Chapter Six
Six
Now, sixteen years later, as Priya sat with Ethan on the roof of the same freight car, she felt the familiar old flutter return, soft but undeniable, like an old song she hadn’t heard in years.
Ethan always had a way of pulling people in, his presence magnetic and impossible to ignore.
Even now, she could feel that raw energy beneath the surface, tugging at her.
Like the ebb of the tide, he had a power that made her feel both at ease and on edge.
Ethan stared at the lights of his father’s estate flickering through the trees.
The joint burned forgotten between his fingers, until the heat from the ember reached his skin.
He blinked and stubbed it out, the motion almost mechanical.
Priya could feel the underlying sadness in him, the silent ache for a relationship with his father that felt beyond repair.
“Your dad must have lost it when he saw that bike all those years ago,” she said.
“He never did.” Ethan’s lips quirked into a bittersweet smile.
“He took one look at me and assumed I’d been in a fight.
Grounded me for a month. Which—as it turns out—was just enough time to fix the bike without him noticing.
” He turned to look at Priya. “The last time I saw him was at my going-away party.
“He was so happy I’d agreed to go to college,” he continued.
“He wanted me to take over the family business after I graduated. But I had zero interest in following in his footsteps. I begged, pleaded, screwed up my grades, but when your father is rich and powerful, doors open, so I was accepted into the same college that he went to. We had some epic fights over it, but he wouldn’t budge. So, I let him think he’d won.”
A hint of determination crept into Ethan’s words. “But the day I was supposed to leave for college, I left for New York instead. It may have been a selfish move, but I felt trapped. And he never forgave me. Hasn’t spoken to me since.” The hurt lingered in Ethan’s voice.
Priya reached out and put her hand on his arm. “I get why he was disappointed,” she said, “but it was a long time ago. Maybe it’s time you reconnected.”
“It’s not like I haven’t tried, Priya. When I moved to Los Angeles and started doing stunt work, he told Brooke I was a no-good risk-taker.
Then I caught my big break and thought he’d change his mind.
I invited him to every premiere, but he never came.
I think he’ll always see me as a disappointment. ”
Priya could see the weight on his shoulders, so she changed the subject. “Hey, how come I never got an invite to any of those premieres?” she teased.
“You weren’t even allowed out of the house for a date.” Ethan chuckled.
“It’s true.” Priya laughed. “My parents were super paranoid. Anything outside of school was a big no-no. I think it’s because they were adjusting to a new culture here, away from India, and terrified my sisters and I would go off the rails.
Get mixed up with the wrong crowd, lose our way, forget where we came from.
Little did they know, the parties I snuck off to were nothing more than a bunch of awkward kids trying to play it cool. ”
“Is that what you thought of my going-away party? A bunch of kids trying to impress each other?”
Priya remembered the biting pain of trying—and failing—to get Ethan’s attention that night.
Determined to make him see her as more than his sister’s friend, she had ditched her glasses and spent the entire week adjusting to contact lenses.
She’d also saved up for a new sweater that accentuated her curves.
“You barely spoke to me that night,” Priya said, her voice tinged with the hurt of old memories.
“I barely spoke to anyone that night,” Ethan replied. “I was trying to keep my plans for New York under wraps. If I’d said anything to you, it would have gotten back to Brooke, and she’d have either tried to stop me or, worse, dragged our father into it.”
“Did you tell Chloe Thompson you were leaving for New York?” Priya asked pointedly.
“Chloe who?” Ethan looked confused.
“The girl you brought back here after the party. I saw the two of you making out.”
A wry smile tugged at the corners of Ethan’s mouth. “Is that why you’ve been so cold since my arrival? Because you caught me making out with Chloe Thompson that night?”
“I couldn’t care less who you make out with.”
“And yet you remember her name all these years later.” Ethan fixed an amused stare at her.
“I just thought it was rude that you brought her to our spot,” Priya said, her voice tight with exasperation she couldn’t quite hide.
“Our spot, huh?” Ethan’s grin got wider.
“Shut up,” Priya mumbled, her face burning.
“Why don’t you just admit it?”
“Admit what?”
“That I get under your skin.”
“Oh, fuck off, Heathen.” Priya kept her tone playful, but his comment hit too close to home. She wrapped her shawl tighter, trying to brush it off, but Ethan noticed the shift in her mood.
“I’m sorry I bailed without saying goodbye,” he said, cutting straight to the reason for Priya’s hurt. “I was young and stupid, and that night was a lot harder than I let on.”
Ethan’s words made Priya realize something she’d never thought of before. While she’d been drowning in her own sadness that night, Ethan had been dealing with the weight of leaving behind his whole life—his home, his family, everything he knew.
His apology touched a part of her that had never healed.
It wasn’t just the sting of being overlooked or seeing him with someone else in a place she’d always thought was theirs.
It was the way he’d disappeared, as if she’d meant nothing to him.
Meanwhile, he’d been more than her first crush.
He’d also been her friend. At least that’s what she’d believed—but then he was gone.
Without any warning. Taking that spark with him, leaving her to deal with the quiet emptiness left in his wake.
“Don’t sweat it,” she said. “I’ve been swearing at everything and everyone tonight.”
