A N Y T H I N G   F O R   Y O U

     I WATCHED THE raindrops hit the glass and slid down dropping on the window pane as I sipped the hot coffee. It was one of those days, when it was raining heavily and I was forced to stay indoors because I didn’t like monsoon whereas Ritika was crazily in love with this season. She always told me I was stupid to not love rain and I would always roll my eyes at her saying, “I love it only when I am indoors and I am not forced to cancel plans because of the evil rain”

The good old days!

The ringing of my phone broke me from my train of thoughts. I walked back towards my bed and placed the mug on the nightstand before picking up my phone and looking at the phone screen. It was an unknown number and though I never received unknown calls, today turned out to be an exception. Sliding the answer option, I pressed the phone to my ear before answering the call.

“Hello? Who is this?”, I asked.

“Aairah?”, the voice asked and I felt my heart skip a beat.

Oh before you jump to conclusions of the voice belonging to my ex lover or something, let me tell you the voice belonged to my other half, my best friend, Ritika Sharma.

“Ritu?”, I whispered hoping it wasn’t a dream.

“Holyshit! You recognised my voice? Honestly, I didn’t think you would pick up my call let alone recognise my voice”, she said laughing.

I bit my lip realising how she still remembered my habits.

“Happy Friendship Day, Aairah”

“Happy Friendship Day, Best friend”, I said as my eyes moistened.

“You know, I missed you”, she said.

Her voice had dropped in octaves and I knew she was bothered about it just like me. It had been ten years since we last spoke to each other and even if we did it would never last more than fifteen minutes. As time went by, the calls stopped so did messages and before we knew it, we had become those two best friends who only wished each other on their birthdays.

“I missed you too and you know what? Just seconds before your call, I was remembering you” I said, a smile playing on my lips.

“You know there's a good news for you. I am coming to Mumbai in the next week so maybe we should——”

“There’s no maybe. We are meeting”, I said bossily and I heard her laugh.

“Oh Lord! Still the bossy, Aairah!”, she exclaimed between her laughter.

I smiled at her words. I was always bossy and yeah, there was no hiding that part.

“So the same old cafe?”, she asked after she had sobered up.

“That’s if the place still exists”, she added.

“Nah. It does exist”, I replied.

“Okay. So Friday, 5 pm at Grandma’s Cafe?”, she asked.

“Yeah. Reach on time. Don’t be late”, I warned but knowing her, I knew she would be late because Ritika Sharma was known for her unpunctuality.

❧ ❧ ❧

     JUST LIKE I expected Ritika was late and had the usual excuse.

TRAFFIC.

Of course after that the topic was over. We placed our orders and didn’t utter a word. The cafe was empty since it was in the outskirts of the town. Silence wrapped around us like a blanket of comfort.

We enjoyed the silence while gazing outside the window. The grey clouds were looming in the sky. An indication that it would be raining soon. The winds were in their spirit and the leaves rustled.

Before we knew, the waitress arrived with our food. We are our food silently. The only thing that my mind kept flashing was the ten years back, Ritika and me. Our past memories. This place had always been our favourite and been our happy place.

There were no bad memories in our lives except for the one which had happened before Ritika left the town.

Before I knew it, the word was out from my mouth, “Sorry”

She looked up at me surprised and placed her spoon on the plate. She wiped her mouth and asked, “Why?”

I gulped. Past ten years, I had spent each night in guilt and self misery. I had wanted to tell her this from the past ten years but today was the first time, I managed to blurt it out. Maybe, it was because of this place and the memories it held.

“You know why”, I whispered.

Her lips parted and realisation dawned on her face. She opened her mouth and closed it again. It was maybe because she was at loss of words or either I had completely caught her off guard.

“You don’t have to say that. It happened years ago. It’s the past and don’t hold on to it”, she said softly.

“It is something which I can’t forget. Will never be able to forget”, I breathed out.

She shook her head before pressing, “You need to”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”, I asked her.

Her eyes widened and I knew it wasn’t a rumour. I was her best friend and she didn’t tell me but I knew why she did it.

“Aairah, please. I couldn’t——”

“You shouldn’t have done it”, I said.

“It was hard. He was the reason behind all that and I couldn’t stay with him after that”, she confessed, her eyes tearing up.

“He truly loved you”, I pressed.

“And I loved you more than him. Aairah, you’re my best friend and no love matters to me more than yours. Your love and your existence in my life matters to me. Everyday it was a torture to see you come to college with those red puffy eyes. To see an extrovert turn into an introvert, to see my best friend go aloof to the extent that she hid her pain from me. I wish you would have told me sooner or I would have just realised the fake smile and happiness when I had told you about him”

“I shouldn’t have said those horrible words to you”, I choked out.

“That was your pain which you shared”, she reasoned.

“And now I am giving you the happiness you deserve”, I said.

She gave me a confused look. I picked my phone and texted the person. It was two minutes later, the door of the cafe opened and the person walked in. A gasp escaped from Ritika's lips and she was instantly in tears.

“Rohit”, she breathed out as the man walked towards us.

Her gaze turned towards me and I gave her a smile before placing a hand on her hand. I gave it a little squeeze and mouthed 'Go'.

That was all she needed because the next moment, she was out from her seat and right into his arms. Tears escaped my eyes but this time, out of happiness. Seeing them unite had made me get rid of all the guilt, I held for so many years.

Years ago, we both fell in love with the same guy but before I could tell either of them, they were dating each other. I didn’t have it in me to tell her, I loved him too. Six months later, on our convocation day everything was spilled in a drunken messy state. It was the day before she was leaving for New York.

The next day when I realised it was too late and Ritika Sharma was gone. Two months later, I found out from someone Ritika and Rohit broke up and I didn’t need to know why because I was that why.

When Ritika said she was coming to Mumbai, I immediately tried to locate Rohit and was fortunate enough to know that he still lived in Mumbai. I met him and explained him everything. He told me, she still loved her and I knew, she still love him so I decided to invite him to our special place. So we could add a new memory with the thousands of old one’s.

“How did you——”

“Remember, a best friend knows all”, I winked at her.

She laughed before walking towards me and wrapped her arms around my body.

“Thank you so much”, she whispered softly.

“Anything for you, best friend. Anything for you”

This one shot is for the contest I have participated hosted by TheIndianCommunity