d thought himself into nerves. He pushed his shoulders back. That was his dad’s advice for how to handle bad situations. Shoulders back, eyes ahead.

He found Aneesa easily, in the science section. “What are you doing?” he asked, sitting down next to her.

“Just finished the lab report for today.” Ben nearly choked. The lab report that had been set two weeks ago? How could she only be finishing that now? This was just one of the times that he didn’t get her. But he set that aside. Different people often worked well together, complimented each other. The only problem with that was that Ben didn’t want to be any less intense, not if he wanted to get into Columbia.

“Are you okay? What did you want to talk about?”

Aneesa let out a long breath and Ben braced himself. “I think we should spend more time together.”

Ben froze and then unfroze, looking at her. “What?”

Aneesa sighed, pushing her paper into her rucksack. “I just – we spend a lot of time together with Eleanor and Fab and Devi but not much time together just you and me. I know my parents make that difficult but – I just think we should have a bit more alone time, a few more dates.”

Ben opened his mouth and nodded slowly. “Yeah – yeah, of course! Of course, we should. You’re so right. We’ve not spent enough time together lately.” Aneesa let out another breath and grinned, taking Ben’s hand.

“I’m glad you agree.”

“Of course,” he said and he leaned across to kiss her. “Oh, and hey, if I pass my driving test on Friday, we can maybe take a day trip out somewhere? Like the beach?”

“Sounds amazing. Now, let’s go to homeroom before you ruin your punctuality record.” Ben laughed slightly and held her hand as they left the library.

XXX

“So, big news,” Devi said as she entered the lunch room, sitting down next to Paxton. He immediately turned from his friends to her. Devi ignored the dirty looks she received from Zoe Maytag. Seriously, fuck that girl. “I was in a rush this morning or I’d have told you then.”

“And we wouldn’t want to ruin that punctuality record, would we?” Paxton teased, shuffling up close to her.

Devi shook her head vehemently. “Are you kidding? I need to beat Ben Gross this year. I’m on for 100%. If I can just get him to be late one day, then I’ll get the stupid award and I can shove it in his face.”

Paxton laughed. “You’re so intense, Devi.” He placed a kiss on her neck and Devi kissed his lips. “What’s your big news?”

“My mom, my grandma and my cousin are going away for a week!”

“What?” Paxton said with wide eyes. “Devi, that’s-”

“I know! I found out yesterday. Well, my mom thinks Kamala is staying with me but she’s going to Mr K’s.” Devi cringed and Paxton shared the cringe with her. “Anyway, I was thinking you could come over. I could make Indian food?”

Paxton grinned. “Okay, as long as you promise not to blow my head off with the spice.”

“You’re half Japanese! I thought you’d be able to be able to shot wasabi in your sleep!”

Paxton shrugged, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “My mom doesn’t love Japanese food, so I only have it when I see my ojichan.”

“Wow, disappointing,” Devi said, laughing. “But you’ll come over? I’ll make you some bland, white-people Indian food?”

“Of course, I’ll come over, Devi. That sounds good.”

“I agree,” Devi said, lowering her voice in what she hoped was a sultry manner. Paxton laughed at her and kissed her lightly, so Devi took it as a win. She dug her lunch out of her bag and stole one of Paxton’s chips.

XXX

“He’s here, he’s here,” Aneesa hissed. Devi blinked and looked up from her pizza. Fabiola and Eleanor also looked at Aneesa quizzically.

“Why are we this excited about Ben being here?” Fabiola asked slowly.

“He’s always here.”

“Okay, he made me promise not to tell you, but he had his driving test in his free today.”

“What?” Devi said, way too loudly. “What? Oh my gosh, did he fail?” she asked with glee.

“I don’t know!” Aneesa said, panicking and looking around. “Devi, please don’t-”

Devi ignored Aneesa. “Hey, Gross, did you fail?” she shouted as he approached. She heard Fabiola’s hiss to stop and ignored her. Ben narrowed his eyes at her. “I did hear they don’t like it when people stop at stop signs for 45 minutes.”

“Ha ha,” Ben said sarcastically as he got close enough. “Suck on this, Vishwakumar.”

And he through his license at her. Devi wrinkled her nose. “Fuck sake, Gross, can you just fail for once in your life?”

“And let you have a chance of getting your licence before me? When hell freezes over, Devi.”

“Ha! At least your picture is frigged.”

Ben snatched the license back from her. “Give me that.” Devi laughed and settled into her seat again. He showed it to Aneesa who grinned and kissed him.

