Abhay

I watched the scene unfolding in front of me. Riya walked away, and Dhruv stood there trying to awkwardly flirt with a girl twirling her hair at him. He looked at Riya for a second, and then his attention was captured by the girl in front of him.

Stupidity was a very prominent trait of this fucker.

I kept my coffee cup down, looking for her. She vanished. Her self-sacrificing habit suddenly took a backseat, I guess.

I recalled his words telling me they fought. I had a hunch he had not told me everything.

No matter how annoying Riya was, it was not lost on me that she was a thousand times better sibling than me. She paraded that in front of me a lot. I didn't like that. Not one bit.

Dhruv walked back to our table and sat down. "Had fun?" I said, glancing at the girl at the counter who was talking to another student.

"I didn't even know her. She started talking to me. Confidence, man."

"You talked to her?" he understood who I was talking about.

"She said she forgave me. But she's still not okay." he sighed, turning his face upwards.

"Tough luck." I picked up my phone.

"How do I make it up for her?"

I shrugged my shoulders, not looking up from my phone. He was asking the wrong person.

"I will throw your fucking phone away." he deadpanned.

"I'd like to see you try."

"Dude, it's important to me. At least look up from your damn phone."

I sighed, putting my phone down. Somewhere, I knew I was responsible for it. I was the one who egged him on. I knew he would lash out. But she was getting on my nerves a little bit too much.

"Didn't you apologize?"

"She said she needs to stop butting in my business," he said, keeping his head down on the table.

"I don't think she is capable of doing that."

Since the day she joined the college, she had been chasing him around, shocked that her precious brother was a hooligan now. She had yet to witness the level of depraved this man was capable of. Maybe she was right. I messed him up. It felt good for some reason.

He sat straight and glared at me. "I'll think of something."

"Yeah, do that." I didn't touch my phone, waiting for him to vomit whatever shit was going on in his head so I could be done with it at once.

"I'll buy her some art supplies."

"Mhhm."

"Let's go." he stood up hurriedly, and I sighed.

"Do I need to go?" he glared at me, and I got up reluctantly. The things I did for this fucker.

----

He picked up a small canvas and looked around. "What else should I buy?"

"A beer for me." I was leaning on the wall and scrolling through my Instagram, looking at the ceramic bowls. It had been a long time since I made something. I kept toying with the wheel but ended up scraping whatever shape it took.

"You're here, so at least help me out."

"No thanks!"

A message popped up with the name Mira. I could read the first few words, and my thumb hovered over it for a second before I decided to keep my phone back in my pocket. I straightened up.

"You're buying this?" He was holding a small canvas that fit in his palm.

"They're cute, and she likes cute things." he picked up another heart-shaped canvas.

"That looks fine. Let's go." The heart-shaped one suited her. She had a style with kurtas and her eccentric jhumkas. Her style screamed demureness, but then she would jump into a fight like it was a normal thing to do. The level of annoyance she could get.

"I need to buy some colors too."

"Buy a pink one."

"Why?"

"No reason."

My mind went to veer. He was learning painting too. I decided to buy something for him too.

________________________________________

I was sitting in our college cafe with my phone in my hand. It was quiet at this time here. I liked this place. 

Riya was sitting behind the counter and ignoring my existence like she always did. I didn't hear from Dhruv about the gift. I didn't want to ask because I was too informed about the life of this girl.

The girl who gave off the vibe that she would kill me if given a chance. She would probably feel remorse though. That's how she was. A disgusting trait, in my opinion. I hated such goody-two-shoes.

I looked at my phone, contemplating whether to open Mira's msg or not. It had already been a whole day. It was out of our usual routine. I had just gone to her place the day before yesterday. I wasn't supposed to get a msg before Friday. The mandatory attendance text.

I need to talk to you. Call me when you're free.

What did she need to talk about? Was everything okay?

I dialed her number.

"Abhay?"

"Yeah. you texted." Riya looked up from her seat for a second, then went back to her phone.

"Oh.. yeah..umm can you come home for a day?"

"I have football practice till....is everything okay?"

"Uhh...yeah. I got a call. From your college." There was a silence on her end, maybe for me to explain, but I didn't. "I heard you got into another fight."

"It was a scuffle. Raghav and I were just messing around." I had instructed Gupta uncle to not share these with her. He was our lawyer and often got me out of my troubles.

My eyes met Riya for a second. There was no emotion on her face. I didn't need to be a psychic to know what was going on in her head. This was fun. 

"Burning things is not messing around. Raghav's parents are worried that you're getting too violent." So that's where she got the information. Fucking relatives.

It was so unnerving that everyone thought of me as someone violent. Violence wasn't something I liked. But people were too dumb and brought it out. And it hurt more to hear it from her.

"Tell them to watch their own son. If he picks up another fight with me, he'll end up in the hospital. I won't let him go this time." I made sure to look into her eyes while saying that. I was beginning to like her all riled up.

"Abhay. This is not the way to behave. You guys are not kids."

"Do you have anything else to talk about?"

"Abhay liste-"

"Take care." I cut the call. I needed a distraction to not think about how Mira must've been hurt because of my tone.

I looked at Riya. "where's my coffee?"

"You have to order it first, dickhead." did she...curse?

She seemed as surprised as me. Interesting.

"Didn't know Miss Goody Two Shoes cursed." She glared at me. "What's your specialty?"

"Latte."

"So basically milk."

"It's not milk." The exasperated face she made was hilarious.

"Do you have coke?"

"Yes."

"Bring it then."

"I'm not your servant. Come here and pay for it." I got up from my table slowly and walked towards the counter. Hatred dripped from her face. It made me want to make her more angry.

"I'm back." A voice came from the door. It was the girl from yesterday.

"Hey." The smile Riya gave her made me pause for a second.

"I bought some food." The girl replied. "I'm keeping it in the back. Come when you get free." Then she disappeared into the backroom.

She kept the Coke bottle on the counter while I paid for it. There was a faint smell coming from her. Lemons? 

She was wearing a brown T-shirt instead of her usual kurtas and jeans. She was not wearing her bindi either. My eyes fell on her empty ears.

"You wear this t-shirt around campus?"

"No" she furrowed her eyebrows. Then, as if she remembered she was not supposed to interact with me, straightened up. "Do you need anything else?"

Smile at me. What the fuck?

"No thanks." I walked back to my table, pissed off at my thoughts.