"Hey, I'll just go to the washroom, hm.", Neel said and went up to the door which was in the opposite direction of washroom, but, Abhro being deeply engrossed in study didn't even notice this fact. Neel opened the door and let in Shubhang, Harsh and Sakshar. They walked silently on their toes following Neel, who quickly stood behind Abhro and wrapped his neck with his arms, while resting his chin on his head. Neel bent forward in a way to kiss when suddenly Shubhang came and blindfolded Abhro. He threw his feet frantically while his hands were being handcuffed right after.
"What the fuck are y'all up to?" Abhro said, almost yelling.
" Nothing much. We've planned a little surprise. Well, happy birthday, sweetheart!" Sakshar told while ruffling Abhro's cushiony hair.
Shubhang wished by smothering kisses all across his face. Harsh pulled Abhro's cheeks and played with them for a while babying a 19 year old fine ass grown up man. Neel watched everything like a proud dad.
"Where's the big doe-eyed dickhead?" Abhro asked referring to Nishant.
" He's rizzing with his new chick" Shubh answered." You see his chicks change every week." Abhro nodded in agreement. "Oh there he is!", Neel said.
"Happy Birthday circle circle", the hyped boy of the squad said to announce his arrival. "Thank you, but, why 'circle circle'" Abhro said in a curious tone. " Look, oh, you're blindfolded so you can't see, nevermind, listen up. Your pet name is Gogol which is homophonic to GolGol which translates in English to "circle circle". Simple, right? As of now, Harsh, free his hand and lemme give him his present." His obedient younger brother did as he was instructed. Nishant took the sling of the bag and put it on Abhro's shoulder and opened his blindfold. The birthday boy squealed out of rhapsody.
"Good lord! It's the same guitar which I had shown Neel so many months ago! Oh my- thank you so much guys. This is absolutely overwhelming." Abhro began tearing up already but continued unpacking the guitar from the bag and caressing every edge on it, "You know, on my 5th birthday, my dad had bought me a lil acoustic guitar. It was because of him, I learnt to play it and soon grew fond of it. But it's the first time he's not there beside me on my birthday." He looked up to his friends and asked benignly, "Can we facetime him please?" How could someone deny those watery puppy boba eyed 5 year old kid trapped in a 19 year old man.
Everyone pat his back, or brushed their fingers through his hair, gave him forehead kisses or rubbed his palm to stop the tears from flowing out of eyes. No one can deny how much his heart longed to see his father more than his desire for the guitar.
Abhro called up his father and introduced his friends to him. Nishant's bubbly mischievous character developed a great bond with the middle aged man who loved kids around him. They cleared off the study table and placed the cake on it, lighting up the candles of 1 and 9.
Shubhang whispered in Abhro's ears teasingly with a smirk, "It's a blueberry cake. You know right, blueberries are well famous aphrodisiacs. Also, it's similar to your boyfriend's name." Abhro nudged him with his elbow making him let out an "ouch" sound.
Everyone was enjoying so much during the whole time. Their faces were brighter than the full moon and the black veil sprinkled with diamond like sparkling glitters like sky together. Their laugh had the joy as that of an infant without any woes. Their hearts were sewed with one unbreakable string which was to last till infinity.
After everything was done, Sakshar told, "Guys I'm so sorry but can I leave? I, um, you see, have a date tonight. This is the first date I'm ever going to and I'm hella nervous and I don't wanna be late too."
"Don't be so reluctant, brother. You can definitely ask my big bro for more dating tips. Be yourself. Be confident. That's all. You'll have an amazing night ahead. All the best!" Harsh replied while patting his back to comfort and reassure him.
"I'll take my leave, by your leave, in that case. Happy Birthday once again!" Sakshar hugged Abhro and went out.
