Clouded Crossroads

22: Intimate Feels

Jiya

The library was fairly empty today; nobody seems to be interested in studying for finals this early on. Thankfully, Vihaan agreed immediately when I proposed the idea. We were seated side by side, gathering pages of notes from the books laid out in front of us.

I glanced to the side, watching his scrunched eyebrows carefully looking through everything. Perhaps, it wouldn't hurt for me to play a little prank.

"Wait! Don't start that chapter yet," I whispered.

"Why?" he asked, opening his water bottle for a drink.

"Varun wants to join us for that."

I quickly stifled a laugh as he nearly choked on his water in response. "You good, Vihaan? What's wrong?"

He raked a hand through his hair, hiding the frustration in his face. "Y-yeah! Fine fine. Perfectly fine, in fact."

It didn't take long to comprehend the sarcasm. And it didn't take long to miss hearing an annoyed mutter of "I swear he's such a leech."

A gloomy mood took over him, as he roughly grabbed a pencil off the table. Too gloomy that I couldn't continue the prank anymore.

"I'm joking."

"What seriously?!" he turned around, a bit too excited.

"Yeah."

"Oh thank God - Jiya, don't traumatize me like that."

At this point, I couldn't hold in my laugh and burst out laughing. Vihaan, slightly irritated, covered my mouth to muffle my sounds. I could feel his cold ring on the tip of my lips and traced his hand back up to his face. I reached my hand up to pull his hand away and saw his eyes soften as he pulled away.

"So, Chapter 23? Without Varun?" he asked and I nodded, unable to form words at the moment.

We continued to study, going over various topics and clearing each other's doubts and questions.

"So what does 'x' stand for in this formula?" I asked, trying to search for my corresponding notes.

"Let me just search it really quick," Vihaan answered, as he pulled out his phone.

I continued to look for my notes until I heard a soft click from my left side. Turning my head slightly, I looked at Vihaan but he was busy looking up the answer. Going back to what was in front of me, once again I heard a click. Then another. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the camera slyly pointed at me.

In an instance, I reached out and snatched the phone from Vihaan's hands, with raised eyebrows.

"Hey-" he was cut off as I interjected.

"And what do you think you are doing, mister?"

Vihaan

I reached for the phone, my objective to snatch it back, but she moved her hand further away from me.

"C'mon Jiya, just give it back. I was just playing around. C'mon..."

She shook her head, denying my request, and continued to pull the phone further out of my reach, tossing it from one hand to the other. My fear wasn't that she would drop this expensive phone, rather that she would see the unlocked home screen. Suddenly, she got up and started speed walking towards the bookcase, flashing a sly smile back at me.

So this is how it is, huh? You just wait, Jiya.

I raised an eyebrow back at her, accepting her childish challenge, and got out of my seat to follow her. She disappeared between the bookcases and I scanned my eyes for her as I went through them.