Chapter 32
JAHNVI
I t was a grueling two days helping at EJ’s, and I had no clue how Everett managed to do this every single day.
While he managed all of the wedding order things, like ordering flowers, ingredients, and coordinating with the couple’s wedding planner and my dad since it was a combined order, I helped with training the new employees and making sure everything was ready to run on its own while Everett was in DC with me.
Everett never let me do too much though.
No matter how much I insisted, he always made sure I was back home by nine while he worked way later into the night.
But not before stealing a kiss.
If you had asked me about Everett two months ago, I would’ve told you I knew everything there was to know about him. That I was born only a week after him and he was always next door. I would’ve been conf ident that he was a jerk with a really big ego.
He really wasn’t.
In those two days when I got to see Everett up close in his element, I learned more about him than I had in the past eighteen years.
Sure, I knew him pretty well before too.
But that was his fake personality—the one that changed when he was around different people. In those two days, I got to know him .
He was patient. He was hardworking. He was ambitious.
It showed in every single thing he did. The way he took time to explain everything on the menu to people who have never had Indian food before.
Or the way I saw him never once complain about how he got two hours of sleep the night before with the wedding order.
He wanted big things for his restaurant, and I was happy that I was helping.
I was so happy that I was helping achieve his dream.
I was so happy that he was finally letting me in.
Finally, everything was set. The flight to DC was an early morning flight, 6 a.m. So, of course, my parents insisted that I needed to be there at 3 a.m. I never understood the need for parents to always be hours and hours early at an airport only to do nothing.
With final hugs, both of my parents dropped me off at security.
They’d offered Everett a ride too, but he claimed he had some last-minute things to do and would take an Uber.
Even my coach wasn’t at the terminal when I got there.
Sitting near a window, I checked my phone to see where my coach was. He texted me to say he would be there in ten minutes, so I played a cooking game for a few minutes. During my fifth time on the same level, a shadow fell on my screen and I looked up.
Julia Ramirez.
Make fun of me all you want, but my throat went dry at the sight of her standing in front of me. She was kind of a legend, okay? I had all right to be a bit nervous!
“Hey, Jahnvi. You early too?”
Holy shit. She knows my name. Julia. Ramirez. Knows. My. Name!
Literally shaking with effort to keep it cool, I nodded. “Yeah, you know how parents are. Always need to be early.”
She was wearing a purple hoodie and black shorts that she pulled down as she sat down next to me. “You feeling ready for the tournament?”
“Umm, sure.”
She laughed with me. “And you’re captain of your team this year, right?”
“Yeah. Me and Everett are cocaptains,” I explained. At the sound of Everett’s name, her smile instantly vanished and she rolled her eyes.
“ Everett James . Man, I’m sorry for you. It must suck, having to see him every day?”
“Haha.” I had two choices right there: upset the speech legend or not stand up for Everett. There really wasn’t a choice. “Everett’s not too bad. I think he’s... grown a bit? ”
I guess I said the wrong thing.
“Dunno Jahnvi. Ever since he used my now- dead grandmother to psyche me out, I pegged him as a jerk. You seem nice. Do you want to know how he knew about my grandma?”
In hindsight, I shouldn’t have nodded.
“I told him. After a round, he asked me who my lock screen was and when I told him what my grandma was going through, he even offered me his condolences, only to use it against me at the next tournament.”
“Oh...” Damn. This bit of information was news to me. I had no idea Everett had done that. I’d just assumed, along with everyone else, that she’d had an off day and hadn’t performed well. I’d never dreamed it was Everett’s fault, or that he’d done it on purpose.
But that was a long time ago. He’s not like that anymore.
As wrong as I knew what Everett had done was, I was trying my best to put it in the back of my mind. Maybe he’d grown out of it, I don’t know.
I swear it just isn’t in him anymore...right?
“All I’ll say is don’t trust him. He may be friendly and all but when you’re his competition, he’s not gonna use the fair way to win something.
Ugh, look at him now, walking over.” Julia motioned in front of us.
While we were talking, more people joined us at the terminal.
Everett’s bright yellow sweater with an orange duckling easily set him apart from everyone else.
When he came into hearing range, Julia spoke, “Hey, Everett .”
Even the most oblivious man would’ve heard the poison in her voice.
“ Julia ,” he responded, using the same tone she had used.
“My team’s here. I’ll see y’all later.” With a final look at Everett, she walked away to a group by the other window.
Everett sat down next to me. “What did she want?”
To finally talk about what you pulled all those years ago.
“S-she was just saying hi. Why were you late?” I deflected, pulling a dangling piece of string from the corner of his sweater. And then I noticed that both of his shoes were untied. He was also only wearing...one sock?
He smiled down at me, looking a tad psychotic. “Ooh, nice of you to bring it up. Jahnvi, guess what.”
“What?”
“The bride decided to change the color of her wedding wreath at the last second. She called me at midnight and told me she wanted a wreath that would contrast her saree instead of match it since someone told her that was more in .”
My eyes widened. After I knew how much work he had done to get that wreath, I knew exactly the type of panic that would’ve caused. “No! What happened then?”
He rolled his eyes and sank further down in his chair. “I was up all night calling people I knew. All the India Bazaars nearby were closed so I called some friends and tried to find out where I could get another set of flowers. In the end, I found a place two hours away.”
“Good, and you’re going to pick them up once you get back?”
“Yeah, there’s a catch though. These people don’t make their own wreaths. I’d have to tie it myself.”
That would seriously complicate things. Everett had decided to get wreaths that were already done so that he wouldn’t have to do them himself.
“The bride liked that my wreaths were fresh, not the actual design. And I get that, I mean I can only make simple ones. So, even if it costs more, I think I’m gonna get ones that are already done. Plus, I don’t think I’ll have the time once I get back,” he continued.
“Everett...are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be okay?” He laughed and looked at me with wide eyes. “Everything is so good, Pickles. I feel absolutely amazing and refreshed with the ten minutes of ‘sleep’ I got where I just kinda closed my eyes and tried to hold the damn tears in. Now, why do you ask if I’m okay, huh?”
Um, all right. That was something.
“I mean,” I motioned to the airport around us.
“Everyone’s staring and that lady looks like she’s gonna call security on you because you look like a crackhead right now.
Get up, and let’s get on the plane so you can sleep.
” I helped him up and he didn’t protest until we were actually inside the plane.
“Jahnvi?”
“Yes, Everett?” I turned around in the cramped airplane aisle. He was so tall that he could reach the overhead storage with ease.
“I think I fucked up.”
“And why do you think so?”
He inhaled sharply. “I need to get back to my restaurant. This was a mistake; I just can’t do both.”
“Oh my—Everett, sit down! ” I yanked him down into our seat like he was a child.
It was a three-person seat and there was someone already sitting in the middle seat. Everett smiled. “Lovely, it’s Julia Ramirez!”
“Oh, Everett Jame —”
“Okay! Ha! Julia, let me,” I interrupted, sliding into the row, “swap seats with you so I’m in the middle.”
I sighed after I was perfectly situated in the middle of both of them. Julia was fuming on one end, and Everett was zoning out into space on the other.
This was going to be a fun ride.