"Why is it when you want the ground to swallow you whole, it decides to stop trying?"
6:00 AM, Bed
By 'alone' he doesn't actually mean alone , right? He probably meant 'lets meet alone in a room full of crowded people where I most certainly can't kill you'. Yep that's what he meant.
Oh God, who am I kidding? He's going to find me and then kill me, one way or another.
Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.
How the hell do I manage to get myself into these situations?
Devi Maiyya, how many more jelabies do you want me to make for you? I'd just like to remind you that I left you a whole box (handmade, BTW) just last week. Care to notice?
I hate my life. Maybe.
7:00 AM, Under the Bed
Where are you? You're late.
Shit.
7:02 AM, Under the Bed
Khushi? What the?
7:10, Under the Bed
Stop being a brat. I assure you I'll find you one way or another.
Not if I can help it.
7:45, College Bus.
After an awkward conversation with amma where I had to explain to her what exactly I was doing under the bed,("No Amma I was just looking for my camera cover for the last half an hour under the bed, not reading po*n. Gosh you should really stop talking to the next door aunty-ji.") I took the college bus like a normal and sane student should.
"Are my eyes deceiving me? Is that actually Khushi?"
"Shut it Priya. If it weren't for you I wouldn't be on Arnav's Most Wanted list."
She wriggled her eyebrows suggestively.
"Mature Priya, real mature."
"Calm down Khushi, it's probably not as bad as you think it is. Besides how can you even be sure, he probably just wanted to talk to you about having dinner with Anjalie."
I let out a groan of utter dismay.
"Damn, I totally forgot about that. Which reminds me, I hate you. We can no longer be friends."
"Oh hush, stop being so dramatic."
I rolled my eyes. Dramatically.
"Easy for you to say. You're not the one who's on a hit list."
"Hit-list? Khushi you really are crazy." She sported her typical Khushi-is-insane-let-me-be-patronizing expression.
"Say's the girl who broke into a house last night. "
"Touche. Technically I just knew their security code. World of difference."
I just gave her a look of pure loathing and buried my head in the seat in front doing what I did best. I whined. Obviously. Nothing a good whine and some hard core over thinking can't cure.
Sigh.
9:30, Political Science.
I love Anil. Period. I swear I am forever indebted to him. WHY can't more guys be like him? Perfect in every single way.
After my over thinking in the bus (whereby I concluded that there are a minimum of 46.5 ways that Arnav could kill me within college campus.) Priya and I innocently walked towards the main building. Minding our own business and avoiding the tennis court by walking on the other side of the pavement.
"Khushi I have to rush to staff room for a bit, you carry on alright?"
"'Kay."
Pray tell me why is she my BBF when she ditches me when I need her the most? The impossibly long list of reasons NOT to have a BFF is getting impossibly longer. Sheesh.
Anywho.
When someone deliberately tries to take the long rout to avoid a certain premises it usually means that that person wants you to leave them alone. It's the norm. But apparently Arnav Singh Raizada wouldn't know a social protocol if it was a tennis racquet and repeatedly hit on his head.
"Stop walking right now and turn around."
That naturally prompted me to walk faster.
"Khushi.. Khushi.. I'm talking to you, damn it don't walk away."
He was following me. Shit. Must find escape route. NOW. Hai Devi Maiyya.
So I disregarded all feelings of self consciousness and broke sprint. Damn if I let him catch me.
I pretty much looked like a cat sprayed with water and running from a murderous dog. Which was actually not that far from the truth. Technically.
Since I was pretty much running blindly I crashed into something, or rather someone. A very nice smelling someone who instantly grabbed me by the shoulder and steadied me.
"Whoa there Simba who's chasing you?"
"Arnav" I replied without thinking.
He let out a bark of laughter which finally prompted me look up and my face lit up with a smile.
"Anil."
"Khushi. Not to be a downer but he's coming your way." Oh God he was still following me. Boy he really did want to kill me.
Anil must have noted my highly panicked facials because he grabbed my hands just as Arnav approached us.
He was looking less than pleased. In fact he looked like he was going to kill both Anil and me because his eyes immediately narrowed when he saw us together.
"Hey ASR, I was just about to show Khushi our trophy case. I mean I haven't even got my daily dose of ego boost yet and I thought who better to give me that than Khushi."
Just as Arnav was about to open his mouth.
"Do you mind having your talk later, thanks bro."
And just like that we stalked off in the opposite direction. Somebody please give this boy an award.
"Where are we going?"
"To see the trophies. I would never lie to ASR. We have a motto you see." A boyish grin lit up his face.
"What's the motto?"
"Nothing. What's the motto with you?"
He laughed again and I found myself smiling at his stupid (cute) joke.
"But I have class in five minutes Anil."
He gave me a mock disapproving look.
