SLEEP DEPRIVATION DOES THAT TO PEOPLE

Ranbir glanced at the rearview mirror and saw the girls sleeping peacefully in the backseat of the car. By his side on the passenger seat, Aryan fiddled with his mobile, trying to get the best route for Prachi and Shahana's hometown near Hoshiarpur.

He smiled, after so many months of suffering and hurdles that were thrown their way, they were still together. He remembered how they used to travel the same way while returning from college before they got to know that Prachi was a Mehra too. But they were back in their bubble again. His love, his brother, and best friend. His happy place.

"When are you gonna tell?" He asked Aryan in a soft tone, careful not to break the girls' sleep.

They had spent the entire last day going from one shop to another in the vast mall choosing dresses and outfits for each other. And then stayed up late to pack. And then again woke up at five to leave early, hoping to avoid the morning traffic of Delhi.

"I will tell as soon as I figure it out," Aryan replied, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes.

"You haven't figured it out yoURSELF?" Ranbir asked, baffled, and quickly peeked back at the girls again to make sure he hadn't disturbed them.

"It's the first time I'm taking this route dude, chill. And there's still time." Aryan retorted.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Ranbir sighed, "I know that this was your first time too, I should have realized."

Aryan hummed, again fiddling with his mobile.

"But, I don't know how you can take this long. you were the one who guided me in this field." Ranbir voiced his thoughts. "What is taking so long?"

"Poor connection.." Aryan replied.

"Poor connection? But from where I see, the connection is spectacular." 

"Not really. It may look good but that's not so in performance."

"Where do you think is the problem, at your side or...." Ranbir lead.

"It's mostly clear from my side. I don't know what's taking so long.." Aryan cleared.

"You know, I just can't wait till it gets clear between you two. It'll be so good to go on double dates." Ranbir gushed.

"Hmm..." Aryan replied absentmindedly before the words knocked on his mind.

"Wait what?" He exclaimed, and it was his turn to check on the girls.

"What what? Why did you shout?" Ranbir asked, taking a left turn.

"What were you talking about?" Aryan asked, turning sideways to give his full attention to the other boy.

"You and Shahana." Ranbir replied, "What were you thinking about?"

"The route and the network connection." they laughed lightly

"So, when are you going to tell her that you love her?" Ranbir asked, giving him a quick eyebrow raise.

"You know that you love her, right?" He asked, and when he got no reply, he redirected another question. "You do love her right?" He squeaked.

Aryan took a deep breath, straightening in his seat as he looked at the girl in question from the rearview.

"I think I do. Even though I thought myself to be stupid and delusional when I first entertained the thought." He took another deep breath, "And I guess it's been a long time since I've fallen for her. At first, I didn't realize because, well, she was irritating. My initial thoughts were that... like..."

"Like 'I just can't stand her, god pity the man who'll be married to her'." Ranbir provided.

"Exactly!" Aryan seconded, and Ranbir smirked at the 'oh-so-familiar' experience.

"But then," Aryan continued, "She started getting on my mind more than my nerves."

The new lover looked at the other and Ranbir nodded, encouraging him to continue. This was the first time that Aryan unhinged his feelings for Shahana and Ranbir felt guilty somewhere.

He felt guilty for being too caught up in his own problems that he couldn't help his best friend was alone in distinguishing his feelings when he, in turn, was right beside him while he was going through the same phase.

"Mom had already asked me, more like dictated me, to stay away from her, and I had told her about it... She seemed okay, but when she didn't talk to me for a whole week, It was like I would go crazy!" Aryan continued getting the load off of his chest.

"On one side there was your and Prachi's fiasco, none of you were behaving humanly, and on the other side, she stopped talking to me.

A weak! In a whole freaking week, I felt like clawing my skin out!"

"And then, when she came home after Prachi fainted that day," Aryan's peripheral caught Ranbir's hand flexing on the steering wheel, but he continued nonetheless, his sleep-deprived brain spurring out words without any filter, not that he needed any with his best friend.

"It was like a gush of fresh air for my suffocating heart. So yes," He concluded after his mini-rant, "I do love her. And I would be the biggest Bandar in this universe if I denied that she is the best thing that ever happened to me."

"So what's holding you back? Tell her!" Ranbir asked, grinning widely.

"I don't think she likes me like that," Aryan muttered sadly.

"Why do you think that?" Ranbir frowned.

"I don't know. I mean, sometimes I feel like she definitely feels at least something for me, but then, sometimes I feel like it's just friendship from her side." he sighed for the nth time since the beginning of this conversation.

"Why don't you just take a leap of faith?" Ranbir prodded.

"Because I can't risk my friendship Ranbir," As soon as his name left Aryan's lips, Ranbir knew he was serious.               

(Like- dead Sirius!)

"I can't risk losing whatever bits and pieces I have with her. I couldn't talk to her for a week and I was losing my sanity. Just thinking about her dejected face looking at me like I betrayed her sends my conscious into a spiral of thoughts that I so don't want to experience in real."

Ranbir was about to assure him against his negative thoughts but Prachi's stirring cut off their conversation.