“Congrats, babe! Now, we can take that trip to the beach!”

Devi snorted. “Only if you want to take ten hours to get there.”

“Hey, I got you to Malibu in time, didn’t I?” Ben said, raised brows at her, even though his arms were around Aneesa.

Devi squirmed at the mention of Malibu. Eleanor and Fabiola made cringing faces at her and Devi knew she needed to change the subject. Before she could, Aneesa spoke up, “We should go and celebrate tonight!”

“That’s a great idea,” Devi jumped in. “We should all go for ice cream?”

“Sounds good to me,” Ben agreed. Devi grinned at Eleanor and Fabiola until they agreed too. “Guess you need the ice cream to feel better about me passing before you, hey, Devi?”

Devi scowled at him. “Being born later than you was not something I could control.”

“All I’m hearing is excuses.”

“So, Devi,” Aneesa said, dragging Devi’s eyes over to her. “Have you decided what you’re going to do next week?”

“What’s next week?” Ben asked, stealing a few of Eleanor’s fries. Eleanor batted his hands away with a glare and Devi snorted.

“My mom and grandma are going to New York and Kamala is staying at Mr K’s for the week.”

“Woah, look at you with an empty house. I can’t believe your mom trusts you like that!”

“What can I say? I’m a grown up now.”

“Did you decide if you were going to have Paxton over?” Aneesa asked, cocking her head. Devi swallowed and grabbed her sandwich.

“I’m gonna go get some lunch,” Ben said, nodding at the canteen. Devi gave him a flat smile.

“Erm, I am going to have him over, definitely,” Devi said. “Who knows if we’ll have sex, though. I’ve not decided yet.” Devi started eating her sandwich so that the conversation would change. Rather than listen to Eleanor and Aneesa’s discussion of Eleanor’s play, she thought about the next week. All alone in her house. She was going to make mac and cheese and stay up late watching shitty teen soaps on the telly. She was going to use her phone during dinner.

Eventually, they headed to English. Eleanor pulled Devi into the bathroom on the way. “Devi, what the hell?” Eleanor said with a hiss. Devi frowned at her.

“What’s up? Do you not need to pee? Because I don’t wanna be late for English.”

“Aneesa clearly wanted to celebrate with Ben alone and you invited all of us!”

Devi blinked. “What?”

“Aneesa and Ben are dating, Devi. You need to stop inserting yourself into their relationship.”

“Eleanor,” Devi said in horror. “I just wanted to celebrate with Ben! He doesn’t get celebrated very often.” Eleanor shook her head. “No, honestly, his parents are dicks. They won’t even have known he had his test today. It’ll be nice for him, for us all to be there! And he agreed!”

“Because he always agrees with what you say. How do you think that makes Aneesa feel?”

Devi swallowed her immediate, defensive response. “Okay, Eleanor, I get it. After tonight, I’ll be more careful, okay? I do think I’m right about tonight, though. Maybe not for Aneesa’s sake, but for Ben’s.”

Eleanor sighed. “Okay, fine, but promise me you’ll be more careful after this?”

“I promise,” Devi said emphatically. “Oh, and I could invite Paxton tonight. That would make Aneesa feel better, right?” Eleanor nodded.

“Good plan.” Devi shrugged and they left the bathroom, Devi feeling slightly uncomfortable.

XXX

That afternoon, Devi dragged Paxton over to her locker. He was laughing at her. “What is up with you?”

“Do you wanna come for ice cream tonight?”

“Sounds good,” Paxton said, blinking at her. “You could’ve asked me that in front of Eleanor and Fabiola, you know. It’s not like you were propositioning me.” Devi snorted. “Unless you were?” he said in a lower voice, waggling his brows at her. Devi grinned at him and shook her head.

“No, it’s – well, basically, we’re all going, to celebrate Ben passing his driving test.”

“Oh,” Paxton said, his voice barely hiding his shock. Devi gave him a nervous smile. “Yeah, okay, that’s cool. Is Trent coming too, with Eleanor?” Devi nodded.

“I guess so.”

“Sick. My girl, my best friend, my girl’s friends, my girl’s ex. What more could I want?” Devi shoved his arm and he laughed, pressing a kiss to her temple. “Don’t worry, that’s cool. We going now? I can drive us?”

“Meeting there at half-four. Aneesa has soccer practice first.”

“Amazing. You wanna go and sit in the sun near there for a bit first?”

“Sounds perfect,” Devi agreed.

