She gawked at him without blinking an eye, but she couldn't see a hint of derision or mockery in his demeanor. Pursing her lips, she snickered. "What? Are you for real?"

He chuckled. "Why? What's the problem?"

Her hold over his shoulders tightened. "No... I mean..." She was puzzled, pondering over the reason behind this sudden idea that had graced him out of the blue. 

"Relax," he whispered, leaning closer to her ears. "No need to be so confused over such a simple question. A yes or no would suffice."

She giggled in anxiety. She had been asked out a couple of times before by boys she wanted nothing to do with, and she deftly declined because, firstly, she didn't think she was pretty enough to be asked out, and secondly, those boys seemed shady. However, here he was, a genuine guy, asking her on a date, and she didn't know how to respond, for he was a friend, perhaps? Almost a friend? Oh, scratch that. He was indeed a friend, who troubled her all the time, ensured she had to stay up till late at night to give him tuition over the phone, and made her write so many of his assignments, but he was sweet nonetheless. He had never irked her much except for those empty threats during the exams. And how could she forget the instance when he had saved her from getting ragged by a senior in their first year? She would forever be thankful to him for that kind gesture. However, she couldn't understand why someone as attractive as him would ask her out—a nerdy, plump, ordinarily bespectacled girl.

"Chill," he said, noticing her angst. "It's okay if you don't wanna."

She shook her head. "I am just confused. Why are you asking me out when we are merely days away from graduating college?"

He grinned. "Just a thank you for helping me graduate college."

She threw her head back as fits of laughter hit her, and she couldn't control her guffaws, prompting him to smile as well. Composing herself, she said, "Sure. Take me out on a nice date, will you?"

***

Nandini Basu was the classiest and choicest example of a person with extreme OCD issues when it came to cleanliness and tidiness. A hair out of place, a slight tilt of a painting on the wall, or even a creased bedsheet was more than enough to make her go berserk. That morning, as she woke up early to study for the last exam for the paper on Soft Computing, post which she would be a free bird and a graduate, she gathered her messy hair into a bun, rubbed her eyes with her knuckles, and somehow peered around the room in a semi-somnolent state.

To say that she was appalled would be an understatement. A shriek escaped her lips because of the way bits of paper were littered around the hostel room that she shared with Jiya and Shanya. Plastic bags, newspapers, pieces of dirty cloth, discarded threads from their clothes, long strands of hair—all of them mingling together to form one massive ball of garbage and triggering her OCD in the worst way possible.

"Oh. My. Freaking. God!" she yelled, abandoned her toothbrush on her desk, and rushed towards the door behind which they kept the broom. "What have you guys done to the room?" She glowered at Jiya and Shanya, who wore scowls on their faces as their loud friend had woken them up earlier than needed. "One night!" Nandini bellowed. "I went to sleep early one night, and you two didn't bother cleaning up."

Shanya rolled her eyes. "It's just a few pieces of paper. Stop whining."

Crouching down, Nandini began sweeping the garbage into the dustpan, muttering curses under her breath, prompting the other two to huff, and finally discarding the refuse in the trash can. "I hate it when things are disorderly. Please understand this." Glaring at them one final time, she sprinted out of the room.

"Ugh!" Jiya slumped back on the bed. "I pity the guy who would end up with her. His entire life would revolve around cleaning and making things spick and span."

Shanya sniggered. "You pity Shubham Agarwal, you mean?"

Jiya narrowed her eyes and sat upright. "What do you mean?"

Shanya clicked her tongue. "If it isn't obvious already." She slid down from the bed. "Didn't you see what he did at the farewell dance practice? She didn't have a partner, so he became her partner."

"Well," Jiya shrugged, "if you look at it the other way, they are friends, and he didn't have a partner either."

Shanya bobbed her head. "Potaytoes, potahtoes. Additionally, they are going on a date tomorrow. He likes her. It's as simple as that."

Once Shanya went out of the room, Jiya scratched her head. Shubham Agarwal liked Nandini Basu? Could that remotely be true? If so, Jiya would throw the trendiest party ever. After all, both of them were one of the closest friends she ever had.

But then again, to date, Shubham was too casual in all the relationships he had been in. Perhaps whatever Shanya sensed was just another infatuation on his part and nothing else. College was ending anyway, and he had said that the date was just a gesture on his part to thank Nandini for all the help through the years. But whatever the case was, Jiya wouldn't let this opportunity go. She would tease the two of them mercilessly.

Grinning at the idea, she flopped back on the bed.

***

Shubham was slightly puzzled when waiting for Nandini outside the library of their college. They were supposed to go to a movie and then for lunch in the city, but instead of having him meet by the main gates of the college campus or have him pick her up from the girl's hostel, she had texted him to be by the library.

Soon, she arrived with a thick stack of notebooks in her hands, huffing and panting because of the weight she was carrying, and he took hold of the pile, placing one hand beneath and one hand atop it.

Quirking his brows at her, he said, "People usually don't study on a date, Basu. Unless it is a study date, which it isn't in our case."

