Harem House - Selene Pt. 14

"What movie did you guys see?" Sanjay asked as they walked toward the exit and the movie theater came into view.

"Hm?" Arthur asked over his shoulder.

"Didn't you say you guys saw a movie too?" Sanjay asked.

"Oh, right." Arthur nodded, coming back to reality from his broken dreams. He gestured toward the movie poster on the wall. "That one. The new rom-com."

"We saw that one too!" Sanjay said a little too loudly. "What showing did you guys see?"

"The five-fifty." Mindy answered.

"Us too!" Sanjay exclaimed again. "I didn't think anybody else was in the theater with us."

"We sat in the back." Arthur explained. "You guys were in the front row of the mezzanine?"

Rani shot Mindy a look, and Mindy had the composure to play innocent and keep her eyes forward as they left the mall entrance behind.

"Yeah." Sanjay answered. "It was an okay movie."

"Yeah, it..." Arthur tried to think about something to say about the movie, but when he tried to conjure images of the film on the screen, the only thing he could think of were images of Mindy straddling him and pushing her breasts into his face. "Was great."

Rani shot Arthur a look, which he did not see because he did not look behind him.

"For a chick flick." Sanjay shrugged.

Rani rolled her eyes and rubbed her arms. "It was boring and predictable." She muttered.

"I thought you liked it?" Sanjay asked.

"What gave you that impression?" Rani asked, surprised.

"Well, you never said you didn't." Sanjay said, trying to recall the details of their conversation after the movie.

"You never asked me." Rani stated. "You started telling me what you thought about the movie and never got around to asking my opinion."

"First date?" Arthur asked, breaking the tension.

Rani and Sanjay looked at him for a moment. "Yeah." Sanjay answered. "Is it that obvious?" He laughed.

"Us too." Arthur said, gesturing between Mindy and himself.

"Really?" Sanjay asked, perking up. "How's he doing?" Sanjay asked Mindy. "Think you'll go out with him again?"

Mindy laughed. "Oh yes." She said. "He definitely owes me a second date after this."

Sanjay reached up and patted Arthur on his other arm. "Congrats, dude."

Arthur looked at Sanjay and then at Mindy. He looked apologetic, but he said nothing by way of apology with Sanjay right there.

"How far away did you guys park?" Sanjay asked after a moment of silence.

"The other end of the lot." Arthur nodded toward his car, which still looked pretty small from where they were.

"Oh geez." Sanjay sighed. "You made your girl walk all that way?"

"I like a good walk." Arthur defended his parking choices as though that weren't the first time he'd had to explain why he parked so far away from the entrance, even if it wasn't the true answer this time.

"Well, some of us are in heels." Mindy pouted, then came to a stop. "Carry me?" She smiled at Arthur.

Arthur laughed. "Piggyback, fireman, or bridal carry?" He asked, though considering the bags they were holding and the shortness of her skirt, there really was no best option.

"Hm...." Mindy considered her options and their consequences. "Piggyback." She said finally. "That way, I can hold on to you, and you can hold on to the bags."

Arthur nodded and knelt down. Mindy giggled, straddled his back, looping her legs around his waist and hooking her feet over one another. The hem of her skirt was trapped beneath her as she did, at least in the front. The back bounced a little as Arthur stood up. He could feel Mindy's arms around his neck and over his chest. However, the tops of her thigh-highs were exposed as the dress slid up over the side of her thighs. Sanjay noticed, despite the twilight of a parking lot lit only by the occasional street lamp in the autumnal darkness of a starless night.

"Careful there." Rani coughed. "Don't want to get arrested for indecent exposure."

Mindy giggled. "Oh, it's okay. I have shorts underneath."

"Oh, okay." Rani accepted her blatant lie with more grace than Sanjay's disappointed expression.

When they reached Arthur's car, he knelt beside the passenger-side door to let Mindy down. "We've arrived." He said with a laugh.

"Aw." Mindy said with mock disappointment, but she couldn't hide her broad smile as Arthur moved around to the car trunk. He opened it and stashed their shopping bags inside, letting go of them for the first time since they'd become an entourage. He closed the trunk quickly and moved back to the passenger side. He opened Mindy's door for her, and she slipped inside while Rani took the seat behind her, and Sanjay slipped into the backseat on the other side of the car.

Mindy flashed him just before he closed the door, adjusting her sweater so he could see the dark, hard-as-a-rock nipple threatening to pierce her mesh top.