They drove over with Eleanor and Trent, who amused Devi and Paxton by making out pretty much the entire time they were waiting for Fabiola, Aneesa and Ben to arrive. Paxton took his shirt off to tan, which Devi enjoyed greatly, even as she completed the homework they’d received in chemistry that day.

“Oh, hey,” Paxton said, dragging Devi’s eyes from her chem lab report to where Ben, Aneesa and Fabiola were approaching.

“Hey,” Aneesa said. Devi packed away her things as they got closer. “Devi, were you doing work on a Friday night? God, do you ever have a break?”

“Never,” Devi said, slinging her backpack over her shoulder. “Ben’s already beaten me at getting his license. He can’t beat me for valedictorian.” Ben rolled his eyes at her and she gave him a sarcastic smirk. “Come on, Paxton, put your shirt on and let’s get ice cream.” He grinned at her, waggling his brows as he jumped up and put his tight t-shirt back on.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and they followed Eleanor and Fabiola in. “You get us a table?” Paxton said. “I’ll get you cookie dough?” Devi nodded and he walked away.

“With little rainbow sprinkles,” she called after him. He turned, laughing at her and nodded.

Devi found a long table by the window and Aneesa and Eleanor came to join her. “Wow, are we like anti-feminists? Are all our boyfriends buying us ice cream?” Devi asked with a laugh. Aneesa cringed.

“I prefer to think of it as using our resources in the best way,” Aneesa said and Devi had to laugh.

“Yeah, I mean, Ben has so much money. Using as much of it as possible is the only thing you can really do in that situation.” Aneesa laughed and Paxton came to join them with Devi’s ice cream.

“Is that enough rainbow sprinkles?” he asked.

“No,” Devi said with a dramatic sigh. “It will never be enough.” Then, she frowned at him. “Did you get plain chocolate?”

“Yeah,” Paxton said, cheersing his ice cream cup against hers. “What’s wrong with that?” Trent arrived with his and Eleanor’s ice creams, which were rainbow-coloured, sprinkle-covered, sugar-filled nightmares of ice creams.

“Everything is wrong with plain ice cream here.” Ben finally joined them, with Fabiola. Even Fabiola’s ice cream was vanilla with chocolate curls and brownie pieces. Ben’s was nearly as good as Devi’s – honeycomb with caramel sauce and popcorn pieces.

“Look at this,” Devi said, showing the table Paxton’s ice cream. “I think I might be dating a sociopath.” Paxton rolled his eyes.

“I’m very happy with my chocolate ice cream, Devi.” Then, he frowned and reached across to have some of her ice cream. Devi gasped loudly.

“Oh, Paxton, you’ve just made a big error,” Eleanor said with a sad voice. Devi glared viciously at her boyfriend.

“She’ll forgive me.”

“Hmph, we’ll see,” Devi said, looking pointedly away from him, until he wrapped his hand around her waist and tickled her into submission. Devi met Aneesa’s eyes and noticed that her smile had grown.

XXX

The house was empty by midday on Sunday. Devi stretched out on the sofa and posted a Snapchat story. She put the TV on at a much higher volume than her grandma allowed and she ate ice cream for lunch. She did her homework at the kitchen table with music blasting and she didn’t change out of her pyjamas all day. It was wonderful. For dinner, she used some of the money her mom left her to get a big ass pizza, which she ate all of, and then she watched classic period drama Sense and Sensibility on her own in the living room.

By the time she was going to bed, it was dark out and she realised she was going to have less than eight hours for the first time in a good long while. This was freedom.

She walked upstairs, not caring about her heavy tread. Kamala wasn’t here for her to compare herself to. At the top of the stairs, Devi sent Kamala a message, like she’d promised, to say that she was doing well. She replied straight away.

Kamala: are you not in bed yet?!

Devi: let me have some freedom!

Kamala: Manish will tell me if you’re not to your usual standard tomorrow

Devi: tell him that’s a gross misuse of power

Devi brushed her teeth outside of the bathroom, walking up and down the landing. She glanced down the staircase and saw how dark it was. Shadows moved and she told herself it was the trees outside. She spat her toothpaste out and went into her room, debating whether or not she wanted the door closed. She left it open and changed into her pyjamas, little shorts and a tank top. It was too hot for anything else. The Californian summer was coming, just a few weeks until summer break.

