I tossed and turned in my bed, trying not to think of what possible trouble Abhimanyu and Reet could be getting themselves into. Now that I was home and finally had a moment to think about my actions, I realized I had been a terrible host to Abhimanyu tonight.
I was the one who had invited him to come bowling with me and I had spent over half the ignoring him. Where were my manners?!
My phone chimed and the screen lit up to show messages from both Abhimanyu and Reet incoming at the same time.
You home? I felt butterflies rise in my stomach at the concern in Abhimanyu's message.
Yes, you? I typed quickly before laying the phone on my chest.
My phone dinged again.
Same. Just got home. About to sleep.
Same. Have to be at work by 10. My boss hates it when I'm late. He's quite peculiar about time you see ;P
Yes, I've heard he's quite a hardass ;)
A giggle escaped my mouth as his little winking smiley emoji. The man knew I hated how strict he was. Almost like an army cadet.
I thought about what to type next before finally answering back with: He needs to chill for a bit, don't you think?
Yes., I agree. But I'm sure he's trying his best.
I was smiling like an idiot over our text conversations. Why was conversing with him so effortless sometimes?
Okay, now I have to sleep. For real this time. Goodnight.
I pressed the phone to my chest, waiting eagerly for his reply.
Goodnight, Akshara.
I turned my phone off and pressed it to my chest as in what felt like ages, I fell asleep with a wide hearty smile on my face.
~*~
I awoke to the constant buzzing sound of my phone blowing up. In half a state of drowsiness, I checked my messages to see I had received about a dozen messages from Reet.
I opened up her text messages to see them half be just random gibberish and half be about...Abhimanyu.
Homeeeee!
OMG Aksh! He's so hot! So freaking hot! And he smelled soo good!
Akshhhhhh. I would let him check me out any freaking day of the week!
Wake up! I have to talk to you!! Answer me!
Did you feel something brewing between Abhimanyu and me? Did you?! Because I freaking did! He held my hand and showed me how to bowl! It was soo hot and sensuous AKSHARA! Soo hot!
Do you think he felt it too?! The connection?!
Do you think he liked me?!
And on and on and on. I still had about a dozen more text messages from Reet. All regarding Abhimanyu.
A petty part of me did not want to respond to any of those messages. But the other, more calm, composed and rational part of me told me that I would be acting like the other definition of the female dog if I didn't respond.
Okay, okay! I'm awake. And oooooh...you found Abhimanyu hot?! I texted, trying to feign enthusiasm even though I felt anything but.
Finally! You're awake. And not just hot, super hot!
I could just picture Reet fantasizing her perfect fairytale where she as the princess and he was the prince.
My phone dinged again.
I think I really like him. Like really really like him. I think we also connected you know. It's hard to explain but I felt a spark there!
Lord help me. I looked around my room to see if there was something I could potentially use to hang myself from. So that at least I wouldn't have to read Reet fawn over Abhimanyu.
Oh did you?! Nice!
Someone stab me in the chest right now!
Nice?! Just nice?! Akshara do you think he also felt it too?! What I felt?
I don't know. I'm not Abhimanyu so I can't speak for him.
But you know him! You know how he is. Find out naa...please? For me?!
Find out what? If he likes you?!
My patience was wearing thin. But thank god that annoyance and anger didn't transfer over text as easily as it did over voice calls.
Yes! Or maybe...maybe if he'd like to go out for dinner sometime...
Dinner?! You mean just the two of you?
A low growl was starting to bubble up inside my chest.
Obviously! Like a date. Ask him okay?! And let me know!
Why don't you ask him? We're not teenagers anymore. I typed, accusingly.
Please!! Pretty please! For me?!
I took a deep breath to calm myself down, before I typed my last message. The one I hoped I wouldn't regret in the coming days.
Okay. I'll see what I can do.
OMG! You're the best! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Np :)
A good friend. I had to remind myself that I had to be a good friend to Abhimanyu AND Reet. The devil on my shoulder told me to just lie to Reet and tell her that Abhimanyu declined the date and did not feel a life altering connection with her that she felt for him.
But again, the rational side of me, the side that was the torch bearer of all things good and pure argued what if he did feel something for Reet too?! And I knowingly was the wicked witch of the west responsible for separating them. No. I couldn't ever imagine myself as the villain in someone else's love story.
So I, Akshara Goenka decided to to what any rational human being would do in my situation. I decided that I was going to ignore both Reet and Abhimanyu in the coming days and hope that this was just a bad nightmare that I would wake up from, soon. Yes. That is exactly what I was going to do.
~*~
My plan to ignore Abhimanyu and Reet worked perfectly until I got onto the elevator at work and realized I had to report to Abhimanyu about updates regarding my —sorry his —patients for the day.
So all in all, my plan worked for a solid 2 hours before it all went down the drain. And not to mention Reet had been constantly texting me —blowing up my phone every chance she got asking me if I had had a chance to talk to him yet or not.
I paused in front of Abhimanyu's cabin, my hands clamping up refusing to knock on the door. I took a few deep breaths trying to fight my flight instinct before I gathered courage to knock.
As my hand stretched forward to knock on the door, his cabin door opened and Abhimanyu rushed out, frantically, almost knocking me over.
"Abhi..."
"Not now Akshara, I got called in to an emergency." And he was out of my sight without any further warning.
I frowned. Well. This made my life way easier. Now I didn't have to see him at all. Back to the original plan of action. Mission Ignore Abhimanyu and Reet into Oblivion.
~*~
I had been to successfully ignore Abhimanyu for an entire two days until the time I hadn't. The clock was about to strike 6pm on the Friday evening when I got paged into his office.
"You called for me?" I quipped, trying to remain as calm as possible.
"Ah yes, Akshara. How are my patients doing? Any new updates?" He asked, glancing at me briefly before turning his attention back to the Dr. Rohan, the intern standing by his chair.
I shook my head, innocently. "Nope. Everything is going smoothly." I watched as he flicked through the files before handing the file back to Rohan, bidding him to leave.
"Goodbye sir, Akshara." Dr. Rohan greeted before taking his leave.
"Can I leave too?" I asked, once the silence had started setting in. Especially when neither of us had made the effort to speak.
He looked up at me, his posture sturdy and his eyes focused solely on me. "Did I do something wrong Akshara?"
My brows furrowed in nervousness. "What? No! Why would you think that?"
"Because I see that you've been avoiding me for the past 2 days." His eyes stared right through me, daring me to try to look away from his unwavering gaze.
I shook my head. "No, nothing like that. You had been out of your cabin the few times I visited so I just slid my therapy notes under the door for you. As to not disturb you." I lied.
And the worst part was that I knew Abhimanyu was aware that I was lying. The way he was looking at me, sternly, doubtfully, with uncertainty. Disappointed. There was no way that he didn't know that I was lying. Straight to his face. Without hesitation.
I needed to find myself a bucket of water and drown myself in it. Because now I just looked like a lying idiot. Making me a no better friend to Abhimanyu than his cheating ex and his so-called best friend. And I couldn't do that. I couldn't break his trust.
"Fine. You may leave then." His tone was sharp, curt. Yes. He was mad. Very mad.
This was bad. Very, very, very bad. Here goes nothing. I took a single deep breath, inhaled, "Reetlikesyouandwantstoknowifyouwouldwanttogoonadatewithher," and exhaled.
There. I said it. Now it was on him to understand it.
He looked up at me, surprised, as if someone had just dropped a 50 pound boulder on him. "What? What did you say?"
Crap! Now I was going to have to say all that again?