“What’s got you so fired up?”
Priya sighed and hugged her knees. “Let’s just say I stirred the pot at this party my parents dragged me to.”
“Ah, Priya 2.0 strikes again.” Ethan grinned. “Go on.”
“I danced with Ravi Tiwari.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow.
“He’s the local catch, the most eligible man around, and I’m a divorced woman from a different caste.”
“Caste?” Ethan asked. “You mean like a different religion?”
“Same religion, but like a different group, once separated by occupation and status,” Priya explained.
“Those divisions don’t officially exist anymore.
We’re all supposed to be equals now, but when it comes to things like marriage, they creep back in.
My parents wanted me to marry within our caste too. ”
“So, your ex was the same caste as you?”
“Yes, Manoj is Dalit too. We were called ‘untouchables’ back in the day and assigned jobs considered impure for others. A lot has changed, though the echoes of that past still remain. There was a time when my great-grandparents were denied entry to schools and temples. By the time my grandparents were born, they could go to school but had to sit in the back of the classroom and couldn’t drink from the same well as the other kids. ”
“Wow, that’s crazy,” Ethan said, his expression tightening. “I didn’t even know something like that existed. I’m sorry your family had to go through that. Sounds like it’s left a mark, even if things are different now.”
“It was abolished before my parents were born, although most people from our community can still identify their caste.” Priya sighed. “My parents believe that caste is tied to past-life karma. If they don’t fulfill their duties in this life, they won’t move up the scale in their next one.”
“That’s…wild,” Ethan said, letting out a slow breath.
“Right?” Priya nodded. “But not everyone sees it the way my parents do. My dad’s friend, Anandji—the one whose daughter’s sangeet we attended tonight—is from a higher caste, and he’s always encouraging my father to think beyond the Dalit label.”
“So, what kinds of jobs were Dalits traditionally expected to do?” Ethan asked.
“Things like cleaning sewers, collecting garbage, looking after the dead,” Priya replied.
“My dad’s family used to take care of last rites in their village in Gujarat.
They’d wash and wrap the body, place it on the pyre, and watch over it until the fire burned out.
After Anandji lost his grandmother, my dad helped him through a rough patch, and they’ve been friends ever since.
When Anandji moved to Canada, he helped my father get a work permit and start a new life.
My father stuck to what he knew, so here we are, still in the funeral business.
It’s funny how some things never change.
” Priya grew quiet, then let out a soft laugh.
“You should have seen Shrutiji’s face when I danced with her son. ”
“Shrutiji?” Ethan asked.
“Ravi’s mom,” Priya explained. “Honestly? I didn’t mean to cause a scene, but yeah, not my finest moment.”
“Well, serves you right for abandoning your station in life,” Ethan declared.
“My station in life?” Priya blinked. Did Ethan just take a page out of my parents’ playbook?
“This station.” Ethan grinned, tapping the roof.
“This old freight car. These forgotten train tracks. This patch of land that feels like it’s been frozen in time.
If our destiny is truly cast in the stars, then the only way to break free is to become one.
Take all that messy, angry, frustrated stuff inside you and push yourself higher. ”
“So that’s your secret, huh?” Priya teased. “You used all that teenage rage to make it big?”
“I wouldn’t be where I am if my father hadn’t been so hard on me,” Ethan said, his voice quiet with reflection.
“I had to prove something, not just to him but to myself. It’s funny how our toughest challenges can unlock what we’re really capable of.
” His gaze wandered toward the distant lights of his father’s estate.
Priya could still feel the deep sorrow in him, as if the memories of the past were wrapped around him like a heavy cloak. She had to try again. “Ethan, why don’t you reach out to him while you’re here? Maybe just try one more time?”
Ethan shook his head, his expression resigned. “It’s on him now.”
“Maybe he thinks you have it all, so you don’t need him.”
“I do have it all.” Ethan let out a hollow laugh. “I don’t need him.”
“So that’s it? Fame, fortune, and fans. Nothing else matters?”
“It should be enough,” he replied with a weary sigh.
“But life doesn’t work like that. You work so hard chasing after your dreams, but the second you reach them, there’s another one waiting.
And then another. It’s an endless loop, and you never get to fully enjoy where you’re at because there’s always more to chase.
Eventually, it wears you down, and all you want is to sit in silence, under a dark sky away from all the lights. ”
He fell silent, letting the stillness wrap around him. “You know, I’ve always longed to return here,” he said, stretching out to look at the stars.
A lump rose in Priya’s throat. The way he spoke, like this place was still home, gnawed at her. And yet here she was, intent on sending him away. Swallowing hard, she stretched out beside him, lying flat on her back. Together, they lay beneath the sky, letting the night air fill their lungs.
“Everyone loves to watch the stars shine, but no one sees how they’re really burning from the inside,” Priya said so suddenly, she even surprised herself.
Ethan turned to her slowly. There was a quiet ache in his eyes that made her want to reach for his hand. But she didn’t. Because Ethan would leave, just as he had before, and nothing would change for her or her family if she gave in to his pull.
How had she ended up here—caught between wanting him to stay and knowing that she had no option but to send him packing?