Devi glanced at the door again. Had it moved? She was sure she’d left it at a 45-degree angle. But it was at a 50-degree angle now. She ignored the squirming in her stomach and crawled into bed. In the morning, she wouldn’t have to make her bed. Her mom wasn’t there to shout at her. Devi grinned and then swore as she realised she’d left her phone in the bathroom.

She stood up and tiptoed to the bathroom, her heart lurching with fear when she looked down at the bottom of the stairs. There was no one in the house. She was alone. She was safe because she was alone.

She remembered the first time she’d been left alone in the house for an evening. Her mom and dad had gone out on the moped. By the time they’d returned, she’d camped out in the living room in fear – and when they’d come in, she’d burst out crying with relief. She could still remember what her dad said: “Devi, my darling, you are always safe in this house”.

Nodding to herself, she picked up her phone and returned to her room, purposefully not looked at the bottom of the stairs. She got back into bed, replied to Fabiola about the history work, and then wondered if she’d locked the door.

“Fuck,” she swore, getting out of bed again.

Downstairs was dark. Her phone torch illuminated the way, until she got to the light switch which she hurried to turn on. She tried the door and was horrified when it opened. With a shuddering gasp, she slammed it closed and locked it, leaning heavily against it, her breath coming fast and uneven.

She was 16-years-old. Could she really be this scared of being in the house alone? She really had not considered this when she was celebrating the empty house.

“Okay, Devi, you’re fine,” she whispered to herself, turning the light off and putting her torch back on. The stairs creaked beneath her feet. “Nobody is in the house.”

But they could’ve got in. Because she hadn’t locked the door. Devi bit her lip, entered her room and slammed the door, pushing her desk chair up against it. Her window was open! Devi rushed to shut it, locking it tightly. By the time she was in bed, the thought of going to sleep was abhorrent. She could hear her uncle Aravind telling them how unsecure the house was and her stomach was clenching with fear. She couldn’t close her eyes.

She grabbed her phone. She could watch something, a comedy, to help her sleep. It was 00:58 and Devi was suddenly conscious that tomorrow was Monday and she had to do well in her lessons tomorrow. She had to do well every day, to be valedictorian. She bet Ben Gross was already asleep. Blinking away her fears, she opened up Superstore on Netflix and played the first episode.

Her stomach did not settle. She tried and tried to ignore the creaks of the house, the sound of the trees moving outside. But she couldn’t. It was loud on her phone and her earphones were downstairs. What if there was someone in the house and they could hear her phone? Then they might come and murder her. Devi swallowed her fears – she really tried. She flicked on her lamp. She could probably sleep with a bit of light.

Tears filled her eyes and she swiped off Superstore. This was useless. She opened up her messaging app, debating who to message and then ignored anything telling her not to.

Devi: u up

Her stomach rebelled against her, tears slipping from her eyes.

Ben: yeah

Ben: what’s up

Devi let out a breath, her stomach relaxing somewhat.

Devi: my house is empty

Devi: it’s just me

Devi reread the messages and then thought that he might think she was propositioning him. She shook her head.

Devi: I’m a bit freaked out

Devi: I feel like there might be someone here

Ben: I’m sure there’s not

Devi: I know that rationally

There was a pause in messaging as Ben’s three dots came up to show he was typing and then left and then came back. Devi’s leg shook beneath her duvet.

Ben: do you want me to come and get you

Ben: my parents are away

Ben: you could stay in the guest room again

Devi let out a sigh of relief.

Devi: yes please

Ben: coming

Devi pressed the bottoms of her palms against her eyes. Ben was coming. He wouldn’t be long. Devi grabbed her school rucksack and turned the big light on in her room, packing clothes and makeup for school tomorrow. It was only when she heard the car pull up that she thought of how Paxton might see this. Her stomach clenched but she couldn’t turn Ben away now. Not when he’d come to see her in the middle of the night, because she was afraid of creaks and shadows.

Grabbing her toothbrush, Devi raced down the stairs, shoving her shoes on at the door and picking up her keys. She opened the front door and closed it behind her, locking it securely. Ben’s car was there. Devi smiled and tucked her keys away. She opened the door to his car and said, “Hi.”

“Come on, let’s go.”

“Thank you for this,” she murmured as she put her seatbelt on. “I feel like a bit of an idiot.”

Ben shrugged. “Don’t worry. When I was first at home on my own, I literally refused to turn off the lights.” Devi laughed and he smiled at her, reversing back out of her drive. “And let’s be honest, you just wanna stay in my baller house.”

“You got me. Just want an excuse to watch TV in the bath.” Her stomach settled at the familiar banter between them.

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