"Good morning Sunshine." Aryan greeted cheekily and Prachi looked around, still a little disoriented. 

"Morning," Prachi rasped and felt around for her phone, checking the time to be a quarter past nine. They had left at half-past six in the morning which meant, according to her fast calculations in mind, there is still more than half way left.

"Ranbir, Aryan, why don't you come back here and have some rest?" Prachi asked.

"And who will drive?" Ranbir asked as that was the most obvious question.

"I will," Prachi replied in the same tone.

"With that casted wrist? No way in hell you are!" Aryan declared.

"Then why don't you have some rest till I drive, and then we can switch." Ranbir offered to the other boy, and Prachi nodded.

"There is still time, and you can have a couple of hour nap and then we can all have a stoppage somewhere and you can proceed to drive from there." Prachi supported.

Aryan, physically as well as mentally tired from getting his emotions out, didn't put up any fight and Ranbir pulled over to let the cousins switch places before continuing.

~*~

It was a matter of minutes before Aryan had slipped into a slumber and now, Prachi was talking to Ranbir to keep his mind attentive.

"... and that is how Shahana and I became friends with Kanak," Prachi explained how the tiny girl met them.

"But I thought that people from Punjab must be well built, hatte-katte, you know, but she is so slim. If it weren't for the heavy dupatta she wore, anyone would have mistaken her for a twig!" Ranbir laughed.

"Even I am brought up in Punjab, do I look 'hatte-katte' to you?" Prachi countered.

"Um.. no." Ranbir hesitated.

"So I too look like a twig?" Prachi dragged, enjoying how Ranbir caught trouble for himself.

"Huh? No, no, of course not." Ranbir strutted, and Prachi laughed at his helplessness.

Ranbir shook his head, amused, "I walked into this myself, didn't I?" He joined the girl and they together fall into a fit of laughter till Prachi suddenly stopped laughing.

"What happened?" He turned to see her only to find her eyes trained on something, more like two specific people, in the back of the car.

"What is it?" He tried to sound oblivious.

"When did they get so close?" Prachi asked, glimpsing at Arhana.

"Maybe along the time." Ranbir answered, happy that she had finally caught up.

"They seem pretty comfortable together," Prachi commented and Ranbir hummed in response.

"That is just till one of them gets out of the bubble.."

"Huh?" Ranbir asked, befuddled.

"Yeah, this is totally involuntary, as soon as any one of them registers what it is, he or she will definitely draw back." Prachi mused.

"How can you say that?" Ranbir asked, slightly offended.

"Yeah, they are like this because they are asleep, or else do you think Shahana would freaking CUDDLE with Aryan?" Prachi inquired.

"HUH??" Ranbir turned and saw that they actually were cuddling. With Shahana's head nestled in Aryan's neck, and his arms wrapped in front of her torso, keeping her from slipping in her sleep.

Ranbir had to admit, they looked adorable.

"Aww, they look cute." He voiced his thoughts and saw Prachi looking at him oddly.

"What? Is there something on my head?" He raised an eyebrow.

"No, you just try saying that to any of them and there will be nothing on your neck." Prachi scoffed.

But Ranbir disagreed mentally, he was pretty sure that if he said the same thing to Aryan, the latter will surely break out a dazzling grin. The reaction of Shahana wasn't much clear to him, but he hoped on his stars that it would be positive.

Ranbir had caught up on Aryan's feelings quite earlier, and the conversation he had had with him the hour prior, it wouldn't be wrong to say that he had fallen for the quirky girl. And is falling deeper by the day. And the harder you fall, the deeper it hurts when the love is threatened. He knew it better than anyone out there, and he had learned it the hard way.

Ranbir moved his hand from the gear stick and gently took Prachi's in his, entangling their fingers. Prachi looked at him with a smile as he brought the hands up to softly brush his lips on the back of her hand. And laughed airly at the soft color that rose to her face.

Not this time, Prachi thought, You are not going to be the one to get the last laugh this time.

As soon as Ranbir brought their locked fingers back to Prachi's lap, she wrapped both her hands around his. She raised them to set the back of Ranbir's much bigger hand against her chest, where her heart banged against her ribs. Part as the reaction to the kiss Ranbir dusted, and part from the adrenalin rush from the thoughts of what she was going to do.

"What yaar chickchiki, only this much got your heart to beat so fast? Now I'm scared that if I took any proceeding action, it may barge right out of your body and into my palms." Ranbir chortled.

But instead of retorting verbally Prachi retraced his steps and placed her soft lips on his knuckles, making his laugh gets caught in his throat and come out as a choked gasp.

Prachi burst out laughing at the shocked expression on his face and reached out to keep her hand on his chest. Just as expected, it was his heart's turn to jump out of the chest.

"Tch, tch, tch, tch, what yaar baklu, only this much got your heart to beat so fast? Now I'm scared that if I took any proceeding action, it may barge right out of your body and into my palms." Prachi mocked.

Coming out of his initial shock, Ranbir smiled. Prachi had been opening up. Slowly, but surely.

