Poles Apart

Chapter Five

"What's up with him?" I ask Avni.

She shrugs with an eye-roll. "Like I should know."

"On the bright side," I start cheerfully. "You might attract dance partners now."

She raises intertwined fingers. "Fingers crossed."

I chuckle at that. "You could ask someone, too," I suggest.

She sniffles and wipes off a non-existent tear, quite dramatically. "I can't handle rejection." She sniffles again.

I shake my head at her drama. A few minutes later, as Avni and I talk about random things, a new voice interrupts our conversation. "Hi," the boy says nervously. The same guy from the Sangeet practice. I later learned that his name is Nandith. He glances at me nervously, but his eyes are trained on Avni.

I squeeze Avni's palm, letting her know that I'm leaving and throw a warning glance at Nandith before leaving.

Why do I always get left alone like this?

"Arvi," I hear someone call me.

I look in the direction of the voice to see Pranathi Vadina's elder sister, Keerthi. I smile at her. "Hey, Keerthi." She waves me over, so I walk over to her. With her pregnancy glow and the huge smile on her face, she looks more than beautiful. I guess it is in the Kona genes.

I notice her husband Vinesh on her side, and greet him too, "Hey."

He responds with a smile and raised glass.

"Why aren't you two dancing?" I ask them, cocking my head to the dance floor.

"We came back since I was feeling tired." I guess pregnancy does that to you. "Why aren't you dancing, though?" she throws at me.

I smile nervously, almost predicting what would come next. "I'm not much of a dancer." Well, not much of a dancer in public.

"Like heck, you are not," she dismisses. "I saw you dance, and you were amazing," she regards. I am not quite sure I want to take that compliment. Especially now.

Her eyes train on something behind me and before I can say anything, she ambles off in that direction leaving me and her husband in a curious silence but not before ordering me to, "Stay here."

I'm not sure I want to get on the bad side of a pregnant lady. I've heard all about the mood swings. I look at Vinesh, silently asking if he knows what she's up to but he shakes his head at me.

I turn around when I hear an all-too-familiar voice. "Keerthi, what are you doing?" I hear Arjun ask his cousin.

She pays no heed to his protests. "Go dance, you two," she orders. Arjun's gaze settles on me and I try to look anywhere but him, but the knowledge of his eyes trained on me is enough to make my face heat up.

I look at Vinesh for help, but he only shakes his head helplessly. I look at Keerthi, silently asking her to reconsider. I really don't want to dance. She looks back at me stubbornly, not backing down.

Sighing, I walk with Arjun to the dance floor. "Your mother was looking for you," I tell him, trying not to feel awkward.

He hums in response as he places one hand on my bare waist and holds my hand with the other. Warmth spreads from his hand onto my skin. He doesn't move his hand and I don't ask him to.

"You look beautiful," he whispers softly with a smile that makes my heart flutter. His smile does look beautiful.

The compliment catches me off-guard. Of all the people in the hall, Arjun is one person that I did not expect would compliment me. "Th-thank you," I fumble out, stuttering. Get yourself together, Arvi. What the heck? My face heats up even more in embarrassment as if it weren't red enough.