Invisible String

the string grows stronger

19th April 2023

(Aabha)

"I mean, if he wanted to ghost, why'd he text in the first place? He could've even ghosted me earlier. Why now? Why now when things actually started getting better." I ranted to Yahvi while eating my burger.
I had come to her house after class to help her bake a cake for her mom's birthday.
"You've got a point. I don't understand guys. But never mind now, he's gone. You got your answer." She said.
I nodded my head and sipped some Frooti.
The oven bell dinged indicating that the cake was done.
"Common, let's go make some buttercream and decorate the cake. It'll take your mind off the drama."
We talked, and laughed, and got covered in powdered sugar over the next hour.
"Thanks for helping with the cake. I think mom's gonna love it." She said as I put on my shoes.
"Yeah, I bet she'll love it." I smiled and waved her goodbye and then walked down to the parking lot to my bike.
After getting home, the first thing I did was take a shower. No one likes feeling sticky. Please. If you do, you're weird.
When I was all freshened up, and sitting on my bed doing my homework, Arjun called on my cell.
"Hello." He said in rather a cheery tone than the usual drunk one.
"Is it your birthday?" I asked him sarcastically.
"Shush! I'm video calling you now. I need you to pick an outfit for me." He said and switched from audio call to video call.
"Why do you need me to pick an outfit? What's the occasion?" I asked him.
"I am..." He cleared his throat, "going out on a date. On the 21st of this month." He grinned widely.
"Oh my god! No, shit, seriously?" I gasped excitedly. "Wait, who was foolish enough to say yes to you."
He gave me an annoyed look.
"Look, I'll tell you who it is, but promise me you'll not get mad."
"Why would I get mad? It's not like any of my friends are gonna say yes to you." I laughed at him.
The truth was that I'd happily let one of my friends date him. Arjun was my best guy. He would always be that for me.
"That's the thing..." He sighed and said, "It's Naina." He gave me meek smile.
"NO WAY!!!" I shrieked and widened my eyes and then gave him a wide smile.
"AAA I'm so happy for you!!!"
"I can pull anyone I want." He winked at me.
"No, no. Naina is the most un-pullable individual you'll ever meet. Trust me. I don't know what you did, or said. But damn, you really got lucky." I chuckled.
"I know. I know. I'll fill you in with the rest of the details later. Now please pick one." He proceeded to show me three t-shirts which all looked like thrash.
"What were you wearing when you asked Naina out?" I asked him.
"My grey hoodie. Why?"
"She'd puke if she saw you in those clothes." I rolled my eyes, "I'll come to your place tomorrow. We'll figure something out, or go shopping or something. But please don't wear those."
"Cool. Anyways, what's up with Maanav? What'd y'all talk about after that Valentine's day question?" He lied down on his bed.
"He ghosted me." I said in a lowered voice, "That's fine though. I mean, it's not the end of the world, right?"
"It's okay to be sad." He whispered.
"Yeah. I know. You know, whenever he'd text me, it would just be him asking me what am I doing and then ending the conversation with 'yeah'. I got so sick of it. It was going nowhere anyways. And I mean, at least he..." Just as I finished saying that, a notification from Maanav popped up.

Maanav: Heyy! What's up?

"He texted, just now." I told Arjun.
"What'd he say?"
"He asked, "What's up?"" I rolled my eyes and gave a sigh, "Guys are disappointing."
"No, not all of them. Look at me. I'm not disappointing." He said in an attempt to make me laugh.
I giggled and said, "I'll just text him later when I'm ready to have the most mind-numbing conversation."
"Sure. Bye, bye. See you tomorrow." He said and hung up.

@keshahahavvv sent you a follow request.

Oh dang! His username was similar to mine. Mine was @abhahahaha. Anyways, I accepted his requested and followed him back. Good lad. Smart one.