Trinkets - Chapter 11: Chapter 11

Mahika lets her head drop on the table and groans, feeling the vibration from it go right back to her skull and making her headache worse.
Beside her head lies Naina's, and she probably feels just as bad as Mahika if not more.
"What's wrong with them?" Keerti asks, and Mahika raises her head just in time to catch Akash giving her and Naina a wry look.
"They were up talking till four in the morning," he tells Keerti with an eye roll, an amused smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Outside. In the garden." As if on cue, Naina sneezes and then groans in annoyance, unintentionally exaggerating his point. He reaches out to rub her back in slow circles before continuing. "I suggested that we move the farm trip to another day and stay home today so they can both catch some rest. At least until they both feel better." With a shake of his head, he adds, "They refuse to listen to me, though."
Mahika feels terrible. One of the reasons being that she really doesn't want to hold everyone else back from having fun. And the other is that she just really, really wanted to go to the farm.
"We can stay home and do something else today," Samay says, patting Mahika on the head like a dog and then immediately pulling away with a grin when she reaches out to smack his hand off with a murderous look on her face.
"Yeah, it's not like we're canceling," Sakshi adds. "We'll just move the plans a day or two away."
"What were you talking about anyway? It couldn't wait until it was a little less cold?" asks Samay, and Mahika tries to keep her face as straight as possible, while Naina just goes ahead and says, "Girl stuff."
He narrows his eyes at her but Naina just stares at him head-on, her face not giving anything away. Mahika's afraid that everyone at the table is going to be able to tell that she's holding her breath, but it's right in that moment that a steaming cup of tea is placed on the table in front of her, and another one in front of Naina.
Mahika blinks in surprise and looks up to meet Amoli's eyes.
"It has extra ginger," the girl stutters out in a hurry, as if that's enough explanation behind making Mahika's chest feel like it's expanding and contracting with every breath she takes. "To help with the cold," Amoli adds meekly, suddenly looking like she's regretting everything in life, all the way from the very first time she learned how to make tea.
Naina's whine interrupts the awkward moment.
"I hate tea."
Amoli breaks eye-contact with Mahika, but the latter doesn't miss the way her cheeks seem rosier than they were just a few seconds ago. How could she? Mahika is pretty sure her own face looks the exact same.
"Well, suck it up," Amoli replies, voice way more composed than it had been a minute ago when it had been directed at Mahika. She crosses her arms across her chest and stares down at Naina exactly the way Mahika's mother used to look down at her when she was a stubborn teenager. "Literally."
Arnav is the first one to snort at her joke, everyone else joining soon after. Even Mahika feels the corners of her lips twitch in half-amusement and half-exasperation as she leans forward, letting the familiar aroma of the tea leaves mixed with ginger soothe her throat before she puts her palms around the mug to warm them up.
While everyone else is busy teasing Naina about being a baby over a cup of tea, Mahika looks up at Amoli again and mutters a soft, 'Thank you', unable to decide after whether it's the tea or the other girl's shy little smile in return that leaves warmth lingering inside Mahika's chest and dusted over her cheeks.
When Mahika steps down the stairs later that day, well-rested, freshly showered and feeling considerably better than she did in the morning, she hears Akash's roaring laughter, followed by Samay's, "We're supposed to be a team!" seconds before she sees what's happening in the living room.
Samay and Akash are sitting on opposite ends of the couch, playing something on their phones, Arnav and Keerti are probably watching some action movie on Naina's laptop if the sounds of weapons and blood splattering are anything to go by, and Sakshi is sitting on the floor with her hand in Amoli's hold, the latter painting her nails half black and half nude.
Naina is nowhere to be seen, so Mahika assumes that she's still asleep in her room.
Even amidst the chaos, Amoli looks gravely focused on what she's doing, and Mahika walks over and peeks over Sakshi's shoulder just in time to catch Amoli drawing a tiny smiling face on the nail of Sakshi's pinkie with her pen.
"Can I go next?" Mahika asks softly, only half-joking with a small smile on her face.
Amoli is a little startled but thankfully, she had already taken the brush away from Sakshi's nails so she doesn't mess anything up. Mahika waits for her to raise her eyebrows at her. Or let out a little scoff. But when Amoli does neither and instead nods without looking at her directly, needless to say, Mahika is surprised.
"Thank you!" Sakshi chirps, happily looking at her freshly painted nails and then blowing Amoli a kiss before getting up to walk over to sit with Arnav and Keerti, almost immediately scrunching her nose in distaste at whatever she sees on the screen.
Mahika takes her spot in front of Amoli but she doesn't really know what to do so she just sits there for a moment, cross-legged, looking lost and a little awkward, until Amoli hesitantly reaches out in her direction with her palm up. It takes Mahika a little more than a moment to realize that Amoli is silently asking for her hand.