Her smile was wicked as he closed the door and moved to the driver's door with a sigh. He supposed it could be worse. There were worse things than running into friends and having your date turn into a double. There had to be. He just couldn't think of any right now.

He slid in and started up the car as the others got buckled. Once he was buckled, he backed out and started making for the exit. The new Bar and Grill wasn't far; it was just down the road in another part of the complex of which the mall was the center.

"What luck, huh?" Sanjay asked cheerfully. "Thanks for inviting us along, you guys."

Mindy and Arthur shared a look together in the rearview mirror, but Arthur said: "No problem." Instead of what was really on his mind.

"So, what did you think of the movie, anyway?" Sanjay asked Rani as Arthur drove.

"Like I said." Rani shrugged. "It was boring and predictable. You knew she would end up with the owner as soon as they met."

"Well, yeah. I mean, that's how movies work. Right guys?" He looked at Artur and Mindy for support. "They have to follow certain expectations, or the audience won't be satisfied, and it won't be a good movie."

"But satisfy those expectations the same way every time, and audiences get bored." Rani countered. "There have to be some shake-ups every now and again. There must be spice, or life is just broccoli all the time."

"What?" Sanjay asked, more confused than he had been.

"Satisfying audience expectations is important, but needs to be done in unexpected ways." Arthur summarized. "Or it gets boring, and all the movies end up feeling like the same movie on repeat." He shrugged. "Is that what you meant, Rani?"

Rani looked at him as if the unexpected thing in this conversation was someone listening to her and understanding what she was saying.

"Uh... yeah." Rani said with a nod. "That's pretty much exactly what I meant."

Arthur nodded. Mindy frowned.

"I thought it was cute." Mindy countered. "I like that she ended up with her boss."

Arthur was surprised that Mindy had even noticed the plot considering she was facing away from the screen for most of it, but he couldn't exactly say that.

"Yeah?" Rani asked. "You didn't think it was a little... unrealistic?"

"Office romance?" Mindy asked in an almost accusatory tone. "No, I don't think it's unrealistic."

"Ah-" Arthur interrupted, but Sanjay got there first.

"I don't know." Sanjay was quick to say what was on his mind, even if it wasn't always worth saying. "It was a bit of a cheesy American rom-com, but I liked it. At least it wasn't a musical."

"You can get out of the car right now if you want." Arthur cut in. "I'll slow down a little."

Sanjay laughed. "Sorry man." He reached up and clapped Arthur on the shoulder. "It's nothing personal. I just don't like musicals."

"I love musicals." Arthur explained to Rani, sparing her a glance in the rearview mirror.

Rani smiled. "I like musicals, but I also like Bollywood movies, and Sanjay here can't stand them." She gestured to Sanjay even though he was sitting right next to her.

Arthur laughed. Mindy frowned again.

"I like musicals." Mindy added to join the conversation. "I've never seen any Bollywood movies, though. Unless you count Slumdog Millionaire."

"That counts." Sanjay assured her.

"It does not." Rani countered.

"It's got the-"

"Nope." Rani shook her head. "That movie is as American as they come."

"Oh come on!" Sanjay said defensively. "I actually like that one!"

"It's Forrest Gump if he were born in India." Rani shook her head again.

"No, it isn't." Sanjay argued. "It's... it's a fairy tale! It's a good movie and definitely a Bollywood film."

Rani shook her head or was still shaking it as Arthur pulled the car into the parking lot. "Look it up if you don't believe me."

"One step ahead of you." Mindy said from the front seat. She had her phone out and had already googled it. "Google says it's technically not a Bollywood film since it's a British film with a British director."

"Ha!" Rani raised her fist triumphantly.

"However." Mindy continued. "The guy that made the music is definitely a Bollywood composer. So most of India considers it a Bollywood movie."

"Ah ha!" Sanjay pointed at Rani. "There."

"There, what?" Rani asked. "Just because it has a Bollywood composer doesn't make it a Bollywood movie. Lin Manuel can compose for Disney movies, but that doesn't make Encanto a Broadway musical."

"Yet." Arthur smirked as he pulled into a parking spot closer to the doors than the spot he'd left at the mall. Disney had a habit of making Broadway musicals of their more popular franchises.

Rani and Mindy laughed. Sanjay frowned.

Arthur turned off the car, gestured for Mindy to stay put, and then got out of the car. He moved around the front of it to her side and opened her door. She slid her legs open for him indecently and stepped out of the car before smoothing her skirt and giving him a playful smile of thanks.

Sanjay got out on his side and stood there waiting for Rani. When she didn't get out of the car, Sanjay gave Arthur a look. "You're making me look bad, man."

