Same Experiences

Chapter Nine

Dave

We were in my house for a friend's night and there was yet another fight going on. This time, Karan and Rey were with us too. So, I guess they were part of the group too. Rey and Karan were talking in Hindi and George was listening with all her attention on them, trying to understand what they're saying. It was a new way of her learning the language, she had learnt a lot, had been learning the last few years. She could almost have a good conversation in Hindi, that I could say.

I just navigated in Netflix and stopped on Lucifer. I just clicked on play and all chatter died down as everyone watched the screen. I watched as George got up to go to the dining room to order food. I gave her an irritated glance as she sat down beside me. "I would've ordered it," I whispered into her ear. She looked at me and smiled, silently saying that it's fine.

And in that moment in the TV's light, I noticed too many things about her. She had freckles on her forehead and some on her nose, the way the smile lit up her eyes and how relaxed she was beside me. She turned her eyes back to the screen and I did the same thing but my mind was on the freckles.

How had I not noticed that? Those little brown dots on her forehead and some on her nose. And then what about her eyes? Those grey forest eyes. It had always looked like there were grey clouds above a green forest. And now, I noticed that lightning crashed at the forest when there was a spark in her eyes.

It seemed like I was seeing George in a new light. Till now I'd seen her as just my best friend. But just at that moment, I saw someone else.

I saw a beautiful woman. I saw a hardworking woman, who didn't sleep much. A proud woman, who was obsessed with not asking for help. But above all, I saw the tinge of pain, which, as I realised always had been there. Something had always been there, something that she hadn't told any of us.

Something she hadn't told me. And for some reason, I needed to know. I needed to know what was bothering her. I wanted her eyes to filled with just happiness. Pure, unadulterated happiness.

The ringing of the doorbell got me back to reality. After getting our specific pizza boxes, I pressed play again and we all got to eating. George and my pizza had pineapples as a topping, something we proudly loved. The others didn't mind, but if someone else said a word about it, they'd jump to our defence.

I ate all the pizza, except for the ring around it. I gave the rings to George, who thought that I hated it. I loved it, I just liked to give it to her because in my opinion, she loved it more.

I collected all the boxes and stood up to go to the bin, which prompted a lot of noise from the others. I laughed as I threw all of it in the bin. George came behind and I gave her a side glance as I washed my hands. I finished and turned to see her almost falling on me because of sleep. I caught her shoulders, which woke her up. She shook her head, yawning and put some soap on her hands as she rubbed it all over her hands.

"I guess you haven't been sleeping that much?" I asked. She shrugged a shoulder and yawned again. I shook my head with a sigh and went back to watch the show. George sat back down beside me, her head resting on my shoulder.

We always used to watch the show well into the night. But at that time, we had the willpower to stay awake, to fight sleep. But now, Linda and Lucian went to her and my room. Karan's head was resting on the crook of Brent's neck, while Brent's head was tipped back to the edge of the sofa, snoring loudly. Lucy, who was sitting beside Brent, had her legs on Brent's thighs, her feet on Karan's thighs as she mumbled in her sleep. Rey who was on the other side, had her head on the handle of the sofa, with her legs dangling from the sofa.