Listen to Youth by Shawn Mendes x Kahlid

(Y'all wanna see all the three protagonists together in the same place? Read ahead then!)

Stella Davis

I sat in front of my mirror and pouted in disappointment.  I grabbed my hairbrush and brushed at my hair again for the third time.  It limply fell over my shoulder, making the dazzle in my ink blue dress seem unattractive.    

Ugh!  I dropped the hairbrush, finally giving up with an exhausted huff.  

I just want to look good for Meera. 

She'd invited me to this dinner party that her husband was hosting tonight and I kind of desperately wanted her to be blown away.  

I knew that I was asking too much, but nothing made sense when came to Meera.  

My mind was constantly occupied with graphic images of death and blood that the only thing that gave me solace was thoughts of Meera.  

Pushing the windowscreen away, I took a peek at Meera's house.  The mild buzz of people's chatter reached my ears as I noticed the bright lighting that emanated from their back garden dutifully highlighted the cars that were parked on the road.

With one last unsatisfied glance at the mirror, I stood up, grabbed my purse and left.  

As I locked my door, I watched a figure stroll across towards Meera's place.  

A girl.

From the direction she was walking from, I guessed that it must be my neighbour.  "Hey!" I yelled, earning her attention. 

She turned around and squinted at me as I walked towards her silhouette that slowly morphed into clarity.  Her dark hair squarely grazed her shoulders, exaggerating the carelessly applied kohl around her eyes.  I shuddered at the bad makeup.

A dark jacket covered her torso, revealing only the bottom part of her knee-length dress to me.  

"Hey, Dixie!" I breathed when I was by her side.  

She rolled her eyes at me.  "I'm Diane."

Although she walked with me to Meera's front door, she maintained a few paces of distance.  "Why does everybody keep calling me Dixie?" she huffed, kicking a crushed can of Coke out of her way.

From the look on her face, she was so definitely not in a mood to party.  In fact, she looked like someone from a funeral home.  Angry and helpless. 

"Whoa, cool down.  Sorry!" 

She nodded and pressed the doorbell.  

I tapped my fingers on my purse, wondering what was going on in her head.  "Did Meera invite you?"

Diane looked a little hesitant before shrugging and answering anyway.  "Mr Bagwat did.  I...um...just ran into him the other day." She shifted uneasily on her feet, waiting for someone to open the door.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, trying to not look too sceptical. 

I didn't know she was that close to Ranjit.  

The door flung open, breaking the awkward silence that was building between us.  

"Hey, Diane.  You came!" Ranjit's beaming face greeted her.  But his smile faltered when he saw me behind her.  "Oh, hi...Stella...?"  Ranjit quickly masked his confusion with a pleasant smile.  

"Meera invited me," I quipped before things got awkwarder.  

"Oh, sweet!" he cheered.  "Come in, you two." 

Diane and I stepped inside.  The strong room freshener hit my nostrils unexpectedly, making me feel intoxicated for a brief moment.    

Ranjit mumbled to Diane in an undertone.  "How are you feeling, kiddo?" 

"Better," she replied back placidly, her voice dipping lower than his.  

What's the deal with these two? I thought. 

_

"This is so boring?" Diane sighed.  I secretly agreed with her, leaning on the wall beside her in resignation. I should not have come here at all.  The food was delicious, but I couldn't stop thinking about Meera and she was nowhere to be seen.

I only kept stumbling upon people wearing coats and dress shirts who jumped into business talk if you gave them an opportunity.   

Where the fuck is Meera?

Just then, Ranjit busily rushed past us, clutching a yellow folder in his hand.  

"Hey, hey, hey.  Ranjit!" I called.  

He paused, a tad bit annoyed that I was stopping him when he was occupied.  "Yes?"

"Where's Meera?"

An uncomfortable expression settled on his face as if he'd just remembered something bad.  "Uh...You can check her room if you want..." he nervously trailed as he ran away again, thankful to escape my questions.  

"Wait, where's her room?" 

But he was already gone and my futile shout hung in the air till the laughter of a group of chatty businessmen consumed it.

" So..." Diane drawled, twirling a strand of her hair with a finger.  "You want me to come with you to search for Mrs Bagwat?"

Omg!  Stop saying 'Mrs Bagwat'.  She's Meera.  And she didn't love Ranjit Bagwat anymore.

Even though Diane had been too intimidating and distant to me from the very beginning of this lame party, I knew that she was as bored as me.  She'd come here to blow off some steam, but things only got weirder for the both of us among men and women in their fifties.  I saw her begging me with her eyes to give her any sort of entertainment.  Anything but standing here and staring at people who work with damn machines.  

