| CHARLOTTE |

Believe it or not. Violet Davis is the hottest chick I have ever seen.

Okay. She is not the one who deliberately sways her hips every time she walks, wears tight bodycon to show her cleavage, is always on makeup (oh, and the dark red lipstick) that makes their white skin look surreal, wears high heels that are as tall as the Empire State Building, has puffy lips, is high on attitude, has Zara, Gucci, Chanel, Prada, and all those dollar-sucking brands, wears sunglasses that are bigger enough to hide their face, and experimenting on weird hairstyles and hair colours. No offence. I'm not spreading hatred towards them. They are not my type. Period.

Violet is the one who wears dresses according to the situation, has a good amount of makeup, has good taste in dresses that aren't dollar-sucking, has blonde and curly hair as a constant hairstyle, always on converses and flip-flops, has naturally white skin, wears that one transparent-rimmed horn glasses, and is happy with who she is.

Don't ask if we were dating for months. We were hanging out together as "friends" for one week.

One morning, when we planned to go to the library, I saw her stepping out. And, man! I was on the verge of shouting, "She is the new-age Cleopatra. Why does everyone want to celebrate Kardashians and Jenners?"

She was in her iconic violet-coloured crop top with the names of Taylor Swift's albums written on it and charcoal-black jeans. Her feet were adorned in her white sneakers, and she had left her short, blonde, curly hair free, which made her look like Marilyn Monroe.

She reached me with a smile and greeted me, "Good morning, Miss Charls."

"Good morning, Miss Veez," I greeted her. And yes, I call her Veez.

"Are you ready?" She tilted her head to the right and chuckled.

"Always." I raised my eyebrows playfully and linked arms with her. "Let's go, baby!" I exclaimed merrily at the top of my voice while we walked out of the street with her laughing.

***

"Veez." I tapped my fingers on her hand while she was reading A Man Called Ove. She looked up with an undeniable frown while I whispered, "Look there."

We looked through the glass window and saw a boy and a girl on the other side of the road. The boy held the collar of the girl's olive shirt and showed expressions that looked like he was yelling at her. The girl, who didn't seem to budge at this, yelled at him.

Violet looked at me and whispered, "Why did you ask me to look at them?"

"Naina and I used to pick two random people like them and do dub smash for them. Why not we...?" I paused and nodded my head slowly.

"No way! I have got five chapters to read. You find someone else for this," Violet informed and proceeded with reading her book.

"Veez, please! I beg you. If you do this to me, you will find your soulmate within three months. Trust me." I looked at her with my doe eyes and joined my hands as if to pray.

After exhaling loudly, she put her book down and whispered, "Okay, Madam Charls."

"Thank you so much! I love you!" I whispered out of excitement, and for a while, I felt like the "I love you" I said sounded sweet. We looked at the couple, and they were still fighting. I whispered, "You do the dubbing for the boy, and I will do it for the girl."

She had her thumbs up and started dubbing. "I trusted you so much. Why did you eat my sandwich, bitch?"

"Sandwich? Where did that come from?" I asked, but I wasn't dubbing at that time.

She snapped her finger and whispered, "Your turn, Charls," while the girl on the road started speaking.

"Come on, asshole! It's just a sandwich," I dubbed this time while the girl threw her hands up.

"It's not just a sandwich. My family prestige lies in that," Violet grunted to ensure she sounded boyish. I busted into laughter after hearing that.

"What prestige?" I whispered loudly to sound like we were arguing.

"I have a migraine," Violet grunted softly while the boy's face was relaxed. "We would become the laughingstock of NYC if the public knew it. Hence, I used to keep the capsules for curing migraines inside the sandwich." I facepalmed at her absurd humour, yet I couldn't help but laugh at it.

"Now, what should I do, baby?" I whispered as romantically as possible while the gap between the roadside duo decreased.

"I don't know, baby," Violet whispered while the boy looked calm. The girl was close to reaching the boy's lips, but the boy gripped her shoulder and stopped her. "What are you doing, baby?"

"The vitamins in your capsule must be in my mouth, baby. Hence, kiss me and transfer the vitamins to your body," I winced guiltily while Violet pretended to puke. "Come on, kiss me."

"Geez, stop being so weird, Charls!" This time, Violet was not dubbing.

I raised my hand as if asking her to wait and made myself busy in dubbing. "Why are you waiting, baby? Come on. Fast."

The boy released his grip and let her kiss him while Violet dubbed, "You are only mine. Including those vitamins in your mouth."

I laughed at her comeback as the absurdly humourous dubbing artist while the couple on the road were busy making out. "10% of vitamins transferred," I said.

"20%," said Violet.

"50%," I proclaimed.

"So fast? They must have done a PhD in transferring vitamins. 75%," Violet chuckled.

The couple went apart after making out... I mean transferring vitamins while Violet and I beamed in unison, "100% vitamins transferred."

Suddenly, Violet clicked her tongue and said, "99.99% vitamins transferred."

"Then what about that 0.01%?" I raised my eyebrows dramatically.