"Just give her time and make her comfortable. She should realize that she is safe with you. Emotionally and mentally. You don't have to tell her that over and over again, it would make her awkward and shy away. Just stand there, beside her. For her. Don't push into her walls, let her expand them to take you in."

Aarav's words were still fresh in his mind. And he can bet that he was in the innermost circle of his guards. Nothing but thin air of love and trust between them. He could reach out and her anytime and was glad for it.

"If the two of you have filled your hourly quota of romance please focus on the road." Came a sleepy voice from behind and they turned to see Shahana smirking at them.

"Talk for yourself." Ranbir replied discreetly clicking a picture as he said so.

"Huh?" Shahana turned right and came face to face with the most innocent side of Aryan she had ever seen. Her face rested on his shoulder and his rested right next to her. Mere inches taunting between them.

His vibrant eyes hid behind the closed eyelids and long lashes rested against his high cheekbones. His lips partially parted, and his nose almost touched her forehead.

*Picture clicked*

Shahana unknowingly raised her hand and brushed back the hair that fall on his forehead, and 

*Click*

"Ranbir focus on Driving!" Prachi's scolding broke her trance and she turned just in time as the camera was replaced again with on time map navigation on the mobile set horizontally on the dashboard.

Shahana tried to straighten up only to be pulled back by the arm Aryan firmly had around her. A sudden heat burned her cheeks and she removed herself from his heavy hold. Detaching herself, she turned to look out of the window, refusing to meet her sister and to-be-brother's eyes even though they kept glancing at them with different emotions. Ranbir looking giddily and Prachi looking confused.

The younger girl juped in fright as she felt something heavy drop on his shoulder. Tentatively turning to see Aryan's head dropped sideways on her shoulder as he bent in an awkward position. And instead of pushing him away, she couldn't help but place her hand on his head, patting gently to get him comfortable.

*Click*

"Ranbir!" 

"Sorry, sorry."

"Please let her be Shahana, he went to bed last and was the one to get up the earliest. Let him sleep, he has to drive too. But we can switch places if you want to." Prachi requested.

"No, it's all fine. I'm burying him in a debt right now, will use it later." Shahana replied but she was having an odd feeling. She could hear her conscience taunting her with a 'is that really what you think it is?'

For the following half an hour, Shahana couldn't do anything to get rid of the butterflies that waltz around in her abdomen. The skin where Aryan was resting felt foreign, but not him though. He seemed her own.

~*~

"Wake up, sleeping beauty." Aryan's sleep broke as Ranbir leaned against the open door of the passenger seat. He looked around to see that they had stopped at a restaurant, some small shops flanking it's both sides. Tables were methodically placed in the front of the restaurant and he could see Prachi and Shahana sitting on one of them, contemplating looking at the menus.

"Had a good sleep, didn't you?" Aryan looked up to see Ranbir's gaze trained at the girls, a tint of amusement underlying his tone.

"Huh?" Aryan asked, stepping out of the car and closing the door behind him as he proceeded to stretch out his sore muscles.

"You seemed to be quite comfortable with your teddy." Ranbir teased as they walked towards the tables.

"Teddy?" Aryan repeated totally befuddled.

"Teddy." Ranbir nodded pointing at the girls, confusing the other boy even more.

"You are getting delusional bro," Aryan said, "Don't worry, sleep deprivation does that to people." and walked to the round table, taking a place in front of Shahana and on Prachi's right. Taking the only place between Shahana and Aryan, Ranbir frowned.

"I wanted to sit next to Prachi!" Ranbir whined causing Arhana to chuckle and Prachi to give him a glare, trying to keep the color from reaching her cheeks.

"This is payback for teasing me for something I don't even know," Aryan replied, smirking.

"What teasing?" Prachi asked and Shahana too looked interestingly.

"God knows what he was saying about me having a 'good sleep', 'being comfortable and all." Aryan scoffed, completely oblivious as Shahana turned beet-red.

"Oh, this is gonna be lovely!" Ranbir muttered under his breath, smirking at Prachi who looked at him clueless.

They carried on their talks, eating, not a care in the world at anything.

As they walked back to the car, Ranbir tossed over the keys to Aryan, and went to the backseat, dragging Prachi with him who just rolled her eyes at his childishness. 

"Enjoy..." Ranbir winked at Aryan before slipping into the car.

Oh, he had just unlocked a lifetime subscription of teasing by telling Ranbir about his feelings for Shahana.

Rolling his eyes, Aryan took the driver's seat. Totally unaware of the physical content Ranbir had in store for the teasing sessions.

A/N:- Hey croissants, greetings from your lazy author. Here is a lighthearted chapter for you all. With whatever the hell is going on in the serial, from whatever I have gotten from ads and promos, this was much needed for you all.

BTW what is going on in the serial? Please someone enlighten me. I have not seen the serial since... I don't know, the episode where Rhea jumped off of that balcony and blamed Prachi. Can someone please tell me what's going on now?

Enjoy the chapter and please do Vote and Comment. Inline comments are most welcome. I really need some motivation right now!

Lots of Love,

Simran