"Alright, alright. Later sometime then."
"Sure."
He let go off my hands, gave me a wave and walked away. I let out a dreamy sigh and turned around only to meet cold chocolate eyes. Eyes belonging to one Mr Raizada. Eyes that were smoldering with anger.
I couldn't even breathe as he continued to look down at me. Was it a staring contest, because we didn't even blink.
I gulped and wet my lips because it was getting hot. Really hot.
His eyes wavered for a second and then he turned back. Just like that he walked off.
What the hell just happened?
So no confrontation? Success! Where are pom-poms to cheer when you need one?
1:30 PM, Creative writing.
Lunch was fairly normal with Arnav nowhere in sight. Maybe he didn't want to kill me anymore! Or am I being too optimistic?
4:30 PM, Home
Why did I ever assume things were going normal? Because they just never did.
When I was a child my mom always told me to come home the minute the bell went off. Why didn't I ever listen to her?
Just as my last class ended I still sat in my place waiting for the class to clear out. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath stretching my hands.
And when I opened them I really should have guessed what was coming. Because casually standing against the door was none other than Laad Governor. I stood up.
He turned back; just as I thought he was going to leave he closed the door and firmly bolted it in place. And then turned towards me again.
"Wh.. what are you doing? If someone found us, it's going to look so scandalous."
He smirked.
"I haven't even started on the scandalous bit Khushi."
He took slow measured steps towards me.
"Are you done running?"
"No."
"Too bad because I caught you."
"I will scream bloody murder."
He actually had the audacity to laugh at that.
"That'll probably look more scandalous."
"What do you want?"
"Answers."
"You never give me any, why should I bother?"
He now stood in front of me barely a hair's breadth away, I strained to look up at him.
He pushed me onto the wall behind and placed both his hands on either side of my face. Why hell was he doing this. His face was inches away from mine. Quickly reminding me of something I was really trying to forget.
The deserted road.
I'm giving up. He had said.
I quickly reached in front of me and pushed as hard as I could. Not again.
I barely made any impact.
"Let me go Arnav." I said in a deadly calm voice.
"What are you going to do, hit me?" He was mocking me.
"Please." It was a barely above a whisper.
"Why are you avoiding me?" his voice dropped too.
My down cast eyes immediately snapped to his. They were peering down at me with the oddest emotions in them.
His eyes were still planted on mine as if trying to decode something.
"You're just so damn complicated Gupta."
"Hey there pot, I'm kettle."
His hands around me dropped and he moved away a few steps.
"I'll eventually find out why this was in my house last night. " He retrieved a silver anklet from his pocket.
As a reflex I looked down at my feet. Sure enough one of mine was missing. I reached out to get it from him but he immediately pulled away.
"I think I'll keep them until you tell me what you were doing with my sister."
"Give it back."
He smiled infuriatingly and leaned over kissing me on my left cheek.
"Your nose turns red when you're angry."
"I said give it back."
"Only if you tell me what you were doing in my house."
Stupid, flirting, infuriating Laad Governor.
"Your sister invited me to dinner." I blurted out reaching for my anklet. He held it above his head causing me to strain forward and into (on top of) him. His hands went about my waist as he held me in me in place.
"What?"
"Didn't you hear me?"
"Why?"
I reached forward some more, my cheeks coming in contact with the slight stubble on his face. I stood on my tip-toes and tried reaching for it again.
"Ask your sister."
He reached up and grabbed my stretched hand, bringing it to rest between us and putting a semblance of space between us.
"Look at me Khushi."
I (adamantly) continued to look at the anklet.
"Is this about Shyam again? Khushi why can't you just let things go?"
"I would let it go if you told me what he wants from me."
He sighed.
"Shyam's psycho Khushi."
"How would you know?"
He let out a frustrated groan.
"You have to take my word for it."
"How could I ever question your word right? You're like Zeus."
"Would you stop poking your nose if I tell you that Shyam isn't after you?"
"Of course he is."
"He really isn't Khushi. He's not after you or anyone else. He's just a stuck up jock with too much time on his hands."
"Then why do you have such a big problem with him?"
"That's none of your business."
He gave me Try-arguing-with-that look. Damn him.
A smirk lined his face again.
"So you're going to have dinner with me? I mean if you wanted a date Khushi all you had to do was ask."
You.. I.. IDIOT.
"I so don't want a date with you. Your sister invited me and I'm having dinner with her NOT you. Got that?"
"The Nile is not just a river in Egypt Khushi."
"Shut up." Was my oh-so-witty response.
"Stop over thinking Gupta or all your hair is going to fall off your pretty little head."
He ruffled me hair and with that he gave me a cordial wave and walked off. I stood there like Rudolph with mussed up hair.
Devi Maiyya. No jelabies for you this week. Humph.
