Chapter 11

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                                   I MEERA I

"Where'd you run off?", Remya asks with a smirk as soon as I enter our room. I practically ran away from Vikram. He just gets under my skin like no one else. And this time, it was different and I liked it. And that's so not good.

"I just wanted to wash my skirt before it got stained", I lie looking around. I'm not really that bad at lying but if anyone can read my lies, it's her and Vinash.

"Uh huh and Vikram, was he holding your skirt up for you or..?", She asks trailing off. "He just followed me to wash his kurta", I state confidently. " And what-", she starts but I interrupt her before she can continue questioning me, "And nothing happened. Now tell me what happened after I left." I say trying to change the subject.

She gives me a knowing look," Well, after you left Raj pretty much dragged Pooja away from us and Vinash, well, he got his ass landed to him by a little kid in a water gun fight and started sulking. And I convinced everyone to leave you with Vikram, though Karthik seemed reluctant for some reason. So you can thank yours truly for the services.", She says giving me a rather smug smile which makes me wanna smack it off of her face. Little bitch.

I ignore her and take a shower before changing into my pajamas and throw myself on my fluffy bed. I hug my pillow close and a moment later I feel Remya cuddle in next to me. I'm more exhausted than I thought I'd be and falls asleep within a few minutes.

***

Four hours later.

"Remya I swear to God, if you don't stop pulling at my hair, I'll kill you", I hiss as she tugs at yet another strand of hair.

I'm currently sitting before the mirror while Remya tries to curl my hair. We woke up 20 minutes ago to the sound of loud music coming from downstairs. We overslept and it was like a hurricane passed through our room when we both finished getting dressed.

Remya wanted me to wear a mini dress I bought last year when I went to a club in delhi, to impress a certain someone. And I vetoed the idea because, one, I'm pretty sure a dress is not the best idea for the Chaos happening downstairs and two, I don't want to impress a certain someone. Well, I do , a little, maybe, I don't know. But I don't want him to think that I put it on for him or anything. Know what I mean?

After weighing the pros and cons, she decided that we do not want to seem desperate, her words not mine and pulled out a sleeveless black tank top with a v-neck that barely shows any cleavage and ripped blue jeans. And she chose a black and white striped shirt and jeans for herself. She looked great. Now, I made a mistake of asking her to curl my hair a little and that's how we ended up in this situation with me a second away from kicking her ass.

"It's not my fault that all your hair is in knots. That's what you get when you ride around in bikes with random dudes without tying your hair. You only have yourself to blame", she sasses as she curls the ends one last time.

"Hold on. First, don't you know you're supposed to untangle the knots before curling your hair. Second, I don't ride around with random dudes and you just called him my lover a few minutes ago", I tell her as she sets the curling iron on my dresser.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Your hair's done, so let's go",. she says pulling me with her as she speed walks down the hallway before knocking on Vinash's door, hollering at him to come downstairs.

"I'll be down in a minute, you guys go on", he yells back.

Satisfied, Remya pulls me downstairs, and I was right, it's complete chaos in here. Snacks and paper cups on every surface in the living room. There wasn't much alcohol, just beer and soft drinks. Karthik's cousin Aarav, set up the DJ and that dude's blasting some hardcore metal songs which gives me a headache, to be honest.

The kitchen is filled with people, some getting snacks, some cooking , and some of them just stands there talking and blocking the way. Some guys are sitting in the couch, playing video games. And a moment later, I realise one of them is none other than Vikram. He has on a blue denim shirt and a pair of shorts. He looks casual, yet at the same time, sexy and I hate it. He looks good without even trying.

Remya nudges my shoulders with her's before nodding at his direction with a smirk. I make some ugly-ass face at her before looking around for someone that I actually know and I see Neha, our cousin, standing near the DJ talking with one of Karthik's friends, don't ask me his name, I don't know. We don't really talk much, Neha and us, not because we don't like each other or anything. It's just that, she was a distant cousin and we have only ever met a handful amount of times on weddings or birthdays or whatnot. So we never kept touch.

I see a lot of familiar faces in here, but I'm not sure I remember any of their names. Oh well.

"Let's go to the beach. It's a mess in here", Remya yells over the loud music. "Yeah, alright", I agree as I feel a slight headache from the loud music. "Let me get us some drinks, wait here", she says and walks off before I can nod.

And even though I tell myself to not do it, I look towards him and to my surprise, he's staring at me. And the way he stares at me makes me want to run, away from him or towards him, I'm not sure. When his eyes meet mine, he gives me a smile that screams trouble.