If her heart skips a beat or two, there's no need for the world to know.
When their hands touch, for some reason, Mahika begins to pay extra attention to how she's breathing, ending up making it difficult for herself. Amoli's skin is soft against her own, the feeling so familiar that Mahika is left to fleetingly wonder if they've held hands a million times before in another universe.
After Amoli softly places Mahika's hand on the pillow on her lap, she looks up at her and murmurs, "Relax."
And Mahika is immediately filled with a little mortification at the fact that the tenseness in her shoulders looks so painfully obvious. Before she can beat herself up over making things more awkward than they are, though, Amoli reaches for the bright yellow nail paint and asks, "Are you feeling better?"
Taking yet another extra moment to register that Amoli is referring to her cold, Mahika nods and hums an affirmative, trying not to move her hand when the slightly cold liquid touches her index finger nail the very second Amoli's warm hand settles on her wrist. The contrast makes Mahika's head spin a little but she forces herself to focus, the slide of the brush against her nails oddly satisfying to look at.
"You have pretty nails," Amoli murmurs, almost absentmindedly, and even though Mahika has always taken pride in how well she takes care of her nails (or her hands in general, really), she feels a little flustered about the compliment. Maybe it's because she didn't expect it.
Or maybe it's because of who it came from.
"Thanks," she mumbles, trying not to stutter. She watches the planes of her nails slowly get covered in vibrant yellow, and only a minute after Amoli picks up an orange pen and begins to draw tiny, detailed flowers over them. Mahika is awestruck. "You're really good at this."
Seems like it's Amoli's turn to look embarrassed, because she pauses and half-shrugs, trying to casually play the compliment off like her cheeks haven't already turned a lovely shade of pink. "I just do this a lot for my mother."
Mahika nods once, and then there's silence again. Well, between them. Because the room is still loud with the violent noises from Naina's laptop and Samay's "Wait, I'm dying!" and another laugh from Akash, followed by, "Rest in peace. I'm out of ammo."
It's not exactly uncomfortable; the silence. Just a little... unnerving. Mahika feels a strange need to use all of the time she has with Amoli by asking all of the questions she has inside her mind, but she doesn't know where to start. Romantically or not, she still feels the urge to get to know her more, but she isn't sure whether or not Amoli wants the same.
So she stays quiet and watches the nails of her other hand be painted as prettily as the first one, internally wishing for the moment to never end.
It's the cheesiest thing she has probably ever thought of, but with her hand in Amoli's, she thinks about all of the other mundane things they could be doing together if their hearts weren't jailed with restrictions. Mahika can't think of anything in the world right now that she could want more than to slide her fingers between the gaps of Amoli's. To sit a little closer to her without being overwhelmed with worries that stretch from the sky to the very core of the Earth. To ask her questions without overthinking them to an extent where they're nothing but nonsensical jumbles inside her head.
To tuck that stray lock of hair falling over Amoli's eyes that keeps bothering her behind her ear instead of just watching her lightly flipping it away for a few seconds over and over by jerking her head to the side.
At some point, Amoli clicks her tongue in annoyance, and Mahika wonders why she won't just let go of Mahika's hand to tuck it away for once and for all, but she lets go of the thought very, very soon because Amoli looks too concentrated on what she's doing to be bothered enough.
Mahika tries to bite back the words several times. She really does. And she manages to do it somehow until her thumb's is the only nail left to be dotted with flowers, and then her lips part, betraying her when the soft, barely whispered, "Can I?" makes its way past them along with her breath, the hand with the already-dried paint reaching out and pausing right beside Amoli's face.
Amoli looks up at her with her eyes slightly wider, but then again, to both of their surprise, she looks back down and replies with the smallest of nods.
So Mahika delicately takes hold of the dark lock of hair between her thumb and forefinger, and tucks it behind Amoli's ear for her before forcing herself to pull back so her touch doesn't linger on her skin.
It doesn't matter how badly she wants to keep her hand right where it is.
They don't move for a few seconds after Mahika's hand finds its way back to the pillow, her eyes on Amoli and Amoli's eyes on the floor.
Their bubble is broken into by Naina's voice, the sleep-tinged words, "Are you two finally getting along?" making Mahika feel more embarrassed than she cares to admit.
She looks back and sees Naina making her way into the kitchen to grab herself a glass of water, and then back at Amoli only to be surprised for the third time in less than an hour when she sees a secretive, playful smile playing on her lips.
"Yeah," Amoli says, just loud enough for Naina to hear, and looking up at Mahika through her lashes and sending a flurry of butterflies fluttering up a storm in her stomach. "We are."