Arthur shrugged. He didn't feel he was making Sanjay look any particular way. Mindy looped her arm through his and answered for him.

"Treat your girl like a lady in public." Mindy said to Sanjay even as she looked up at Arthur. "And she just might let you treat her like a whore in private."

Sanjay startled slightly at that and looked at the two of them, who were too distracted with looking at each other to notice him. He sighed and moved around behind the car to open Rani's door. She stepped out and gave him a slight smile.

"Thank you." She said with a nod. "Shall we?"

Arthur and Mindy led the way into the restaurant, where the hostess greeted them with a smile. The interior was surprisingly dark, with tiny lights in the ceiling a considerable distance from the tables and floors. It was a remarkably romantic atmosphere because of the long twilight shadows that gathered everywhere. Still, from what Arthur could see, it looked like a full house. The only open tables he spotted were high-rise tables at the bar, the least romantic option by far.

The entrance opened into a large waiting area with benches along the walls and a hostess podium at the front. Seating options were split by her podium a few paces from the door. The dining room was on the right, and the bar was on the left.

"Four." Arthur announced as he approached the hostess.

"Okay. Is the bar okay?" The waitress asked.

"Didn't you have a reservation?" Sanjay asked loudly.

Arthur sighed. "For two." He lied and couldn't help but shoot Sanjay an annoyed look. "But it's fine." He turned back to the hostess. "The bar is fine."

Mindy, Sanjay, and Rani didn't protest, even though the two girls were not yet 21, which was the legal drinking age. Not every restaurant required that you be more than 21 to sit in the bar section, though some did. Arthur wasn't sure which this place was.

"If you had a reservation...." The waitress said, scrolling through her console.

Arthur looked at her as if patiently waiting for her to finish her sentence. "It would have been under my last name." He said, and then supplied his last name. Not being a common last name, he did not have much hope that there would be a reservation under it, and he was ready to pass it off as a mistake.

"We have a reservation for two under that name, but it's not for another half hour." The hostess explained. "Would you like us to cancel and seat you at the bar? The wait should be about fifteen minutes either way."

"Uh..." Arthur hesitated and looked at Mindy with a slight look of confusion on his face. For all the answers he did not have, she hadn't found any either, and she looked back at him with a shrug.

"We'll wait." Arthur said with a nod. Then he led the way to the waiting area, with Mindy on his arm and Rani and Sanjay standing a bit apart.

"You two look pretty cozy for a first date." Sanjay teased. "Have you guys known each other very long?"

"A few weeks." Mindy admitted. "I'm a freshman."

"You're clinging to him like you're afraid you'll get lost." Sanjay chuckled.

Mindy looked confused. "What?"

"You're..." He looked at Rani for backup, and she offered him none. "You're like hanging on his arm all the time. It just... it seemed like you two had been dating a while or like this date was a long time coming."

Mindy still looked confused. "Oh, you mean because we walk arm-in-arm?" She suddenly realized. "No, that's... that's a Korean thing. In my family, neighborhood, whatever, it's just what you do when you're out with friends, family, whatever."

"Oh." Sanjay said, shooting Arthur an apologetic look.

"But I think I'd be hanging on it anyway." Mindy admitted. "It's a good arm."

Arthur chuckled.

"No look." Mindy said, turning so that Sanjay could see as she held Arthur's arm toward him, causing his triceps to flex into focus. "Look at that. See the lines there on the shoulder make a little horseshoe?" She traced her finger over Arthur's upper arm and then down the curve of his bicep and up the canyon, separating it from his tricep.

Sanjay didn't look impressed. Rani did, but Mindy looked absolutely enthralled.

Mindy smiled. "It's a good arm."

"I happen to like the person attached to it too." Arthur said with a smile. "Her, I mean. I'm pretty fed up with myself."

Mindy smiled and looked down, twisting slightly and then turning up to kiss him on the cheek. "I like me too." She giggled.

Rani laughed.

"How did you two meet?" Rani asked.

"We work together." Mindy explained.

"Ah." Sanjay said as if putting together the clues of a mystery movie. "That explains some of the closeness, then. Forced to spend hours together every day. From what I hear, he's a bit of a workaholic."

"Well, now that you've seen Mindy, can you blame me for wanting to spend more time at the office?" Arthur asked with a smile.

Mindy blushed harder still and looked away, but she appreciated every word and squeezed his arm to show it.

Sanjay was sensible enough not to comment on how attractive Mindy was with his date standing next to him. This was, quite possibly, the upper limit of his social intelligence.