"Sure, but under one condition.  Stop rolling your eyes at me."

Diane gave me a half-smile.  "Deal."

_

After a twenty-minute search, in which we didn't find Meera in her room, we finally discovered her sprawled on the kitchen floor surrounded by nine empty beer bottles.

"Damn!" Diane exclaimed. "What happened to her?"

Meera stirred at the noise and slowly sat up, dusting her elbow.  She squinted at us for a brief moment, before pressing her hands to her temple in pain.  

"Meera," I ran to her, sinking to the floor beside her.  "What the hell are you doing?" 

She clenched her head tighter and I watched her face twist in pain.  "Stop shouting," she yelled.  

"You're the one who's shouting," I mouthed.  

"God, stop!" she yelled again.  

I opened my mouth to defend myself again, but Diane interrupted me.  

"Leave Mrs Bagwat alone.  I'll get her some water."  

I flinched again when she said that.  

 Mrs Bagwat.

 Mrs Bagwat.

Mrs Bagwat. 

Why did she even have to call her that?  Can't she just call her Meera?

She slipped her hand into a cupboard and produced a glass.  She filled it from the tap and handed it to Meera.  "There you go."

"Oh my God.  Stop talking." 

By this time, Meera was actively glaring at both of us and I highly doubted she even knew who I was.  

"Do you want to go to bed?" I whispered in the smallest voice I could muster.  

"How many times should I tell you?  Stop shouting, Stella." She reached her hand towards me and put a finger on my mouth.  "Hush!" she hissed.

I sighed.  "Okay!"

"Ahh!  Shut your mouth, you dummy."

I was not shouting and I did not like Meera when she's drunk at all.

Drunk Meera is a bitch.

"Eh, Stella!" she suddenly talked like she'd just remembered something.  "Take me to my son.  I want to see him."

"What?  I don't know where he is." 

But she was already standing up, dangerously oscillating on her heel.  I caught her to steady her but she flinched away from me and hobbling out of the kitchen.  

"Wow!" said Diane.  "Mrs Bagwat is up to something.  Should we stop her?" 

But even as we rushed out of the kitchen, we could hear Meera's shouts creating a ruckus outside.  

When we finally reached the backyard, I froze.  Diane's body bumped me from behind, making me propel a few paces ahead. 

People were starting to crowd around Meera and when I sensed that she was going to create a scene, I scanned the area for signs of Ranjit. But he was nowhere in my visible range.  

Meera was holding onto her son like her entire life depended on it, weeping words of incoherence into his shoulder.  

"Mom!  What are you doing?" he asked, utterly confused by his mother's unpredicted actions. 

"I'm sorry, Nikhil," she slurred into his shoulder, her voice breaking with hurt.  "I'm so sorry I ruined your life." 

"Mom...This is not the time..." His eyes uneasily ran over the staring crowd. 

"I'm so sorry Ranjit didn't love you.  I have done everything in my power to change things, but he just wouldn't..."

The boy pursed his lips, soothing Meera's hair.  "That's okay, Mom."

Where the fuck was Ranjit?

Meera wasn't going to stop there.  She went forth to say more stuff that she'd regret saying in a public gathering when she's sober.  

"My marriage was already ruined back then.  And Ranjit and I both thought that having you could make a difference, but it only weakened our bond."  Meera inhaled a heavy breath before continuing.  "I'm sorry Ranjit gave you a hard time just because you weren't his blood.  Just because you're adopted...he just...he just hated you...and...and-"

"Mom!  Stop it."  Nikhil had been calm until now, but Meera had touched a sensitive spot and his poise immediately shattered.  He caught her shoulders and roughly pushed her away, triggering the crowd's whispers with his heated words.  "Just stop it!"  He clenched his teeth and slowly shook his head at her as if she'd said something she promised she'd never say.  As if she'd betrayed him and broken his heart.  

"Nikhil..." Meera advanced towards him, but he shrugged her hand off him.  He looked around at the wild crowd as I watched a glint of tears pool under his eyes.  He wiped at in angrily.  "I hate you, Mom," he mumbled in betrayal.  "You ruined my life too.  It wasn't just dad."  

Something broke inside me when he said that.  

Even after he had raced out of our sight, the hurt in his voice lingered in the air, thick and solid like hardened coal.  

Please vote and make me smile. 

Damn!  That was a huge ass chapter.  Do you guys think I should enrol this story for Wattys 2020?  Or am I asking too much?

Question:  What do a lot of parents do that screws up their kid?