Shubman's POV

I walked into the stadium. I hummed to myself and made my way to the locker room.

I mean, if I'm early fewer people can nag me right?

Wrong, I noticed that there were already two people in the locker room. I squinted to get a better look at them, One was a guy and the other was a female. I peeked a bit more into the keyhole, the people gradually came into earshot.

"-You didn't have to come to work." The male, whom I recognized as Sundar, was arguing with someone.

"I did, the 'super boss' can fire Paul for Pete's sake! He needs this project and I need to keep my job." The girl massaged her temple. 

Aditi.

The first thought I had was: Wow, I'm jealous. But I shoved that thought aside and twisted the doorknob.

Creak!

The door opened, Sundar stood protectively in front of Aditi. Aditi's expression was unreadable, but Washy's was giving off I'll-Save-You vibes.

"Well, I'll just go," I muttered and made my way to my designated locker. I could feel both of their gazes follow me as I walked. I took my shirt off while trying to calm the thoughts going through my head.

 Why am I jealous?

Why the heck are Aditi and Sundar so close?

Do I like her? (I quickly ruled that out as a no)

Who am I jealous of? Aditi for getting my best friend's attention or Sundar for lord knows why?

Why am I so concerned about Aditi? 

Why can't I forget her?

I kicked the locker shut in hopes of shutting down the thoughts going through my head. The sound echoed through the empty locker room. I missed having laughter fill the room or even Ro's snoring would do. But right now, I just felt so... miserable... so alone...

I closed my eyes and envisioned the perfectly imperfect locker room of ICT. Ro sleeping on Virat's shoulder while Cheeku Bhai lectured us all on health benefits. Hardik and Shreyas making stupid faces behind Virat. Sundar and me just whispering to each other about random things. We loved playing a game where we said random things and connected them.

"Bittercod" 

"Angry Virat"

"Emoji"

"Virat moods"

"Purple"

"Evil"

"What? How is purple evil?"

"I don't know!"

"Haha!"

The sound of laughter echoed inside my ears. Picturing the room just made me feel even worse. It was like something that was just above my grasp but I couldn't grab it. It made me feel more lonely than this deserted locker room. 

I stood up and shook off my sorrows. The door creaked opened and I saw the ICT coming in.

Dang, I wasted 45 minutes on being lonely.

"Arrey, thum tho bohot early heh." Virat shook his head in disbelief, Ro grunted unhappily. I noticed that Ro was also soaking wet. Safe to assume that Virat splashed water on him to wake him up.

"Haan." I gave him a short and blank reply. I brushed past Yuvi and left for the field. I came out to see Aditi chasing Sundar.

"INGA VA DA ERUMA!" She yelled at him, Sundar looked behind his shoulder and stuck his tongue out. Aditi hopped on one foot and took her boot off. She chucked it at Sundar who ducked.

"SEMMA CATCHING SKILLS ADITI!" Sundar hollered before taking off again. I stifled a laugh, even though I didn't understand a single word he way saying I loved this banter.

"Dai! Camera va thriuppi kuddu!" Aditi slowed down, I wasn't surprised. It must be hard running without one shoe on. Sundar ran past me, I yanked the bag free from his hands.

"Oh come on Shubman!" Sundar pouted, I chuckled. 

Maybe Aditi will pay attention to me now.

I pushed that weird thought aside and gave Aditi her bag.

"Here," I grunted, inside cursing myself for being rude.

"Look's like I'm not the only one having a bad day." She muttered under her breath just loud enough for me to hear. I pretended not to hear it and left for the gym.

Sadly, the gym's walls are glass so I got a very clear view of Aditi.

I saw Sundar putting on Aditi's shoe for her. Aditi was trying hard not to fall and had her hand on Washy's back. I gritted my teeth feeling mad, I couldn't place my finger on why I was mad though.

"You're jealous," Jassi spoke from the treadmill next to me.

"Why would I be jealous of him?" I scoffed, but a small part of me already knew the answer.

"Because you like her." Jassi shrugged, the tiny part of me started to celebrate rubbing it into my brain's face that I was right.

Does a brain have a face?

"Oh please! I don't like her. Besides I've just seen her. It's been 3 years. And she hates me." I grumbled, Jassi rolled his eyes to the heavens.

"Shubman, I'm not smooth with girls like KL but even I can tell that you like her. You yourself know that you're lying to me when you said you didn't like her. Shubman I've never seen you apologize to someone so many times, let alone feel jealous when your best friend is with them" Jassi sighed and picked up the pace on the treadmill.

"How do you know all this bhai?" I asked suspiciously while trying to divert the topic. 

"A specific person asked me how to ask a girl out on a date earlier yesterday." He casually slipped that into the conversation.

A specific person my foot!

It's Sundar.

.... And he's planning on asking Aditi out...

Oh shit.

Why am I jealous?

Is what Jassi said true?

When has Jassi ever been wrong?

I walked out of the gym with one clear incentive: Talk To Aditi.

"So...?" Aditi's voice came from the locker room.

"Yeah... so?" Sundar's voice came from inside too.

I stopped walking and leaned forward to listen.

"You're the one who called me here." I could hear Aditi tap her foot impatiently.

"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" I could almost picture Sundar staring at his feet embarrassed.

"I was just wondering if you're up for some coffee?" Sundar blurted out randomly. 

"Sure," Aditi replied and I could hear her footsteps coming toward the door.

"Like a date," Sundar admitted, I heard silence.

"Alright."

Why the heck do I want to murder my best friend?

****

Wahoo! Another update!

Who's the productive evil author?

This GIRL!

~ Ria