~Kritika~

I heard him blurt out something, causing my eyes to snap up to his. I had been subconsciously staring at the picture all this time.

"Uh.. What?" I said in a dazed tone.

"I'm sorry." he repeated. I opened my mouth to say something but he beat me to it.

"It's just uh personal stuff and uh I shouldn't have pried into it. Well I didn't exactly pry into it. It was all an accident. It was in the book you gave me. Which reminds me, you're right. The movie didn't do justice to the book. It was just.. yeah. And.." He rambled on and on and after several failed attempts of speaking myself I had the urge to pinch him.

And this time, I didn't stop myself.

"It just flew out of the book and landed at my feet so I had no option but to pick it u--Ouch, the f*ck what that for?" He squawked, rubbing his stomach where I'd pinched him.

"First of all, ." I warned "second of all, enough with the rambling. You sound like me."

He gave a hearty laugh at that. "And third of all.." I trailed, lowering my voice "It's okay. I mean, really. I don't mind. It wasn't really much of your fault."

He nodded timidly looking at the picture in my hands and back at me and I immediately knew of the unspoken question lingering on the tip of his tongue.

"Aayan." I said softly "He's my brother."

He just nodded in reply and his eyebrows scrunched up for such a short span that I thought I'd almost imagined it.

Then without warning, he pinched my arm and I let out a loud scream half out of surprise and half out of pain.

"That freaking hurt." I yelled, rubbing my arm.

"Payback's a f*cking bitch." he said simply causing my jaw to drop in disbelief.

Okay seriously, is he bi-polar?

"Firstly, I said no swearing in this house. And secondly" I narrowed my eyes at him "..you're dead." I stated before lunging for him but he twisted sidewards at the nick of time

I advanced towards him and he took off towards the door, laughing and yelling a quick bye.

I huffed in annoyance, watching him slow down to a walk and open the front gate.

He had the nerve to wave at me before he entered his car and revved the engine. I watched his car speed off and I shook my head at it allowing myself to smile. Idiot.

I walked towards Stacey's room, fearing the chaos had woken her up. After we came back home she'd announced she was off to bed for a nap. She'd said, and I quote.

"If you wake me up I'll stab you with a spoon, I swear I will."

I reached for the door and opened it up just a crack. Her loud snores eliminating any doubt.

Heading into my room I plopped onto my bed kicking off my socks. I wasn't much of a napper so I grabbed my phone and plugged in my headphones. I idly pressed shuffle and snuggled into my blanket.

The soft music that wafted a second later made me smile. It was his favourite song.  Ayaan's.

He would twirl around doing a funny little dance whenever it played. No matter where he was, be it at home or in the middle of an airport terminal. Nothing and nobody could stop him.

My smile faded a tiny bit at that thought. I missed him. He was never the same after.. That day. He no longer danced around acting all goofy.

My throat constricted in a painful way. The day we almost lost him. The day everything came crumbling down.

The day of the accident.

It's been three years now. But the memory is till fresh in my brain. One phone call. Something as harmless as that was all it took to shatter everything. Afterall, what possible harm could a phone call do? A lot, if you ask me.

I felt something trickle down my cheek and that's when I realized I was crying.

I let out a shaky breath and wiped my eyes furiously, shaking my head forcing myself to get back my composure.

Why am I crying?

I forcefully tried swallow back the lump forming in my throat. He's okay, I reasoned with myself. That accident could've claimed him, it almost did. But he escaped, save fractured legs. Fractured legs that left him wheelchair bound.

He can walk perfectly well now, my conscience added. It was right as usual. He was okay. I didn't lose him. He was still there. Safe.

Is he really? my conscience added. There she goes again, contradicting herselves.

I let out a shaky laugh, smacking myself on my head. Only someone like me can refer to my conscience as a separate person. I really must be going crazy.

My smile slowly faded and I sighed, looking at the picture in my hand sadly.

I traced my gently over his eyes. They were eyes were crinkled to the point where they almost weren't visible.

I let my fingers hover over his smile but I didn't dare touch it, afraid that it would somehow be wiped out. Ridiculous I know, but even now as I stared at the picture I could somehow feel the smile fading away. We had identical dimples and I often would poke them and tell him they made him look like Shah Rukh Khan. It was a lie but I knew it would irritate him to no end and it did.

He would make gagging noises at that and then chase me all around the house. The chaos that ensued later could easily be compared to a World War.

I smiled faintly at the memory and shook my head lightly hugging the picture to myself and closing my eyes letting the music entrance me.

This picture was special to me for a reason. It was like a treasured memory that was much more precious than any sort of gemstone.

It was the last time I had seen him smile.

~Liam~

I drove back home in silence. I felt an inexplicable sense of relief after I gave it back to her, the picture. It was'nt just that I was evading. I felt like I had been eavesdropping onto something  Like I was evading into something private. I could've kept it back into the book, tuck it within its pages and pretended I hadn't noticed it. But why didn't I do that?

I took past the road, speeding up just a little, out of habit. I laughed when I recalled her expression when I'd pinched her.

Payback's a bitch

The way her face had contorted at that was almost comical. My smile faded a little.

