The Seven Kings of Jinn

She nodded. “I’m going to have such a great time with him this summer before I leave for Dartmouth. So… okay... I invited him to your party; you were kind of out of it that night so you didn’t see him flirting with me all night long. Nothing happened, but he texted me the next day to go to the movies. Well… we got to the parking lot of the movies.” Rachel wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “And that’s as far as we got. Next thing I know, my shirt is off, my hand is down his pants—”

“Uh, Rachel!” Ari stopped her, glaring at Jai for not leaving the room like a gentleman. “Are you sure you want to discuss this in front of the dog?”

Rachel burst out laughing. “Jeez, Ari, come on. You know you wouldn’t get all embarrassed about sex if you just traded in your v-card already. I know, I know, you were waiting on Charlie to give up the old virginity, but you are too pretty to be missing out on this stuff. Seriously, at one point I thought my—”

“My dad’s home.” Ari bolted up off the bed, totally mortified that Jai now knew she was a virgin.

Rachel’s eyebrows drew together in a glower. “So?”

“He might hear you.”

“Ari, what is going on with you?”

“You know you’re right.” She blushed furiously. “I’m being silly. Let’s go get a soda and some chips or something and you can give me all the gory details.”

“Sure!”

Jai jumped off the bed as they made their way to the door. Ari spun around. “Stay,” she ordered him.

“Oh, Ari, he can come, he’s so cute.”

“No, he can stay.” Ari glowered, his doggy eyes burning through her with indignation. “He chewed on my diary this morning. Chewed on stuff even a dog shouldn’t know.” She narrowed her eyes at him pointedly.

“I didn’t know you kept a diary,” Rachel mused, as Ari ushered her out the room and slammed the door on Jai.

Ten minutes later, as they sat in the kitchen—Rachel had already regaled Ari with her tale of sex with a TA in the back parking lot of the movies—a familiar click of nails on tile brought her head up. Jai wandered in with a lazy doggy smirk on his face.

“Wow.” Rachel gaped. “How did he get out?”

“He got out because he’s too damn nosy for his own good.”

“You’re pretty harsh on your dog, Ari.” Rachel held out a cheese puff. “Here, boy.”

Jai took it, crunching on it comically, his tongue licking the cheese powder from Rachel’s hands as she giggled. Ari wanted to kill him. Wasn’t it possible for her to have at least an hour in a room without him listening in on every little thing? Thankfully, the conversation steered back to Rachel’s excitement about attending Dartmouth. Not quite able to find the courage to discuss the whole “probably not going to Penn” thing, Ari threw all of her excitement about college at Rachel for Rachel. And she was excited for her friend. This was everything Rachel had been dreaming about since she was a little kid.

A few hours later, assured that she and Rache were back on track, Ari walked her to the door and startled when her dad called out to them.

“Nice to see you, Rachel.” He nodded from the armchair in the living room. He had his briefcase out, lots of work papers scattered over the coffee table.

“Oh you too, Mr. Johnson.” Rachel smiled and then hugged Ari goodbye. She bent down to place another slobbery kiss on Jai’s forehead before she left. When the door clicked closed behind her, Ari snorted, watching Jai lift a paw to swipe the saliva from the top of his head.

“Ari.”

Her dad was speaking to her?

“Dad?”

He stood up, exhaling heavily, his features drawn and tired. He gathered up his papers, slotting them into his briefcase. Finally, just when she was bristling with impatience, he strode over to her, his familiar scent making her wish she could fall against his chest for a hug like she used to do when she was little.

I’m lonely.

“Ari, I’m…” he shook his head. “I haven’t been acting very adult lately and for that I’m sorry. But… I am just so… so disappointed in you, kid.”

Biting back the rush of anger his words incited, Ari nodded tightly.

“The things you told me. Said.” He heaved another sigh. “I just…”

Despite her anger, Ari was terrified her dad would never forgive her. She needed him to forgive her. “I am so sorry,” she choked out. “I am so sorry. I don’t know what else…”

Seeing her fumble, her dad reached out and squeezed her shoulder. She leaned into his touch. “I know, kid. I said I was disappointed. I didn’t say I didn’t still love you. Of course I still love you.”

The tightness in her throat eased. “I love you too.”