||CHAPTER 51||
《¤》

Lawn tennis had never been my forte. Not saying that any sector of sports had my interests invested, but just like running, I hated those heavy rackets that made you revisit concepts of physics, which again, is another one of my weakest points.

It was a Sunday, and the sun was shining quite brightly. Arnav and Keith Mcwell  took their positions in the opposite courts, ready for a friendly match, while our fathers discussed business strategies in a very informal meeting inside the cool glass cabin. Outside the glass cabin, I sat in the shade on a white table, a watermelon punch at my disposal. I was bored; watching sports was as stupid as playing them.

My phone rang, displaying Karan's face smeared in cake. I waited a few moments, trying to calm myself down; it wasn't possible for him to know that I knew about his... secret so soon? Was it?

I looked at Keith and Arnav. They were too busy playing to mind me. But hell, was I scared for once.

He didn't waste any time in pleasantries the moment I picked up. "She is tagging me in every picture, I don't know what to do!"

The first moment was of sheer confusion, for I didn't understand what he was saying. Tagging? She?

The second moment was of utter relief, because the only thing I could gather was he wasn't talking about any secret.

The third was of  connivance, because I had deduced who she was, but I had not expected Avni to be so upfront and yet shy st the same time.

"Can you please elaborate?" I questioned. "I'm not sure I am smart enough to understand your plea for my help."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about Arvika," I could imagine his red face. "Avni has been tagging me in cat memes since last night, and I haven't responded to any because I don't know what to do! You shouldn't have told me that she crushes on me, now it's just awkward because she doesn't know that I know, and I don't want to embarrass her, and hell, she's cute and all, but I really don't know if I like-like her and I don't want her to feel bad because she's a really cool person-"

I stopped his rant before he could die out of breathlessness. "Dude, tune shayad galat number pe call kiya hai. I'm Arvika, not Arnav. Ye sab 'girl-talk' shayad tujhe uske saath karni chahiye."

"Are you helping me or not?" He sounded dead serious, making me give out a cheshire-cat grin.

"Hell no! Are you kidding me? Finally school me kuch mazedar drama hoga, and not just the controversial type! I was dying for such a thing dude, there is no way I'm going to solve this issue. Nor am I going to let anyone else solve this. Nope, not happening."

"Arvika!" He literally growled to make himself sound intimidating. "Come on yaar, please! Bata na mai kya reply karu? Those cat memes are funny, but I am a dog-person. How do I tell her that?"

I couldn't control my laughter, "Tu itna shy kyu ho raha hai? You've had girlfriends before right? Don't tell me you left the bold gestures to them! Teri mardaangi kaha gayi Karan?!"

"Bold? You want bold? I'll give you bold. I'll go and tell her that you told me about her liking me, and then what will follow is called the real drama."

I tsked, "Good luck with that buddy. I'm sure she'd love to hear your response to her tagging a dog-lover in cat memes."

"Who's that?" Arnav was in front of me, drinking from my glass of watermelon punch. Keith had joined us too, sweating profusely.
With a promise to annoy later, I ended the call. "Barack Obama. Pleasant right?"

Arnav threw a passive glare at me.

"Anyways, how was the game?"

"We should be asking you that," Keith laughed awkwardly. "You were the spectator."

"Haha," I mocked. "You're really cute."

Keith glanced at my brother for inference.

"She's not into sports, playing or simple watching," he explained.

"Oh." He nodded. "Well, for clarification, I won."

I was tempted to say I know, because Papa had instructed Arnav to do so, but that would have hindered the whole intention. "Yay, congrats."

Our fathers were shaking hands while coming out of the glass cabin. "Seems like we've got a deal there," Keith whistled under his breath.

¿¤?

Almost a week later, we were at a party that Keith was hosting in lieu of his team's victory in a foot-ball match. Under normal circumstances, I'd have not attended, nor would have Arnav extended the invites to our friends (begrudgingly, may I add); Keith was a year behind us, and we do not attend parties hosted by Juniors.

But of course, the pushing force here was our Dad, because of the deal he struck with the Mcwells last Sunday.

And if I was being completely honest, this wasn't too bad. Half an hour into the party at the McWell farmhouse, we had lost each other. We did know a few people from Easton High, but the rivalry between our schools couldn't be ignored after an extent. However, it barely felt so, because we were Keith's guests, and no one dared to call us on our shit.

Loud music filled the basement of the house, teenagers splashing into the pool, or diving into the deep ends, red cups being passed around, and every possible nook filled with couples doing the dirty. Not exactly my scene at the moment, but it was astonishing how well I could blend into it.

"Finally!" I exclaimed, spotting Ritwik in a small couch. "I thought I had lost everybody."

"Why do I sense relief in your statement?" He said, without looking up from his phone.

Sighing, I sat beside him, disregarding all my manners by placing my boot-clad legs above his thighs. Ritwik was definitely my go-to person for cuddling. He was disgusting, but he was stupidly comfortable.

"Because..." I replied to him, "I'm no queen without my servants. Ab pair daba."

I gladly grinned in response to his glares.

"Kise stalk kar raha hai?" I asked, leaning against the arm rest.

"Easton ki bandi hai," he was too absorbed into the screen.

"Dude, Juniors hai yeh! Woh bhi Easton ke."

"Tho mai kaunsa saath janmo ka wada kar raha hoon? Look at her," he shoved the phone into my face, "Milegi itni hot ladki Mystic me?"