Payback it was, but in reality, I just couldn't bear seeing her sad expression.

She was frowning lightly, her eyes dull of any of her usual vibrance. It just didn't look like her. I wanted to wipe that expression off her face. See her smile, even if it was a little one.

But why would you do that? my conscience asked me.

I gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. I guess it was because she was my friend and I cared for her because that's what friends do.

Okay that was a lie.

Sure, I did care for her. But that wasn't it. Her smile, it reminded me of someone.

Someone who's smile was'nt dimpled like hers, but there something about her bright smile and twinkling eyes that reminded me of them. Or maybe--

My phone rang, causing me to snap out of my train of thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm almost there too." I said and hung up, coming to a stop at the street. I got out of the car, looking around.

The street was busy, everybody in a rush. It was the peak hour of the day and everyone was returning home from their offices.

I felt a little tap on my my shoulder and turned back with a shocked expression.

It was her.

We just stared at each other for some time till she finally spoke.

"Hi." she said, grinning at me shyly causing me to smile widely. "So we finally meet again."

"Yeah." I breathed.

"Five years. Five whole years." she whispered and then suddenly smacked my arm causing me to wince slightly "Why did you not even bother to contact me?"

"Seven." I corrected her, rubbing my arm.

"Seven what?"

"Seven years, not five." I repeated, feeling my agitation rise. I didn't care we were standing in the middle of a street. "Remember? You're the one who ditched me for good."

"Excuse me?" she seethed "If I remember correctly, you're the one who stopped talking to me. Pushed me away whenever I tried to.Every. Single. Time." she spat out shoving me with every word. She was on a rampage and I didn't dare to interrupt.

"Whenever I looked at you, you just looked away. Do you have any idea how much that hurt? A lot. A whole freaking lot." her voice broke but she quickly composed herself.

One of the many things I liked about her. She never let her emotions control her.

"When Dad's company transferred him back here, you know how ecstatic I was? I was ecstatic at the possibility. Of us being friends again. But you.. You're just you. Un-freaking-believable." she yelled, breathing heavily. She was all but breathing fire at the moment.

My mind went blank.

"What?" I sputtered "I-I just.. What?"

"Exactly how you should be feeling right now" she snapped "that's what you freaking did. Every freaking time."

"Oh yeah? Give me an instance then will you?" I shot back. "Fine.. Let's see. Oh yeah! Remember junior prom?" she spat not bothering to lower her voice. This was very unlikely of her.

"The night you ditched me? Can't see why I won't remember that." I said sarcastically.

"Ditched you, my foot." she scoffed "you ditched me."

I looked at her like she was crazy. She wasn't giving an excuse, she was straight out denying it.

"I had waited for you right outside your house, Liam." she shook her head at me. This time I didn't try to even bother masking my shocked expression. "My house? I was at your house right at seven just as we'd decided okay?"

"What even? We had decided to meet at your house, you.. you utter dummy!"

"Bull." I snorted

"Remember we had decided to defy tradition and meet at yours' instead?" she questioned "don't you dare try deny that. I have screenshots of that conversation, okay?" she said shoving the phone into my face "I had waited in my car, all dressed up. I know right, very unlinke me, but I had decided to do something different. I waited. Like an idiot, I waited. But you.. you stood me up."

I stood silently with my head hung low. A huge misunderstanding. All this time, when I thought she'd ditched me, it was me who was. Like an idiot, I had forgotten our plan. I didn't even pick up her phone for days after that. I was angry. And that was very stupid of me.

I took a deep breath and pinched the corners of my eyes.

Freaking out does no good during extremely sticky situations.

I heard Kritika's words echo in my head.

I fought to get back composure. Breathe in breathe out, I chanted over and over in my head. After a moment, I turned back to her.

"I'm sorry." I sighed "and I'm an idiot."

"That you are." she laughed "You have no idea how good it feels to be right about this."

"You're almost always right about everything. I was hoping to be the one this time but.."

"Tough luck?"

"Tough luck."

She laughed again. I had missed that sound for years now. It was like we had gone back in time to being kids again "It's a good thing I got back and got your number from Alex or this." she pointed at her and then at me "Wouldn't have ever been possible."

So that's how she got my number, I thought to myself. I have to remember to thank Alex sometime.

"I'm sorry." I told her, feeling terrible. All this time, I thought to myself. All this f*cking time.

"I feel like I'm in a freaking TV series." she laughed "Shut up and hug me you idiot." she said stepping towards me and wrapped her arms lightly around me herself.

"I missed you, Lily." she whispered into my shoulder, using the old nickname she'd given me when we were 6.

"I missed you too, Anna." I whispered back.

More than you know.

XXXXXXXXXXX

;) ;) ;)

Whaddya think? Took you all by surprise didn't I? I know. I'm fabulous B) xD

Ba ba ba ba na na

Okay that was random.

Sooooooooooo? Did you like it? Tell me you did. I know you did :3 :3

Lol jk. Ik it was kinda short and yeah ._.
Sorry. Please forgive the typos if any :*

And and and and

Who do you think should play Ayaan and Anna?

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Stay beautiful❤

Kay❤