Finding Love in the City

26. Heart strings

The cascading falls thundered in utter silence as the water fell feet below, hitting the cold, hard rocks. The jagged ends of the precipice seemed to have become quite smooth and curved due to the velocity with which the water smacked them. Continuously. Without respite. Home to many cliffs and waterfalls, the members of the clique found themselves gawking in awe at the majestic and rumbling Yosemite Falls.

The hike around a portion of Yosemite Valley was long-drawn and exhausting for them. Ambling through the winding, narrow, and steep slopes with no barricade on the sides, they had to be very careful with each step, for as they trod higher and deeper, the fear of injuring themselves intensified as well. Hence, they held onto each other's hands to ensure they wouldn't misstep and fall.

When the daunting hikes finally ended, they decided to find a nice site at the camping ground and despite the cold, they wished to camp outside. With their tents and supplies tucked in their vehicles, they parked their cars near their proposed site and propped two of the tents. One for the boys and the other for the girls. Bringing enough logs to last the night, Raunak struck up a match and lit the fire. Once the roaring flames sprang to life, aided by the fuel they added, all of them came to huddle around the warmth with their subs in their hands.

Akanksha proposed that they play truth and dare when huddled together in the cold, and once everyone agreed to the jolly idea, Shruti rummaged through her bag to extricate an empty plastic bottle of soda. With the entire clique sitting in a circle, the roaring fire lit at the center, the crackling of the flames resounding, the occasional chatter of the crickets, and the distant murmuring of a few people as they traversed down the slight gradient to get to their camps, Shruti spun the bottle after finding an even patch of grassy land amidst the uneven and jagged stones jutting out of the mossy forest floor.

The bottle landed in Raunak's direction, and he said, "Dare."

"I dare you to do tap dance for at least 30 seconds," Akanksha said.

Raunak stood up, chuckled, shook his head, and broke into a tap dance, only to fail and trip, falling on his butt, eliciting waves of laughter from all his friends. He could only huff and plop back at his spot, refusing to talk to his girlfriend who had been the source of his misery that evening.

The next spin landed the bottle in Abhi's direction, and he chose to speak the truth, which led to his undoing, for Shruti demanded that he tell something that he would never want her to know.

Abhi didn't wish to share, but perhaps Nandini had christened him right, for Aditya behaved like a true devil that evening.

"Oh!" He donned an almost believable, innocent expression. "I bet Abhi has told you everything and he has nothing to hide." He bit his lips to suppress a snicker. "Not even the fact that he dated your cousin back in junior year in college. Am I right, Abhi? You have told Shruti everything, right?"

Her mouth hung open at the declaration while Abhi could only shut his eyes in disbelief. A moment of stunned silence later, everyone but Shruti broke into a fit of sniggers, rolling around the floor to quell their laughter, hi-fiving each other because of the utter pallor that had spread on Abhi's cheeks and the sheer fury in his girl's eyes.

"I hate my cousin," she said, gasping. "You know she and I are mortal enemies."

Abhi cast a look of pure loathing at Aditya before scooting closer to his girlfriend. Patting her back, he said, "That's why I never told you, babe. She and I went on one date. It was horrible. She and I didn't connect, and we went our own ways."

"But Adi said you dated her," she squealed.

"It was one date." Abhi huffed. "Adi is a madman."

Aditya snorted and guffawed at his friend's condition as well as at the tears dampening Shruti's eyes. However, his smile faded when he saw Nandini grimacing at him. "What?" he said, knitting his brows.