Thanks for 5k and #26 on September 1st, 2016. It made my day! C'mon guys, together let's make Booktrovert even more successful!
Song attached: Crush by David Archuleta.
t w e l v e
[ d a n c i n g T i t a n i c ' s I r i s h d a n c e ]
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I'm a guy who reads books. Which sometimes includes Teen Fiction. Which, most of the times, deals only with the topic of love and peer pressure. So you could say I pretty much now doubted why my heart was having spasmic attacks in the presence of a certain silent girl and why my limbs always took a vacation to Hawaii whenever she was in a ten metre radius.
So that's why I was here, in front of my computer with the tab loading some really embarrassing stuff.
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My eyes trailed down ignoring my chanting but before it could see the checklist, I pressed my eyes shut.
Yeah, checklist.
For what?
Oh nothing much. Just surfing in the internet to see if I was actually suffering from the L syndrome. Looked like there were many pathetic idiots like me on planet Earth since there was so many results, so many websites for people to 'find' if they had feelings for other people.
And right now, clad in a white unbleached tee and khaki shorts, I felt like I was going on war against armoured Vikings as I contemplated whether I should man up and just go through that goddamn checklist and end this agony or if I should let nature take it's course.
And no, I wasn't talking about nature taking course with my bladder.
Pfft, too many 'nature calls' scenarios.
I ran a hand through my hair trying to decide what to do since this was disturbing my life to unimaginable levels but by the end of 'figuring the best way out,' I was messing up my hair, pulling, pushing, spinning, ruffling, matting and simply increasing my years of balding.
"Just screw everything!"
"Screw what?"
I whirled around in my revolving chair to see Yuvan stand there. He was in his sunday casuals which majority consisted of a baseball cap and shorts with any Marvel superhero tee since according to him, those T-shirts powered him during our sunday cricket matches. My eyes widened and I cursed in some... colourful words that were too bad for innocent ears as I forgot that we had a cricket match with the twelfth graders.
"Yo."
Yuvan followed my every move with his eyes as I scampered across the room trying to find any decent pants. Where the hell are laundered clothes when you need them?!
"How to know if you like someone or if you're just plain lonely," his voice read in the background and I froze.
"Dude, what the hell are you doing?!" I shouted in horror as I watched Yuvan read the contents of the tab. "This is violating the bro code!"
He gave me an unamused look. "We don't have a bro code."
"Because bro codes are meant to be unspoken!"
He shot me the unspeakable finger and started reading the contents. "Maybe it's a significant other, friend, or other person you regularly see or spend time with but you're unsure if your relationship or friendship—"
I tackled him to the ground. He tried to shove me away but I pinned him to the ground with my legs as I tried to restrain his hands. Truth be told, lover boy just looked lanky but he was quite strong and his smaller frame made wriggling and crawling away all the more easy.
"Why the eff are you freaking out?" He hissed trying to kick me off. "It's just a stupid list!"
I jumped off of him and hurried to close the tab but he yanked my left foot making me fall on him.
"Ow! You weigh like a cow!"
"That rhymed."
"You're pathetic, you dumbass."
"And so are you, now drop that death hold, maggot!"
"Never, you... you... you bumblebee!"
"So now I'm an Autobot?"
"I was talking about the bug."
"It's actually a bee, ladybug."
"Shut up, smartass!"
We rolled over and over, me trying to get up, Yuvan trying to prevent me from doing so. As we rolled around the room, we hit the wardrobe, the coffee table and almost all the furniture in the room. And somewhere in between all those bumping and bruising, we had started laughing. That drunk hyena laugh.
"Boys!" my mom's muffled yell sounded from below. "Is everything okay up there?"
"Yes!" we shouted in unison. "Just trying to dance that Irish dance from Titanic!" I continued.
There was a moment of silence and then I heard my mom shout again. "Um... okay. Try not to drive a hole in my floor."
Yuvan smacked the back of my head and I shoved his hands only to get my ears twisted. "Why would you say that?"
"It just came out," I seethed.
"Dude, you're so lame," he muttered and got up, dusting nonexistent dust from his shorts.
"And so are you," I shot back. He looked down at me for a second before offering me his hand. I shot him a crooked grin before griping it, and he pulled me up with a grunt.
"Why so dramatic?" he asked when we had both settled down on the floor. The checklist forgotten for the moment.
"I'm into theatrics?" I suggested and I heard Yuvan sigh.
"I know you like her."
"I don't...!" I started defensively but faltered, "... know."
