Shay couldn't sleep that night. The weight of newfound emotions was too heavy on her mind. She stared at the faded glow worms on her bedroom ceiling for hours and drifted back to the confrontation with Aarav. Shay was losing her mind over her best friend, after all.
As if on a cue, her phone dinged on the nightstand. She rolled to her side, picked it up, and felt her heart do a backflip when Aarav's name popped on the screen. Swallowing the excitement creeping into her heart, she opened the text message.
Aarav: I'm sorry.
He sent her just two words, but they spoke ample. Shay knew he was wallowing in guilt by now. Otherwise, he would never send her an apology. Aarav would break hearts and even burn bridges but never apologize until he was miserable enough. But somehow, those two words made her angry all over again. I'm sorry. Is that all he could say after avoiding her multiple text messages and calls? Her fingers tightened around the phone in her hand as she cursed through her gritted teeth. After taking deep breaths for a few seconds, she finally texted a reply.
Shay: Where are you?
The response came at lightning speed.
Aarav: At the dock.
Shay chewed on her bottom lip and took a peek at the clock. It was 3:00 AM. Too early for a morning walk and too late for going to bed. With Aarav's image running in her mind, falling back to sleep was out of the scenario.
Shay slid off the bed, changed into her comfy sweatpants and a hoodie, then headed out. With her father out of town for a legal proceeding and her mom pulling a night shift at the office, she didn't have to worry about them.
Her heartbeat picked up an uneven rhythm as she descended the stairs, stepped out through the back door of her house quietly, and walked over to the Tripathi Villa. She paused abruptly at the mouth of the cobbled pathway that led towards the dock, but proceeded anyway.
The cool breeze brushed her cheeks and streamed through her loose strands as she reached the waterfront. She spotted Aarav lying on the worn wooden surface of the dock, with his hands under his head, facing the silver glittery sky and a bottle of Jack beside him. She veered towards him, stepping into his line of sight, and looked down at him. Her hands turned slick with sweat as his midnight black eyes blinked, landing on her from the starry sky.
"You should be sleeping," Aarav said in his deep liquor-induced voice, a ghost of a smile appearing on his lips. He pulled himself into a sitting position and watched Shay with curious eyes. She settled beside him without an answer. Their shoulders brushed as he lifted the bottle of Jack to his lips. He took a long sip, then handed it to her.
Aarav released a low laugh as her face twisted with the smell of the liquor. If her father found them drinking at the Tripathi dock, it would mean never hanging out with the twins again. Thank god, he was out of town. Shay needed the liquid courage in case they were to talk about their feelings for each other.
"Cheers to underage drinking!" She smiled, taking a confident swig from the bottle. The burning effect of whiskey rolling through her throat made her choke. As she started rasping and coughing, Aarav took the bottle from her hand and reached to his other side for a bottle of water.
"I should've warned you," Aarav murmured, brushing away a strand of hair from her forehead and tucking it behind her ear. His fingertips were warm as the summer breeze but electrified every cell of her body. The butterflies were new, and so were the sparks shooting through her veins. She shouldn't feel that way for the boy who had been with her all her life. They had seen each other through their best and their worst.
Shay startled at the sudden effect of their proximity, gulping down a mouthful of water. Her heart pounded in her chest when his fingers remained entangled in her hair, twirling them and gazing down at her face, then her throat, tracing the movement as she drank.
Shay wanted to be reasonable, but her heart betrayed her as her eyes moved to the cut on his bottom lip, a reminder of why he had picked up a fight with Ivan.
As Aarav took the empty bottle from her hand, she stole another gaze at his face. His face looked calmer than Shay last saw when he stormed out of the house earlier. He was taking deep, ragged breaths, and she knew he was feeling it too.
Her mouth suddenly felt dry, and she ran her tongue over her chapped lips. When Aarav followed the movement of her lips with desperate eyes, she realized it was a bad idea. They were doomed.
"Aarav, I-" Shay began, but her voice came out as a mere whisper. Aarav was already pulling himself away from her. He gave her the chance to breathe something other than his earthly cologne and unique scent. She wasn't unfamiliar with his scent. It was her favorite, a potent elixir that calmed her nerves every single time except at this moment. It was driving her crazy.
Once again, he lay on the dock with his gaze back on the sky as he released a trembling breath. Shay collected her loose strands to one side and mirrored his position. They stayed like that for a few long minutes before Aarav finally rolled to his side, and glanced at her, making her nerves go wild again.
"Shay," his voice sounded breathless as he looked into her eyes intensely. "I'm sorry for behaving like a total caveman today. If you love-If you like Ivan, I have no right to beat him up for that. So, if you're angry, I'm sorry. It's just that when I saw him holding your hand, I lost my mind. I just can't-"
"You just can't do what, Aarav?" Shay turned to her side, looking nervously at his face.
"I can't stand seeing you holding hands with anyone but me." He squeezed his eyes, angry veins running the length of his neck. "I couldn't let him take you out on a date, then picture him kissing you. I couldn't handle it." He groaned, falling back on the dock, scrubbing his face and stabbing his hands in his hair. "It-it drove me mad. I lost all my reasonings and - and, I was possessive, jealous, angry, and so very hurt, Shay. A voice kept repeating in my head that you're mine, Shay's mine. It was confusing but so strong, and before I knew it, I knocked him on the face. I can't picture you with him, Shay."