"She hid them to make sure the boy was not cured. She wants to expose her boyfriend's weakness to the world. She is the daughter of their enemy, Miss Whatsoever Lululu. Heiress of the Lululu Group of Companies. Look how she is pretending to be happy," Violet said intensely while the happy couple walked out of the street.

"Exactly, Violet! But who do you think is the boy? He is not the biological son of Mr. Hohoho. He is the son of Mr. Hohoho's former manager, Mr. Whomsoever Blublu. He is also a cop, Violet." I mock-gossiped and laughed as if the library's roof would dangle like a spider's web while successfully gaining the silent readers's attention.

Violet glared at me as if she would kill me in no time while I sustained her anger with a stupid-like grin. She got up with me, returned the book to the strict librarian, and ran outside. Some readers were looking at us while laughing at the unlovely story of Miss Lululu and Mr. Blublu.

***

"So, shall we play another game?" I asked with my eyebrows raised while sipping some of my espresso.

"Which couple is transferring vitamins this time?" Violet scrunched her nose and munched her grilled sandwich.

"Wait! Do you have your migraine capsule hidden in it?" I pointed my chin at her sandwich. "Let me see." I grabbed it from her and munched it fervently. "Okay. I found no capsules there."

"Wish I had one hidden inside it," Violet sulked.

"Why?"

" I would have transferred vitamins from you." Violet winked while my heart skipped a beat. My cheeks became hotter than the espresso, and my cheeks became pinkier than a beetroot juice. While the thing she said had a minute effect on me, her wink increased the dosage.

"Of course. We should try out that scientific revolution at least once." I ignored her gaze and sipped some espresso. Why am I behaving so lovesick?

"Okay, tell me what's the game." Violet lunged forward and raised her eyebrows.

"Compatibility test," I whispered, rubbed my hands and grinned.

"Compatibility test? What are we? Couples?" She squinted her eyes as if I was proposing a weird plan.

"Even friends take a compatibility test." I frowned at her.

"Fine! Let's do it." Violet shrugged and had some bites of the sandwich.

"Okay. Let me start," I announced. "Favourite actor?"

"Chris Hemsworth." Violet tried to suppress the grin.

"Tom Hiddleston," I said with no expression on my face.

"Haha! We are in love with brothers." Violet laughed and banged on the table with her hand. "Okay. Favourite singer?"

"Taylor Swift," we replied in unison and broke into laughter.

"But I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain
And it's 2 a.m., and I'm cursing your name
So in love that you act insane
And that's the way I loved you," I sang The Way I Loved You for Miss Veez.

"So it's gonna be forever
Or it's gonna go down in flames
You can tell me when it's over, mm
If the high was worth the pain
Got a long list of ex-lovers
They'll tell you I'm insane
'Cause you know I love the players
And you love the game," she shifted to the song Blank Space.

"But I keep cruising
Can't stop, won't stop moving
It's like I got this music
In my mind
Saying, 'It's gonna be alright.'" I shifted to Shake It Off.

"'cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play
And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
I shake it off, I shake it off," she continued the song.

"Okay. One last song. Which one? I'll count until three. Okay?" Violet raised her eyebrows. "Three. Two. One."

"Love Story!" We replied in unison, which caused a tremor of blush of all shades on my cheeks.

"Okay, let's sing," I said, ignoring the creepy blushes.

"That you were Romeo, you were throwin' pebbles
And my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet,"
And I was cryin' on the staircase
Beggin' you, "Please don't go, " and I said," I sang it first and pointed my index finger at her to ask her to continue the song. Taylor Swift's songs can make anyone breathless, irrespective of whether you are listening or singing.

"Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone
I'll be waiting, all there's left to do is run
You'll be the prince, and I'll be the princess
It's a love story, baby, just say, "Yes"," Violet finished the stanza for me.

I exhaled deeply through my mouth as we enjoyed our fangirl moments. It took me seconds for me to settle down and control my laughter. As I was stable enough to drink my espresso, Violet said, "Charls. You may not be a 10. You may be my red flag. But you know how to make me happy. And, that settled the score. Thank you." She smiled after saying these while I said nothing and drank my espresso, despite my mind wanting to say a million things to her in the form of Taylor Swift's songs.

***

We walked down her street while rainfall started in the form of drizzles. Though she hated the rain, Violet loved to drench with me. And as we reached her home, she greeted me, "Good night, Miss Charls."

"Good night, Miss Veez," I greeted back and turned away to walk away. Just then, I felt a thing falling on my body gently. It was a hug. It was from Violet. That hug felt like home to me, though my house was away from hers. It felt warm in the cold rain. I hated to say it, but I loved it. Without breaking that sweet hug, I asked, "Shall I ask you something?" She responded with a hum. "Promise me you won't kill me for this." She responded with another humming. "Ummm... Are you a lesbo?"

No offence. It wasn't because of the hug. I want to take a step forward confidently only if I confirm her sexuality.

***

I know you guys wanted Naina and Abhi here. But I couldn't control my excitement to write about Charls-Veez. Hence, I got into action.

And, if you see anyone making out, don't tell it's a "making out". Tell them that they are "transferring vitamins".

Stay tuned for more!

Song Courtesy: Chaleya from Jawan.