It was a mere whisper but Yuvan got it. I felt ashamed as I hung my head. Admitting it out loud to Yuvan felt like crushing over a brother's girlfriend. Sick and disgusting.
"It is sick and disgusting," Yuvan agreed, "but only if it's your brother's girlfriend."
"And?"
"I'm not your brother," he stated matter-of-factly, "and she isn't my girlfriend. Oh and Varun, you should stop talking out loud."
I opened my mouth to retort but nothing came out. Finally I said what had bugged me the most. "You don't sound mad."
"Why should I?" he asked.
"Be—because you saw her first."
Yuvan snorted. "So I have claim over Kiranya? Stop being so damn idiotic and righteous. And — and seeing her first doesn't matter," his voice ended in a whisper. I glanced at him to see him looking down at his lap, a small hopeless smile on his.
"Say Varun," he said, "have you noticed the way she looks at you?"
Brilliantly, I pointed at myself. "Me? Uh, yeah. She has those fire balls choking in her corpse eyes that screams 'can I kill him already?'"
He barked out a laugh. "Yeah, occasionally that too," he wheezed out but sobered up. He patted my shoulder and I don't know why, but my throat got lumpy. "But I've noticed. She looks at you like how I look at her."
And for once, I had no words to spare.
*
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*
"YES!" a round of cheers went across our team as Yuvan managed to catch the ball. If we manage to get another wicket, we'd win this thing and boo at the seniors.
Everyone ruffled and thumped his head while Yuvan pumped his fist in the air.
"We good?" I asked once everyone dispatched to their positions. Yuvan looked at me with a rare smile. "If we aren't, you'd be in the hospital now."
And wow, the next minute showed me that Fate and Karma worked together and that too, really fast.
*
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*
"IT HURTS LIKE A BITCH!"
"Stop being such a whinny sissy," Sourav muttered.
I know you guys must be wondering what was happening. Well, right after Yuvan made an emotional reply for my 'we good?' question, a ball had come his way again. Only this time, he had to run a little backwards and he kind of slipped right at the end of the ground. Oh, and did I mention? The cricket ground was situated on a tiny slope which was like was a hundred steps (of stairs) high and he might have ended up rolling down the slope, breaking through the flimsy fence.
Result: He looks like he had been used as Bruce Lee's punching bag, sporting a sprained ankle and bloody scratches all over his visible skin.
I had suggested to cycle him to the town's biggest hospital. The conversation went something along the lines,
Me: I'd take him to the hospital.
Concerned classmates and (surprisingly) seniors: How?
Me: Uh... I'd take him there in my bicycle. I'll pedal it while Ravi and Mohammed will push it.
Sourav (the seniors' team's captain): Seriously?
Me: Yeah.
In the end, Sourav who had a car offered to take us to the hospital since he's a 'good hearted' senior who looks after his mates. Well, it saved me extra exercising time.
"MOTHERF—!" Yuvan shouted as the nurse cleaned his wounds with alcohol.
"Mother?" the older boy laughed mockingly and Yuvan coughed.
"Father, sister, brother... doggy."
"Nice cover-up," I snickered.
With further colourful words which were no where as decent as 'mother and father,' Yuvan was bandaged up and ready to leave. His father came to pick him up but didn't leave before he wasted ten minutes of my life by scolding us. Luckily Sourav had escaped before Yuvan's dad arrived.
"You sure you don't want to come?" Yuvan asked once he was snuggly lying in the backseat.
"Double sure," I said shooting him a thumbs up.
I seriously can't survive another ten minutes of mindless 'parent talk.'
"Suit yourself," he hissed giving me the 'you traitor' look before he signalled his father to start the car.
I waved as I stepped back.
Now, off to home.
My home was about a twenty minutes walk from the hospital and cursing my idiocy when I declined Sourav's offer to take me home, I called my dad and asked him to pick me up.
Hands in my pockets, I decided to take a stroll in the surrounding garden as I waited for my dad to come. Whistling some tune, I walked but froze after about twenty steps when I saw a familiar figure hunched on the ground, in front of a small tree.
"Kiranya?" I called but she didn't respond.
I took a few steps towards her but halted when I noticed the tremors shaking her body. A sense of dread filled the pit of my stomach and quietly, I walked around, safely out of sight.
And though I kind of knew what Kiranya was doing, it felt like someone had knocked the air out of my system as I looked helplessly at Kiranya, who was crying broken sobs, her hands clutching something that looked like a locket.
~✩~✩✩~✩~
A sort of filler chapter (but God bless, I love these guys hehe) but kind of important.
What do you think of this? Any theories? (I love reading those seriously).
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With love,
Kavya.