"How about you two?" Arthur asked. "How did you two meet?"

"Tinder." Sanjay explained. "Sent messages back and forth for a few hours, and then bam: met up today for our date."

Arthur looked surprised. "You didn't meet before or run into each other on campus or anything?"

"No." Rani answered. "We met today before the movie."

"Aren't you in the same year?" Arthur asked, surprised.

"I'm an engineering major." Rani explained. "I don't socialize a whole lot."

"Oh, nice." Arthur nodded. "What type of engineering?"

"Electrical." Rani answered.

"That's probably why we never see you around the dorm, huh?" Mindy asked.

"Yeah. I'm usually locked in my room studying or in one of the labs." Rani nodded.

"But that's not your only interest, right?" Sanjay asked. "You're into other things?"

"Nope." Rani shook her head. "I'm completely monolithic. I only have one interest, which has come to consume my soul and entirely define me as a person over the years."

Arthur and Mindy could tell that she was being sarcastic. Sanjay had a more difficult time reading her tone.

"So, what else are you into?" Mindy asked.

Rani smiled. "Cinematography. Screenwriting. Art."

"I'm into art too!" Mindy said excitedly. "I do a lot of drawing, some painting."

"Nice." Rani smiled. "I do photography and some digital art."

"I feel like if I had to choose one, I'd choose photography. I mean, anyone with a phone can take a picture." Sanjay said off-handedly.

Arthur physically winced. Mindy almost giggled but stopped herself for Rani's sake. Rani let the briefest flicker of anger cross her face but quickly regained her composure as someone called out Arthur's name. They thought it was the hostess, but Arthur immediately recognized his mother's voice.

"Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?" Arthur asked, surprised.

Mindy's eyes went wide, and she adjusted her sweater a little bit and flattened her skirt after nearly jolting away from Arthur's arm. If he noticed, he didn't have to comment on it as his mother embraced him in a hug.

"We may be old, son, but we can still go out for a night on the town." His father answered.

"Heh." Arthur chuckled a bit. "I guess so."

"Who are your friends?" His mom asked after pulling away and glancing between Rani and Mindy, not sparing a glance at Sanjay.

"Ah, mom, dad, this is my date, Mindy." He presented Mindy. "And our friends Rani and Sanjay."

"Mindy?" His mom asked, as if making sure she got the name right, but in reality, checking its sound for any sign of familiarity that she and Arthur might have discussed before. She came up blank but shook the young woman's hand anyway.

"Yes, Mindy." Mindy answered with a nod. "Well, Ji-Min. But I go by Mindy." She confessed with a small laugh. "It's... very nice to meet you."

"You too!" His mom said. "I was starting to wonder if I'd ever meet all of Arty's girlfriends!" She laughed.

Arthur rubbed the back of his neck and laughed apologetically. Mindy looked up at him to make sure she'd heard right. She knew that he, Selene, and Kat were open about their open relationship, but it wasn't like they'd told Sanjay or Rani. In fact, Mindy was kind of hoping not to tell Sanjay and Rani until she talked to Arthur about it first.

"Heh." Sanjay scoffed, drawing their attention to him. "Sorry." Sanjay raised his hands. "I didn't mean to laugh. I just... Arthur's not much of a ladies' man like you made it sound." He said, almost as if trying to reassure Mindy. "It's not like he's a player." Sanjay laughed. "Dude hasn't had a date in like a year!"

"Oh, I know he's a ladies' man." Mindy laughed, brushing away Sanjay's concern or his jeering. She wasn't sure which it was. She took Arthur's hand back in hers and squeezed it. "I'm proud to be one of his girlfriends."

It was Arthur's turn to blush. Sanjay seemed confused and didn't get it. Arthur's father coughed and left for the hostess stand. His mother smiled at Mindy and gave her an appraising glance.

"Do you want to sit with us?" His mom asked. "Or is that too much? I guess we should let you kids have your double date without any parental supervision." She laughed.

Mindy looked at Arthur for guidance, but he laughed and shook his head. Dealing with Sanjay had taught him to find his tongue quicker in these situations.

"No, you two go ahead." He nodded. "You deserve a nice date night. I think there was a mix-up with the reservation anyway. They might have thought we were the same reservation, calling twice." It was a convenient excuse.

"Aw." His mom pouted. "Well, it was good to see you again so soon, Arty." She gave him another hug. "And it was very nice to meet you, Ji-Min." She looked at Mindy with a smile, then back to Arthur. "You treat her right, now, you hear?"