• AdiYa FF ~ The Hookup •

• Chapter 4(A) •

He realised he was going on and on about it and if he was being completely honest to himself, it felt good to let it all out. He told the waiter to continue with the margaritas as he closed his eyes trying to control himself from breaking down over how his marriage was faltering at every step.

"You know how it feels when something starts unraveling at the seams and you keep trying to pull it all together, but instead it just-"

"Keeps falling apart." Zoya completed his sentence and he immediately looked at her, surprised.

"Yes, I do know." He met her eyes as she said that and saw a pain akin to his. It was weird how he felt a strange connection to her. It was like they were on the same wavelength and for once, he didn't have to pretend that everything was fine.

"You're here alone too. What happened?" Aditya asked with genuine concern. She had listened to him and given him an ear to let out his misery among all of these party animals he couldn't care less about and the least he could do for her was, listen.

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"So that leaves me here- sitting with you as I share my agony in the most dramatic way possible."

Zoya dragged at her words as she spoke. She had lost count of how many margaritas she had had and she was pretty sure she wasn't in her senses. It had been over an hour of her and Aditya talking to each other and they had spent a lot of time in between just saying, "hmm" and dragging it because they were too intoxicated to speak actual words. She had finally completed her end of the story describing her fight with Yash and even though Aditya's story had barely taken a minute and hers had obviously taken much longer, everything was out in the open now.

Aditya started laughing as he spoke, "I can't believe your husband abandoned you at this party." It was unusual that she wasn't taking any offence to that statement and a lot of it probably had to do with the fact that they were both sailing in the same boat.

"Hey... your wife abandoned you too, okay? Shut up." She smacked his arm slightly and started laughing. She missed his arm and nearly fell when Aditya caught her at the last minute by gripping her shoulders. He handled her up and they looked at each other with wide eyes  before bursting into intoxicated giggles.

There was just something about Aditya that made him so easy to talk to. Zoya had been able to connect with him within minutes of them talking and she hadn't felt that with anyone before. It was like, he just got what she was going through and she appreciated that. He wasn't pitying her, he was just... being there for her.

People had come earlier to congratulate Aditya and to ask him to cut the cake and he had politely told them that party was pretty much over since Pooja hadn't come. Zoya wanted to give him a big tight hug when he had to deal with all of that but let that thought go.

"Man... I don't know what I'm going to do about my marriage." Aditya looked at Zoya with nothing but honesty in his eyes. She looked at him, not knowing what would be the right thing to say and simply laid her head on his shoulder. She felt him rest his head on top of hers and her drowsy self just wanted to sleep right there. Her eyes were closed and she had no idea of what was going on around her, at that point and she just spoke whatever came first to her.
"It's okay to not know, sometimes. Some... sometimes, the heart..." She lost track of what she was going to say and just let out a sigh.

"doesn't know what it wants." Yes, she wanted to high-five him at understanding what she was going to say before she said it but didn't have the energy to do so. On the contrary to the popular, 'the heart wants what it wants,' Zoya felt that both of them were walking the fine line of wanting to keep their marriage alive and also just taking a break from the despair.
She heard Aditya laugh a little before he said, "let's get you home. They're wrapping up all the arrangements now."

"Yeah, Zoya was barely able to say that. "I'll call my driver."

Adotya immediately held his head up and Zoya removed her head from his shoulder, not expecting his abrupt movement.

"Are you crazy? It's not safe."

"Funny. My husband didn't consider that." She laughed as she sipped her margarita.

"I'll drive you."

She looked up at him with a quirked brow almost asking him if he was serious.

"No drinking and driving. How come you don't know that?! Ha, I knew you rented this pilot costume. No pilot is this irresponsible."

"Ouch!" Aditya placed his hands on his heart acting like he had just been shot by her offensive statement. "I am an actual pilot, Zoya. I wore it today because it annoys my wife when I wear it outside work because she thinks I don't take it seriously. I just wanted to tease her since she has, after all, been my best friend all my life."

Zoya heard his tone become heavier as he started talking about his wife. She wasn't surprised that Pooja felt that way because for as long as she had known Pooja, her attitude towards her work had been very serious and when it came to work, she was a bundle of morals.

"Well, I think it's kind of sexy." Zoya continued to sip on her margarita as she also continued to speak the first thing that popped in her head.

"Thank you for boosting my ego before I call it a night." She had caught the site of his slight smile before he said that.

"So you're-" Before she could complete saying that he was abandoning her too, just like Yash did, Aditya spoke something that genuinely made her admire him even more.

"Come on, you can stay in the guest room for the night." Zoya smiled like an idiot when she heard that he wasn't actually abandoning her and she wouldn't have to take the trouble of getting her tipsy self to home this late in the night.

Aditya supported Zoya by placing his hand on her upper back as she got down the bar stool along with him. He was still smiling from the inside at her comment of him being sexy in his pilot uniform. It pleased and he couldn't place his finger on the exact reason, why. 

They walked together, almost tripping over but Aditya managed to handle both himself and his newfound friend till inside his house by letting Zoya keep her arm around his shoulders and constantly supporting her from behind. 

It was nice having Zoya around and after a long time, it just felt really easy to talk to someone. He had let all his bars down while talking to her and he didn't regret it one bit. He didn't know why they were able to become friends so quickly and the strangest part was that calling her a 'friend' just didn't seem right at all.       

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