"Jerks, lend me your ears! It's sharp 8 now. The FL shop is 20 minutes away when slow walking but brisk walking will take hardly 12 minutes. The hostel gates close at 11. There's a solitary hill nearby. It's all on me as a treat for this grandeur surprise. So let's get going?" Abhro said with his utmost excitement and ecstasy.
Everyone gave out a loud cheer and set out on their booze night out after locking their rooms.
They did as per plan and began climbing the hill with their respective bottles of rum, vodka, whiskey and spirytus.
They settled themselves down in round-dewy-grass bottoms up party. They pured their drinks in their glasses after they filled them with the ice cubes from the ice box. "Nish, dilute your drink. It's too strong. You might pass out after just one peg.", Neel, the drink expert after Nish, warned.
"Guys, let's play a game. I'll be the host and you'll the participants in two teams, which I guess is very obvious- Neel and Abhro in team 1 and Nish and Harsh in team 2. So the game is named, 'Expose your ass with expensive booze'. It will have 2 rounds. Round 1- expose your teammate and round 2 will be exposing yourself or rather confessing. In each round, I will be giving categories under which your exposure must be in. And at the end, I, the host, will confess all my truths with respect to all the categories given to y'all. And you need to continue drinking throughout the game. Sounds nice?" Shubhang said like a man with the seriousness of a History professor at day and buffy big dick daddy at night.
Everyone drank up their first peg to mark the commencement of the game.
"Round 1. Category 1 - sex life/ sex education"
" Gogol asked me in 7th grade "what is fingering" during physics class which I knew since 5th grade."
" Harsh promised himself that he won't ever fap until he cracked NEET and he really sticked to his promise."
" I see, Harsh is actually THE SAINT in our group of pervs. I feel so sorry for ya, love. " Neel said while wheezing like a zebra.
" How did it feel though, saint? " Shubhang asked.
" Paradise. " answered, the saint.
" You need not bring up this song, man. Jungkook literally forgot it how? He's a 10 but he forgot this underrated gem so he's a 7. I'm so sorry ggukie. " Neel was almost about to cry.
" Don't worry bro, swifties' mommy forgot about the existence of her 9th baby. Paradise and Evermore do sit at the same table. " The swiftie representative of the squad aka today's birthday boy, said.
"For real. Anygays. Category 2 - getting caught. "
" Neel got caught smoking in his terrace by his neighbour in class 10. That was the first time his dad was about to beat the shit out of him but this cunning boy managed to escape and hid in my room on 4th floor by climbing up the pipe at freaking 3 am. We really were untamed wild animals in our adolescence lmao."
" Nish got caught watching porn in library. He got suspended for a month back then."
" Like tell me- how can identical twins be this antagonistic to each other. Your pair deserve to be preserved no shit, Sherlock." Abhro said with an amused yet baffled expression on his face.
" Category 3 - cringe choice/act "
" Gogol was a fan of Tony Kakkar. But chillax guys, it was back when his songs were nice and weren't as crap as now."
" Harsh is in love with CoHo books. I mean ewww who reads them? That's the cringest crappiest shit I've ever seen."
" Nish, don't you dare say a word about CoHo books. You know, what's the benefit of being a swiftie sho loves CoHo books? We understand love and heartbreak like no one does. Fight your shadow." Neel stood up ready to defend with swords and armours.
" Okay guys calm down. It's just a game. Chillax. Let's move on. Category 4 - first crush"
" Neel had a huge ass crush on his elder cousin brother. He was incestus as fuck during puberty."
" Nish had a crush on my only female bestie back in class 4. She hit on her right then, what a jackass."
" We really do need to capture this rare sight of Harsh cursing lmfao." Abhro said teasingly while Harsh pulled his hair as a revenge.
" I guess, the alcohol's kicking in Harsh way too much lmao. Alcohol has such a diverse effect on people, right. ", the elder twin said.
" I know, right. Okay. Round 2. Category 1 - fights on sm. "
" I, Neel Chowdhury, hereby confess that I got suspended on weverse for 5 times for saying 'BTS is gay'. Those armies seriously need to be more mature for real."