Facepalming herself, she extricated a bottle of water from her handbag and tipped the contents past her parched throat. "See, that's the reason you need my help in passing your papers. You are stupid, and you have zero IQ."

He scoffed. "Had it been anyone else—"

"Again with the threats." She threw her arms up in the air, and he could only purse his lips. Exhaling, she said, "These are the notes I made for Soft Computing. All eight modules. The entire syllabus. We will give it to the photocopier inside the library now, and when we return in the evening, we will pick it up. Get it?"

He glanced down at the notebooks and grimaced. "There are," he began counting, and his eyes widened, "seven notebooks here."

"All handwritten and curated from the best reference books present in the library apart from the base textbook." She passed him a smug smile, crossing her arms across her chest.

Shaking his head in annoyance, grumbling at the levels of concentration he would need to muster to go through the sea pool of information she had stowed away, he dropped the notebooks at the photocopier's desk, slipped a crisp currency note to him, and the two of them strolled out of the building, heading straight towards the parking lot where he parked his bike.

***

Her open hair flying in all directions, invigorating drafts of wind kissing her face, the intense heat of Delhi summers descending on them from all sides, and Shubham continued to drive away from the outskirts where their campus was located. The main city was a good forty-five kilometers away, and he had hoped to take her to the best Lebanese place in town.

They had a great time together.

They watched a sappy romantic chick flick that he hated. He complained throughout. She smacked him repeatedly for his insouciance. He gagged by the end of it. She had a bright smile on her face when the lovers reunited despite their initial separation. He couldn't wait to get out of the hall while she wished the movie were longer. He prayed to go back in time and buy tickets for the spy thriller he had initially wanted to watch before he gave in to her orders. She hoped to go back in time and rewatch the entire romantic film all over again since irritating him by messing up his hair was the most fun she had ever had.

The lunch was as eventful. They ordered almost half the menu as they were unable to decide on a select few items. They ate to their heart's content until their tummies couldn't fit any more food. He poked fun at her graceful eating manners. She snorted when his sloppy self spilled water over himself. The two of them shared a drink, and she reprimanded him since he was supposed to drive back to the campus. He told her to shut the fuck up since he knew how to handle significant amounts of alcohol. She retorted by violently messing his hair up, and he retaliated by tickling her sides until she could no longer take it, breaking into a fit of giggles and begging him to stop.

They knew they had a wonderful time together. Hence, when the evening drew closer, and they were on their way back to the campus, riding the bike, he kept glimpsing at her reflection in the side-view mirror, albeit discreetly while a thicket of trees passed them on the desolate stretch.

"Did you have a fun time?" he said.

She beamed, tightening her hold on his shoulders, her nails digging into his skin, which he strangely didn't mind. "I had the best time ever. Thanks for the date."

"Thanks for helping me all these years."

She chortled. "What are your plans next? You didn't sit for the placements, did you?"

He shrugged. "Dad's business."

She frowned. "Why did you want to become an engineer then? You should've gone for a course in MBA, right?"

"Got a good rank in JEE."

She tittered, throwing her head back. "All the best. I hope you become the best businessman ever."

He grinned. "What are your plans? You didn't sit for the placements either."

A wild glint shone in her eyes. "So, you do know that I have always been a big fan of Silicon Valley, right? The city of San Francisco is so vibrant, exotic, classy, chic, sophisticated."

"I did not know that, but thanks for telling me in excruciating detail," he said, snorting.

Rolling her eyes, she said, "I received an offer for a Master's at a university in the US. In New York."

"Ah! Nice." He smiled. "Congrats. But how you have the energy to study further is beyond me."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Not everybody is as anti-studies as you are."

"Hey!" He clicked his tongue in disapproval. "I am anti-establishment. I have nothing against studies or books or degrees. It's the dog-eat-dog world that bothers me."

"Yeah, whatever! I am not a rebel."

Sniggering, he said, "So, New York is it?"

"Yes!" Her eyes twinkled yet again. "I plan to spend two years in New York for my course before moving across the country to the Wild West. I hope I find a job there. I bet San Francisco is where my future lies. I want to be one of the best software developers ever. And who knows! Perhaps I will find love in the city."

A wide smile cracked on his features. "Here's to hoping you get everything you wish for."

Her face fell. "Except for the love part, right?"

He frowned. "Why not the love part?"

She let out a puff of air. "I am not what people would normally call beautiful or hot or sexy, you know. Just... chubby and pointlessly overweight."

He blurted out before he could register the words in his mind. "Are you crazy? You are insanely beautiful, hot, and sexy."

She furrowed her brows at him, and he caught that in the reflection.

He gulped, finally taking note of what he had articulated. "I mean... you are pretty. I told you, remember?"

She looked away, a slight blush creeping up her cheeks. "Thanks, I guess."

***

Reaching the campus, Nandini made a detour to the library, much to Shubham's chagrin, who chose to stay back outside the building instead of going inside the very establishment he despised. That too for the second time on a Sunday. Leaning against the pillar of the canteen, he waited for her, reflecting on the eventful day they had. She was fun to be around when she was not busy bossing him, preaching sermons, censuring him for not taking his studies seriously, and berating him for picking fights with his fellow collegemates.