"Me neither." Her lips moved on their own, and before she knew it, her fingers ran over Aarav's tense jaw. "I didn't think about these things when Ivan asked me out. Because I've never considered the possibility of you and me. But now as I think about it, you're damn right. I can't picture myself with him, either."
"So, you don't like Ivan?" He frowned.
Shay shook her head. "I don't like him."
Aarav held her retreating fingers, his lips tugging upwards in a grin. "I guess I should apologize for giving him a black eye then."
"Yeah, you should." Shay chuckled, pulling her fingers free from his grasp and trying to distract him from the fact that she was flustered. It didn't work.
"Are you blushing, Shay?" Aarav chuckled back at her, rakish and mischievous.
Oh, god, his eyes spoke trouble.
"Stop messing with me, Aarav Tripathi." Shay leaned forward to glare at his grinning face and that was a mistake. Because now they were close, so close that his breath was hot on her face. She looked up and Aarav's eyes were just a centimeter from her. She could hear his rough breaths when his fingers touched the side of her face. Shay stopped breathing as he brushed her hair behind her ear, his eyes taking a slow, lingering peek at her lips. And Shay couldn't focus on anything but his fingers in her hair, his fiery gaze on her mouth, his tongue tip running over his lower lip. Suddenly, he wasn't the little boy she'd grown up with but a young man who was looking at her as if she was the most beautiful girl in the world.
Electricity surged through her veins, causing her eyes to shut, shock dragging a gasp through her mouth as Aarav placed his warm lips on her cheek for a quick kiss. The sudden affection was not new for Shay. But somehow, after Ryan so openly revealed how Aarav felt for her, Aarav's touch was ten times more intense.
"Breathe, Shay," Aarav mumbled against her cheek, too close but not touching. He had a smug grin plastered on his lips but somehow Shay wasn't so mad at his cockiness. Instead, she wanted to feel the burning effect of his lips again. What was that new feeling?
Aarav was breathing sharply. Shay looked up, and his face was just an inch away from touching her cheeks. Her fingers reached for his face. And before she could stop herself, her fingers brushed over the cut on his bottom lip.
"Does it hurt?" Her eyes glazed over his lips with concern.
"It doesn't hurt as much as you holding someone else's hand, Shay. Not as much as someone else touching you." His voice was all too deep and close. His breath was hot on her neck.
All Shay could think was his built athletic frame, his fiery lips on her skin and his erratic heartbeats against her side, and his fingers sifting through her hair. She wanted those to belong to her. Shay wanted Aarav to belong to her, in that moment and all the moments after that, forever.
So, she let her hands move to the back of his head and pulled his mouth to her lips. Electricity surged through her every nerve ending as a shocked gasp escaped his mouth before it accepted her invitation, delving deeper with untamed need.
Shay was kissing Aarav, and she had never felt something like that ever before.
Her heart thrashed against her ribcage with each sweep of his tongue as he parted her lips with a mere nudge, framing her face with his trembling hands. Aarav tasted like raw whiskey, midnight dreams, and tears - she didn't know whose tears they were. Because both of them were crying. He kissed her like liquid promises of togetherness, a soul-deep connection, and she kissed him like the last breath of oxygen to survive.
A smile danced across her lips as he teased her with a scrape of his teeth, and she tasted his blood from his split lip. But none of them were pulling away, kissing until they were gasping for breath, still too scared to let go of the moment, too desperate for it to last forever.
This moment between us, I will preserve. Nothing can replace the feel of your touch, not in this lifetime. I promise you half of my soul while keeping the other half for myself. Shay thought and tapped his nape lightly.
"Aarav, this is my first kiss. I'm so happy it was you." She murmured against his lips, running her nose over his wet cheek while letting her fingers sink into the midnight locks of his hair.
"Shay," he breathed, his flushed cheeks and swollen lips warming her heart. "It was my first kiss, too." He declared, then pressed a sweet lingering kiss on her forehead before pulling away.
His phone vibrated in his jeans pocket, breaking their small bubble and making Shay mourn their loss of touch.
He stared at the screen with concern etched on his otherwise happy face. "It's Ryan. He won't sleep until he's sure I'm doing fine." Aarav ran his knuckles on her cheekbones, a soft smile breaking past his lips. "Ryan would be so shocked if we told him about us."
"This changes everything, right?" Shay asked, a deep shade of red adorning her cheeks.
"Nothing changes except that you're bound to me forever." Aarav's hands felt like home when he pulled her towards his chest, letting their hearts synchronize.
Shay could do anything to keep him close, wanting him to be her forever. Aarav looked like her lucky star, fallen just for her as she watched his gorgeous face under the moonlight.
***
AUTHOR'S NOTE
This chapter has a special place in my heart because moments like this will always be too painful to forget! If you are enjoying it, please add your comments and votes. They always motivate me to write further. I'll be updating this story twice a week, but I'm not giving up.
Do you think Aarav and Shay are forever?