The next day, I prepared a list of necessities for my art class and went downstairs to find Aarav in the living room with Vihaan, both chatting. I took a seat on the couch as I greeted them.
"I need to buy supplies for my art class. Can you help me?" I asked Aarav. He frowned, not liking the idea, and before Aarav could reject me, my aunt spoke as she heard us, "Help her. Go out and have fun. How can you guys sit at home during the holidays? However, you guys will get busy once college starts." She said, standing behind me.
"Sure, mom," Aarav replied, and both the boys went to his room to get changed.
They returned to the living room a few minutes later, where an aunt and I conversed about random things. She gave us extra money to buy something for ourselves, which we took and left.
We went to the nearby mall for shopping. I found stationery and picked up the supplies while the boys looked around the shop. We paid for the things and walked out. Later, we found a bakery that had some mouth-watering pastries on display. I asked Aarav if we could go there, and he instantly agreed since he also has a sweet tooth like me. We walked inside, and I saved seats at a table while they both walked to the counter to order. They returned with our order, and Aarav placed my favorite strawberry pastry before me. It looked so yummy. I smiled at Aarav, "I wondered if you still remember my favorites."
"How can I forget? You were always stubborn to buy your favorite things," Aarav said teasingly.
I chuckled at him and started enjoying my dessert. Aarav left to get some pastries for others at home. Vihaan also resigned, saying he forgot something, leaving me alone with my heavenly food. As I finished eating, I waited for them outside, watching around.
Vihaan returned in a few minutes with something packed in his hand. He gave it to me, "It's for you." I was surprised. I slowly opened the packet, saw a pack of oil-based paints, and gazed at him as he spoke, "You liked it back at the store, so I thought of buying it for you."
I was shocked to receive his gift since we barely knew each other. "Let's be friends," he said out of nowhere. I got nervous after hearing his sudden friendship proposal and felt something wrong with my heart as it pounded fast. I never imagined that he would ask me to be friends. I thought about it for a while and concluded that it would be better to get to know him more. Honestly, I was happy when he asked.
"Sure," I said with a smile. Later, Aarav returned with the packages, and we walked back home. Aarav was in front of us, on his phone, as Vihaan and I were walking behind him. I glanced at him regularly as I was thinking.
What is it that I feel for him? When we first met, even though we had a bad start, he didn't take it to heart and spoke calmly and politely. While others may get irked and stay away from me, he asked me to be friends.
Suddenly, I was reminded of the words Annie once said: friendship is the first step of love. Is it true? As I was busy with these thoughts, I slipped and was about to fall when Vihaan held my hand to steady me.
"Careful." He said anxiously.
I thanked him for helping me and walked ahead, ignoring the thumping of my heart, for which I didn't know the reason. When we reached home, I ran to my room to find Nia lounging on the bed.
She looked at me and smiled, "Have you got your stuff?" I nodded, unable to utter a word. She walked out of the room when she got a call. I fell onto the bed to relax. My mind returned to the moment he held my hand, which unknowingly made me smile.