Kash glances at her phone, raises a finger. “Confirmed. Lucifer has not left the country.”
I deadpan. “And how exactly do you know that?”
She slides her phone back into her pocket like a spy tucking away classified intel, then pops open her suitcase. She just got here and already, I can breathe easier.
“It’s not who you think,” she mutters, rummaging through her clothes. “Aha!”
She pulls out something black and suspiciously shiny. Ishika recoils like she’s just seen a crime scene. “What in the name of tacky isthat?”
I squint. “Wait—is that your lucky camisole?”
Kash beams like a proud mother. “This baby has gotten me laidthreetimes. In. A. Row.”
I glance at Ishika. “Remind me again why we’re going out? Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, getting a massage, sippingcock...tails, preparing for yourshaadi, or—I don’t know—bikini waxing?” (Shaadi is Hindi for wedding.)
Ishi groans. “It’s the last night before we go to the farmhouse. I want to bask in Delhi pollution and have Vicky go all macho at the leery men, one more time.”
Kash snorts. “Ma’am, we’re going to afarmhousefor like two weeks. Not aprison. Also, isn’t yourVickywhisking you off to Milan right after?”
“We dropped Italy like a month ago. It’s Greece now,” Ishi says, exasperated. “Where have youbeen?”
“You did?” I blink.
Ishi glares. “You too, Rohi? Wow. It’s like you two don’t even love me anymore.”
Kash throws a hand over her heart. “Sorry, we were too busy getting our souls crushed by men with too much hair gel and too little shame.”
I groan while Ishika gasps, scandalized. “Bothof you?!”
Kash nods solemnly. “Yup.”
“By a pair of best friends, no less,” I add.
Ishi clutches her hypothetical pearls. “Wait. You guys gottag-teamedbyheartbreak?”
Kash and I look at each other.
“Damn,” she says at the same time as I say, “Yeah.”
“Imagine that,” I mutter.
“By the way,” I say to Kash with an evil little grin, “Karina calls themLamebrains. It’s the L in their names.”
“Who’s Karina?” she mumbles, rifling through her suitcase like she’s hunting for treasure.
“Seriously?” I stare at her. “She’s part of their crew? You’vemether.”
“Oh,” Kash frowns, shrugs. “Sorry, I purged everything related to Liam. Factory reset. New operating system. No viruses.”
She says it so casually, like she didn’t just perform emotional exorcism—and I burst out laughing.
I turn to Ishika. “Um... is Advik coming tonight?”
“Oh you horny bitch,” she says with too much cheer, lobbing a half-eaten pakora at my face. “Yes. Yes, he is.”
“Advik?!” Kash shrieks like she’s just heard a murder confession.
I instinctively cover my ears. Ishika is cackling. I’m wheezing when both of us burst into the songBeedi. Almost instantly.
