1 I Was Set Up By My Best Friend

My name is Bailey Johnson and I am your average American girl of European descent. I have fair skin that burns in a heartbeat, warm brown eyes, and shoulder length curly hair that was died a warm red at the time.

I come from a regular middle class family and worked my way through college as a waitress. I love books and spending my free time by myself. Those that I consider true friends are few but it is enough for me.

I was your average American girl working at a book store while trying to find my "big girl job" after graduating at age 26 with a Bachelors Degree from the local university. That was until the day I received a certain phone call from my best friend, Ariel.

"Hey girl what's up?" she said as soon as I picked up. I opened my car door and got in.

"Just getting off work. You?"

"I have something I want to talk to you about, can you come over for dinner tonight? My treat."

"Sure I'm free. What are we ordering?"

"What are you in the mood for, Italian or Chinese?"

"Mmmm, Italian sounds good. I can pick it up on my way."

"No worries, I still have a few errands to run so I'll pick it up on my way home. Just come over for 5."

"See you then."

______

5 pm. Ariel's Apartment.

I opened the door that was unlocked, walked right in and froze holding the door ajar. I expected to find Ariel lounging on the couch in her pajamas watching a sappy TV romance movie. But the scene I entered into was very different.

Two pairs of eyes had turned to see who was coming through the door. One pair belonged to Ariel's mother. She was a short Indian woman with fair skin and a beautiful face. Her being in her own daughter's apartment was not strange.

What was strange was that she wore a blue sari and had her hair and make up done. Even stranger was that a young handsome Indian man stood next to her in black slacks and a mint green dress shirt. As I looked at them and they looked at me. I could not help but blush slightly at the contrast of apparel.

My hair was pulled back in a pony tail, I wore my glasses and no make up. Expecting to spend the evening lounging on the couch I had dressed in leggings and an oversized hoodie from my university. My look was complete with the hot pink flip flops on my feet.

"Bailey! What a pleasant surprise, come in, come in." Ariel's mom greeted me warmly after recovering from the initial shock of my sudden appearance.

"Aaa, sorry I had plans to hang out with Ariel tonight. At least I thought I did," I said closing the door behind me.

"No worries, we only made these plans yesterday at the last minute. Ariel probably forgot to call and cancel with you."

'Aaaaa no we made these plans 2 hours ago.' I thought it but I was not about to tell Ariel's mom that.

"Come I want you to meet someone," she said as I awkwardly walked over to where they stood in the living room. "This is Kishan, the son of a family friend. Kishan this is Bailey, Ariel's best friend."

The man held out his hand courteously. I looked down so I could grab it and noticed how his dark brown skin contrasted with my own fair skin in an almost pretty way before looking up to meet his eye.

He was tall for an Indian and stood a little over 6 ft. Making him a few inches taller than me. His eyes where dark chocolate brown. His straight black hair was cut and styled very professionally, perfectly framing his handsome face.

"Nice to meet you," he said as he shook my hand.

"Likewise."

'What on earth is going on here?' I wondered to myself. 'What's Ariel trying to do?'

"How have you been Bailey? It's been awhile since I last saw you," Ariel's mom asked.

"Same ol', same ol'. I'm still job hunting for something in the field of my degree."

"So are you not working? I can ask around to see if anyone needs help until you find what you're looking for."

"Thank you Ma'am but I make do with what I make at the book store."

"What's your degree in?" Kishan asked.

"English Literature and Language." Just then Ariel's mom's phone began to ring.

"Ah it's Ariel," she said, "Bailey be a dear and entertain our guest. I'll take this outside." With that she walked out the door suddenly leaving the two of us alone. There was an awkward moment of silence.

"You must be close to no longer be considered a guest," Kishan finally commented.

"Yeah we've been close since high school. I even moved in with them when I was in college to save money... So would you like something to drink?" I said not knowing what else to say.

"Sure, that would be great," he said with a slight smile. I turned around and headed towards the kitchen.

'This is so awkward!' I thought. It was not hard to guess why they were here. Kishan was obviously there for a blind date with Ariel! What on earth was she doing calling me to crash her own blind date without any warning? At least tell me!

I was so embarrassed by my casual appearance. It was a stark contrast to his professional one. Thankfully working as a waitress for years I had learned to hide those kinds of emotions and was able to put a smile on my face.

I opened the cabinet to evaluate what Ariel had to offer. "There is some peppermint tea, chamomile tea, and instant coffee." I opened the fridge. "Also bottled water and milk."

"Coffee would be nice," he answered casually standing at the raised breakfast bar. I closed the fridge and grabbed the instant coffee.

"How do you take it?"

"Black is fine."

The conversation paused as I quickly made his coffee using Ariel's very convenient hot water tap. Her place was so much nicer than mine. After handing him the coffee I went over to the pantry to see what I could find.

Grabbing a box I turned around and asked him, "Do you like chocolate chip cookies?" I held up the box for him to see.

He smiled as he took his mug back down from his lips, "I definitely don't hate them." I took that as he wanted some. So I quickly put the box on the counter so I could wash my hands before I pulled out a small plate that matched his mug and arranged a few cookies on it.

"Thank you," he said as I placed the plate in front of him.

"Your Welcome." He opened his mouth to say something more but was cut off by the sound of the front door opening.

"Ariel's car broke down," her mother explained. "She's already called the tow truck so it shouldn't take long but I still need to go pick her up. Bailey would you mind accompanying Kishan for a short while? I will be right back."

Thunk. She closed the door and left without waiting for an answer. The room was filled with another moment of awkward silence.

'...Ariel, you so owe me!'

"So," Kishan said turning back to face me with a mildly amused smile, "would you like to have cookies with me?"