Kissed Him?

"Where did you stay last night?" Avika asked as soon as we entered after keeping the heavy bags in Trisha's room. Her face filled with concern.

"I stayed in his apartment," I said.

Avika's eyes widened.

"Nothing happened," I said.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah. I had an awful nightmare, Avi. He knows everything now." I said.

After explaining all the things to her, she finally went quiet. I think she needed time to process it. I went ahead to have a long and refreshing bath. When I came back I had an immense desire to sleep in. But as soon as I hit the bed and closed the eyes my brain started flashing yesterday's events. Particularly, our hug. Our embrace, both the times were more than friendly, it contained a plethora of emotions and an essence of assurance.  After I stopped resisting those memories they faded away as abruptly as they came and I felt comfortable as I stepped into a deep peaceful slumber.

I woke up when I heard my phone screeching.

"Helloooo?" I stretched as I was still sleepy. I heard muffled laughter on the other side.

I glanced at the screen, the caller was Mr President.

"Hello?" I spoke again now more alert.

"Are you going to come?" He jumped straight into question.

I was still sluggish and wasn't ready to take the pains to dress up and abandon my soft comfortable clothes.

"Do we have some work over there?" I asked.

"No, I don't think so. The practice is going well."

"Then I don't think there is a need to go. Besides, I just woke up and I'm too lazy to dress up. I think I would drop the idea of visiting."

"No issues. Today they will have a dress rehearsal too." He said.

"Sounds interesting, but...."

"...but you are far too lazy to come, right?" He laughed.

"Hey! I won't fall for that. You are just trying to lure me out. It's just a dress rehearsal, they might do again...."

"Nope" he interrupted.

"...if not then it will be a good surprise for me. At least something should be concealed. What would I watch when the time arrives? Moreover, I haven't studied properly these days. I don't want to slack off." I continued.

"Okay, go ahead. I would be leaving shortly too." He said.

"Going back home?" I asked.

"No, I'll be in the library. I need to study too. If you happen to have some difficulties you could look for me." He said.

"Yeah?" I was genuinely surprised.

"Yup." He said.

"Okay, then get ready, I would flood you with queries." I said.

"Okay, bye." I said.

"Yes." He said and hung up.

Avika wasn't in the room.

I concentrated on my studies now. The college would issue holidays for the fest. The fest officially starts on 9th. Drama is on 10th. There would be many food stalls, bookstall, stall of accessories and handicrafts and other things too. It would last for 5 days.

Avika came back to the room, red-faced.

"What happened to you?" I asked.

"I... um.. How to tell you? Uhhhh... What have I done?" She said.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"I..... I..  kissed Kabir." She sputtered.

"You? WHAT?" To say I was shocked was an understatement.

"Tell me, Avi? Are you two in a relationship?" I asked.

"No, we aren't. Wait, we weren't. Uhh, it's confusing." It seemed she was ready to pull out her hair in frustration.

"Wait, calm down. Tell me what happened from the beginning." I suggested.

"Okay, so I knew he liked me, Riya was cent percent sure. We talked a lot too. But he didn't show his affection and was rather friendly like... a friend, obviously."

"...but yesterday he confessed. He told me that he liked me and that he knew that maybe he wasn't of my type. But at least he wanted to try and at the end, he couldn't keep it in and that's why he admitted. He didn't even let me answer and ran off. I was so confused yesterday. I wanted to talk to you but you weren't here. When you came back I wanted to tell but then decided against it because it didn't matter." She sighed.

"Why won't you tell me? You aren't a good friend. Now continue though." I said.

"Yeah, so today after practice I was resting when he came along and sat beside me and then we started talking as if nothing happened yesterday. I felt like a fool, Manya that I put so much thought into his confession so I blurted out

'Why did you run away yesterday?'

He said 'Why? Was your answer yes?' You know Manya, he was so cocky that I was annoyed. So I said 'No, I didn't have an answer that time, but now I surely do.'

He was desolate all of a sudden and said 'Yeah I aimed too high, I guess. Your friendship is enough for me. Please don't be angry, I was so sure that you would reject me but I didn't have the courage to face it that's why I ran away. Please don't break our friendship due to this. Pretend this never happ....' That's when I shut his mouth with mine. I'm so confused now. I don't know what took over me." She ended.

"What happened after?" I asked.

"I ran away!" She said.

"You ran away? You kissed a guy and then ran away!" I started laughing so hard.

"Stop laughing. Both of us were in a state of shock." She said angrily.

"Well, you need to be sure of your feelings. What do you feel about him?" I asked.

"I don't know." She said.

"Go for a couple of dates with him. Give him and yourself time to get to know each other." I advised her. I couldn't believe my own ears that I was giving the relationship advice. I had zero experience in these issues.

"Hmm" she considered. A minute later she said.

"When did you get so affluent in giving these pieces of advice. Is someone training my friend or has she developed a romantic feeling for that someone?  Ohhh, that's what you are doing nowadays! Taking out time from your busy schedule and having lunch dates and cafeteria dates with someone." She started teasing me.

"At least I'm not the one who kissed someone and then ran away in embarrassment." I exclaimed.

"Manya!" She said with her face red."But I'm not the one to stay at someone's home in a long dark night all alone, just us two together." She retorted. She is good at comebacks.

I started hitting her with a pillow.

We played around some more when I retired to study further.

Classes will be off starting this Friday. I'll have plenty of time to relax.

Even though I didn't want to pay attention to her words, they kept ringing in my ears. Do I really spend a lot of time with him? My mind Well, obviously, you do.

What is happening to me? If I think and answer myself then maybe I honestly might have a teeny tiny crush on him.

*********

Vihaan's Pov

It's four now. I had decided to go back to the library but couldn't. They have dragged me to this stupid gathering. My friends are all here, but I can't seem to enjoy myself. Why? I don't know.

Here I'm with my so-called group. My closest friend here is Tarun. He had introduced me, a loner, to his friends. Like most of the people, Tarun is a fun-loving idiot.

"Hey, what has gotten into you?" He asked me.

"Nothing."

"You looked out of sorts the whole week. And it keeps on increasing." He commented.

This was true. We used to hang out each day but now I don't have time. And if I do I'm always spacing out. I have gotten a lot busier.

"Did you get lucky and found someone?" He joked. He usually did this but unexpectedly Manya's face popped up.  I was momentarily shocked at abrupt thought. No. I shook my head to clear off this thought.

"No, I didn't find anyone. Let's talk about something else." I told

"No, no, let's keep this topic up. Tell me about that girl, whom you are spending a lot of time. Apparently, Susan was blubbering since she has seen you in the cafeteria with her." He persisted.

"Susan did?" I asked.

"Come on, Vihaan, everybody knows how much that girl, Susan likes you yet you rejected her. You reject each and every poor girly soul. If I would have gotten this amount of attention I would have died with satisfaction." He teased.

"What's so special about this girl. I'll definitely meet her." He said. I glanced up at his face, his eyes contained amusement and seriousness.

"No, there is no need to meet her." I said.

"Tch, getting protective so soon." He laughed.

He was called over in another conversation. No matter how much I denied this had an effect on me. I have been spending time with her lately, there was no reason to refute. She is a very reliable friend and she encourages and motivates me. That's it. I have figured it out. Nothing more.