" I, Nishant Agarwal, hereby confess that I wrote an essay in the comment section of insta explaining how Taylor doesn't write songs only about her exes to fight with a dipshit."
" Category 2 - thoughts on homosexuality"
" I, Abhro Roy, hereby confess that I have never been mean and always been a safe place for all the LGBTQ+ians even before I figured out my own sexuality."
" I, Harsh Agarwal, hereby confess that I was a borderline homopbobe until Nishant came to rescue. Neel, I'm sorry, I wasn't much knowledgeable about LGBT. Please forgive me if you can."
" Hey man, it's fine. At least, you understood your mistake right, that's what matters the most." Neel hugged the philosopher guy.
" Category 3 - the worst you did out of your deteriorating mental health. Everyone of you need to answer this. Y'all are loved, okay? The order will be Gogol, Harsh, Neel, Nish. "
" The last time I attempted suicide was just the night before the NEET exam but then it dawned on me that I didn't work my ass off just to quit on the 11th hour. Moreover, dad found out too. Thanks to him otherwise I wouldn't have been celebrating my 19th birthday here with y'all."
" I would be lying if I say that I never had the urge to cut or end my life, but I had an extreme level of self control and hence I never made even a tiny cut intentionally ever since I discovered my depression."
" I had extreme anorexia in class 11. Once, dad went out for work for a week and it was then when I had planned to starve myself to death . I literally had nothing but water for straight up 7 days but then I was sick for the next two weeks though."
" I was, and still am, scared of death. The fact that I won't be able to live in this world with my family and friends haunts me every night. Yet, my mental health had reached such a low position that I couldn't help but attempt suicide. But I couldn't really do it. I cut near my left hand's vein, but couldn't cut it properly. I would say, my family has been loving me even more after that and I'm improving, truly. But that bruise is still there. I wish someone draws stars around my scars."
" Don't worry bro, you'll get your the one, when it's the time. And trust me, your stars won't bleed." The host said while comforting Nish, the ever always cheerful guy who became blue now.
"Shubh, now it's your time. Start." The birthday boy said smacking Shubhang's head.
"Okay. So I had my first erection in 5th grade while watching a sex scene in a horror movie in front of my parents. I honestly didn't know what was happening and I was so scared that I ran to my mom and told her to pray to God to bring down the ghost which possessed me. I know, I was a dumbass.
"I got caught stealing money from dad's wallet for buying cigarettes.
" I wrote the cringiest smut ever during computer class.
" I never had a crush before I got in here. Like no eyes could make me drown in that ocean until I saw Neel's. Hey man, chill. I wasn't gonna hit on you, anyways. I'm aroace, you know, right."
Everyone's jaw dropped down the slope of the hill and if what legends say is believed to be true, then those jaws were never found and the four men lived the rest of their lives jawless.
" I never went into a fight on sm.
" Be gay , prevent population explosion.
" And regarding the last category, Harsh and I sit at the same table. I never did the worst even though I had the urge to. "
" Guys I think I needa throw up. Excuse me. " Harsh ran away from them and began puking whatever he drank a while ago. His brother went along with him to pat his back and comfort him by saying, " It's okay, bro. It happens. This is the first time you're drinking and it's absolutely fine. You don't need to be embarassed. Let's go back. It's quite late too. " He poured water in Harsh's cupped palms and asked him to rinse his mouth and splash water on his face, neck and nape.
" Hey, we couldn't bottoms up the bottles. So I guess we can ask the shopkeeper to keep it in a box and tag it so that whenever we come back, we can get back to it. " Neel suggested.
" Considerate shopkeeper. " Harsh said.
" You guys go ahead. I'm coming. Abhro you can go too. I'll be right back. "
The fab five squad climbed down the hill with Harsh leaning on to his brother and Shubh and the couple holding the alcohol supplies.