I stay rooted, unable to look away from him as he gives me a slow appraisal from top to bottom. And when his eyes meet mine, he lifts his mouth in a lazy smile before going back to his game. And I can finally look away. I try not to stare at him again as I stand there waiting for Remya. But I can feel his eyes on me time to time and it's ...distracting.

Remya elbows her way through the crowd towards me, a can of sprite in each hand and she hands me one when she reaches me. "Let's go to the beach. I heard they've made a bonfire and it won't be this loud there. I don't know why these fools are here where they can't take a step without rubbing on each other.",she says looking around.

"Maybe that's exactly why they're here", I say when I see a guy lean against a girl as he takes some chips from the bowl on the table next to them. Remya follows my gaze towards them and gives a snort. "Yeah. Come let's get out of here before these horn dogs start rubbing against us", she says pulling me along. 

Again, knowing I shouldn't, I look towards him and see that he's staring at me... again. I look away as soon as we reach the door and I feel a moment of peace as soon as the ear splitting screams they call 'music' fades when we walk to the beach. The bonfire is at the other end of the beach. They've dug up some sand to make a Fire pit ring with "built in seats." As we get closer, I hear soft music drifting from the bonfire and I'm seriously baffled at the fact that everyone is inside the house all sweaty and listening to crap music when they can sit here in this heaven and listen to Hozier singing 'like real people do'. They're missing out.

But then I realise I sound like a judgy bitch. Everyone has different choices, in both music and lifestyle. I have no right to judge them based on their preferences. So I decide to put it out of my mind

There are less than a dozen people here. Shraddha is sitting on Karthik's lap and they're both listening to something their friends are saying. And few others are talking between them in groups of three or two.

I also spot Dhruv, Shraddha's bestfriend from high school. He was also our neighbour growing up, before his family relocated to Chennai after he graduated from high school, so we all know each other well.

I drag Remya towards him  "Hey Meera, long time no see. I heard you were studying in Delhi?", He asks smiling as soon as he spots us making our way towards him. His eyes flick behind me for a second before looking back at me.

"Yeah I'm in DU. BA, third year. I just came back two weeks ago for the wedding", I tell him, taking a sip from my cup as I sit next to him. My finals will start in a month, just thinking about it makes me want to dig a hole and spend the rest of my life in it.

"Oh,great! My cousin, Manav Mahar, was in DU. He graduated last year. You might have seen him around", he says, making me choke on my drink and Remya pats my head while giving me a wide-eyed look.

I knew Manav. I more than knew him. Infact, I have seen him with nothing on, more times than I can count. We had a sort of relationship going on. We didn't label it. We were exclusive but we didn't see the need to complicate anything. And we both didn't want anything serious so we ended it last year, when he graduated, on good terms and stayed friends. I promised him that I'll visit him whenever I was in Hyderabad.

But I didn't know he was Dhruv's cousin. We never really talked much about our families, so it's is no wonder that Dhruv didn't come up in our conversations. Remya knew all about Manav. They met when she was in Delhi during the holidays with her friends. I introduced them when she paid me a little visit at my dorm unannounced. Let me just say, she knows how his bare ass looks like. It was mortifying, to say the least.

Dhruv hands me a tissue and I wipe my mouth with it, trying to guage his expression. I don't know if he knows about us or not. He looks concerned, no hints of humour or teasing in his expression. When Remya gives me a look, I know she's wondering the same thing.

I throw the tissue into the bonfire before turning towards Dhruv, " I might have seen him a few times", I lie nonchalantly, " I don't know for sure. There were a lot of guys with the name Manav".
Maybe I should've just said we were friends. Too late now. And it isn't like I'll meet him ever again, so it's all good. He hums, deep in thought. Maybe he knows?

"And Remya, right?. I think we've met a few times when I was Meera's neighbour", he says making me raise my eyebrows in confusion. He met her more than a few times. He used to play with the three of us during all the holdiays when she visited our house, except for the summer holidays when we stayed at the summerhouse. So, him acting like a stranger towards her is more than weird.

Remya just rolls her eyes," right." And he visibly tenses. Okay... There's something she's not telling me. When I give her a questioning look, she mouths 'later'. There's definitely some history between them that I don't know. Dhruv doesn't try to talk to us after that. After a few awkward moments, he excuses himself before walking away to the house.

I am about to ask Remya about him when someone sits down in the seat that he just vacated. Without turning around, I know who it is. Don't ask me how, I just know it. Maybe I have a radar that lets me know whenever he's within a hundred metres. Or maybe it's the way he sits so close that our arms rub against each other and I know only one person who would do that when there's plenty of space to sit around us.

"So why did you ask me to follow you here. Not that I'm complaining or anything", he says making me turn to him with confusion, ignoring the smile on know-it-all Remya's face.


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