Occupied with his own musings, he didn't notice when Jiya and Shanya, along with Jiya's boyfriend, walked up to him from the canteen with huge smirks on their faces. Only when Jiya snapped her fingers in front of him did he look up at the three of them.

Taken aback for a moment since he hadn't heard their footsteps before, he cleared his throat. "Hello, guys." But then his eyes narrowed as the three of them were smirking at him. "What are you grinning about?"

"How was the date?" Jiya said, cocking her brows.

The teasing intonation, the way the two girls laughed and Veer snickered, and the way the three of them were wiggling their brows at him—it didn't take Shubham much time to figure out that they were pulling his leg. "It was not a date date." He rolled his eyes. "It was just a thank you from my side."

"Ah!" Shanya tittered. "This was not a date, I am surmising?" She flashed her phone in front of his eyes.

Nandini had posted a series of pictures from the movie theater and the lunch on Instagram. With his arms slung around her shoulders in one, her ruffling his hair in the other, and sticking her tongue out at him in the third one, all of them were adorable and memorable clicks she had uploaded. The number of comments and likes the posts received was unprecedented. All of them were downright embarrassing, given their friends had teased them mercilessly on the online platform.

Letting out a sharp breath, he said, "I don't give a flying fuck about what anyone says. I am sure she doesn't either. We are good friends, and," he peeped behind Veer's shoulders, "she is coming down the stairs. So, please, shut the fuck up."

Snorting, Veer said, "Way to go, loverboy."

Receiving a smack on the back of his head, Veer giggled and went away with Shanya towards the lawn opposite the edifice since she had begged him to click as good a picture as Shubham did for Nandini.

Jiya stayed back as Nandini joined the duo, flamboyance dripping from her gait as she had a skip in her step when sprinting towards the two.

"Can you believe it?" she said, flailing her arms. "College is almost over. We are literally grown-ups now. I can't keep my calm!" she screeched.

Raking his hand through his hair, Shubham said, "Shall I leave, Basu? I have a gaming competition awaiting me back at the hostel."

"Wait." She took out a bunch of handwritten, xeroxed notes from her bag. "These have everything you need to pass the Soft Computing paper. Please, for the love of God, study for this one since this is the last exam you are ever going to take in your life, Mr. Rebel."

He scoffed, snatching the stapled bunch from her and mentally admiring the gorgeous handwriting she boasted of. Each alphabet shone like a fresh pearl from the ocean, the cursive way of writing having the ability to impress the heck out of even the hardest of people. "I will try and study, but if I don't..." He grinned.

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I am always there to help."

"Good." He flicked her nose. "Thanks for these and for coming on that date with me. I had a fun time."

She gave him another smug smile. "Everyone has a fun time with Nandini Basu. I am not all work and no play. I know how to enjoy too."

"Oh, that you do." He winked.

Beaming, she darted away from the spot, heading straight for the lawns opposite the main buildings where Shanya and Veer were busy clicking one picture after the other.

Shubham continued to gape at her retreating back. She had chosen to wear a pink kurti and a pair of white leggings for the date, and man, did she look gorgeous! He, for the life of him, couldn't forget the depths of her black eyes, the kohl underneath them, her infectious laughter, her plump cheeks, the way her black tresses swayed with every slight movement she made, her inviting lips...

Jiya cleared her throat and broke him off his trance. "Hey, friend," she said, poking his arm.

He tore his gaze away from the simpering Nandini and scratched the back of his neck, tightening his hold on the thick stack of notes in his hands as a blush crept up his neck. "What is it?"

She pursed her lips and nudged his shoulders. "Go and tell her."

He furrowed his brows and stared at her. "Tell her what?"

"That you like her."

He glanced back towards Nandini, whose tresses swung this way and that as she twirled at the spot with Shanya, the two of them screeching and whining at the horrible pictures Veer was clicking. Her beatific smile made her look ethereal, a soft glow radiating from her features. The scowl on her face appeared adorable too. So did the pout on her succulent lips. He finally managed to take his eyes off her. "Pfft!" He scoffed. "I don't like her. I was only thanking her for helping me graduate college. I would've failed without her."

Jiya muttered something under her breath that vaguely sounded like "Boys!" to him before she narrowed her eyes, flipped her hair, and strode away.

Once Jiya had also joined her roommates in clicking pictures, squealing and tittering as they posed for the camera with their hands on their hips, Shubham stayed rooted at his spot, his eyes repetitively going to the chubby, over-excited, always chirping girl. She was indeed gorgeous. No doubt about that. Beautiful in her own way. Sexy in her own way. Attractive in her own way. But then only one exam was left. Seven days before they would leave to commence a different life altogether. She would go to the USA. He would stay back in Delhi and assist his father in furthering their business. Both had different outlooks on life. Both were different people.

And he didn't like her that way. She was just the cutest friend he had ever earned. Nothing else... right?