I fake coughed, but he was smart enough to take the hint. "First of all, tu Vansh ki bandi hai."

That did have a ring to it, albeit a false one.

"I know ab tu nakhre dikhayegi, ki nahi aisa kuchh nahi hai, but dude, apne right me dekh, woh idhar hi dekh raha hai. Thoda aur lapet khud ko mere upar, and mai kal ka suraj dekhne ke liye zinda nahi bachunga," he explained. "Secondly, mujhe tere saamne sharam nahi ati."

"What?" What kind of reason was that?

"I mean, you are crinkling your nose because of the smell of my fart right now. See? Mujhe tere saamne sharam nahi ati! I admit pehele tu cute lagti thi, and haan hot hai, but gharki murgi daal barabar bro."

"Wow," I shrugged, controlling my laughter. "Aur koi reason?"

"Obviously," he shrugged, showing me the girl's Instagram profile again. "She is the epitome of beauty."

This was the best not exactly rejection I had ever faced. Both of us burst out of laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation.

"What's so hilarious?" Standing in front of us, Vansh asked.

Ritwik met my eyes that instant, and I knew it was our chance to test his rejection theory's authenticity. He was on board with the plan, the twinkle in his eyes said so.

"Nothing," Ritwik shook his head, trailing his fingers over my jeans clad knees. Vansh's eyes had followed the movement, both of us had seen it.

"Enjoying the party?" I asked, not swatting away Ritwik's hands.

"Definitely better than the last one we went to," Vansh shrugged, forcing his eyes to look away. He wasn't making any eye-contact. His jaw was twitching. Hands inside his pockets.

Ooooh, he was angry.

Ritwik and I smirked at each other.

"Do you want to sit?" Ritwik asked, in an attempt to make me sit on his lap now. The couch was two seater, and we had left no space vacant.

Vansh eyed our positions again. "Nope. I'm okay. You guys can... stay comfy."

Oh, I sure was. "Alright," I shrugged, letting Ritwik draw WTFs on my knee cap.

It went for three seconds (I counted), before we ticked him off.

"Ritwik," he spoke through his teeth, "a word?"

Ritwik and I shook our heads,  barely able to control our laughter. "Nope, a whole paragraph."

"Uhh... what's happening? What's so funny?"

When the pink and purple light fell on his face painted with confusion, the sight literally took my breath away.

But when realisation hit him, due to our failed attempts at acting, he rolled his lips in, shaking his head, looking away from us. "I know what you guys are trying to do. Get off her, Ritwik."

"Hey," he objected, "Ye mohotarma mere upar lapetkar baithi hai. I am just being a gentleman."

When Vansh gave him a pointed look, Ritwik pushed my legs off him, pointing his phone at me, "Payback, bitch. You're helping me next. I want her number by Sunday."

I blew him a kiss before Vansh replaced him, eagerly waiting for me to place my legs above his thighs.

No, I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. "Haw, log kya kahenge, Vansh!"

"Ki tum gadhi ho," he narrowed his eyes at me. "Seriously, Ritwik ke saath?"

"Hey, he is comfortable, okay?"

He didn't reply, clearly skeptical about my answer, so not-so-hesitantly, I leaned my head against his arm.

"This is uncomfortable," I commented.

"Yeah? Unlike someone, I'm not made of Sleepwell mattress."

"You're not-so-boring when you're jealous."

"I hate you."

And instead of confessing my heart for him, I raised my head to do something I'd wanted to do for a long time: I placed my lips against his sharp jawline.

It was a small peck, feather-like. But he had felt it. His eyes had widened at the shock, and his hand had almost squeezed the life out of my palm.

And when he was out of the initial surprise, I whispered in his ears, "I think I can work with that."

He smirked, and I loved it.

Bad people often fell for each other, and I don't know if we were one of them.

Breaking the moment, his phone buzzed in his pockets. He fished it out, it was a Facebook notification.

"Don't tell me you're on Facebook now!"

Unlocking his phone, he sighed, "T'was for Karan's case. See?"

It notified that it was Rajvir Kaushal's birthday today. "How did you even get him to accept your friend request?"

"Remember Mickey had told us that he's an archaeologist? Well, he has quite a few students under him. So... I figured that I could pose as one too."

Smart, that he was. "So, you're friends with his wife too?"

"That portion requires a little bit of figuring out to do."

We kept on looking at his screen. "Do you think Karan is going to do something?"

It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was referring to his birth-father's birthday.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "Did he act strange last year?"

He scoffed, "Even if he did, would we be able to tell? You were the one who noticed the strange behaviour, and you've known him for what? Five-six months?"

But before I could reply, chills ran down my spine when another voice spoke.

"Why are you guys on Rajvir Kaushal's profile?"

_____

Namoshtaii!

Diwali ki shubhkamnaye :) What r ur plans for today? I slept at 4:30 in the morning because we Bongs, had Kaali Poojo at 2 in the morning. And then woke up to the loud noise of firecrackers. So yeah, my dark circles are sporting their best outfits today :P

I am damn afraid of crackers, mind you. I just cannot stand them, and that's not the only reason why I request you to refrain from bursting them. Let's not keep Save Environment a question-paper topic only. I'm pretty sure you understand, but anyways, wish you a very Happy and Safe Diwali.

For those of who don't know, I post sneak peeks (not spoilers!) of the upcoming chapters on my profile, so if you would like to have a slight glimpse of what's gonna happen, don't forget to follow me!

Anyways, read, vote, comment and promote!

~emcee.