If only he would tell her where they were going. He knew she couldn't deal with surprises. Though, his last few surprises had been mind-blowing, she thought. The date was right out of a fairy-tale.
It was late and the road ahead was barely visible. Where the hell was he taking her?! Even the cell-phone reception gave up! She opened her mouth to coax a reply from him but stopped abruptly.
Abhi was accelerating the car far too rapidly for her liking.
God! Why the hell wasn't he applying the breaks??
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. She could see the truck cruising over to them, it wasn't going to stop...
"Abhi!" She screamed as the truck closed the distance with their car, with an almighty crash...it's lights blinding her...
She blinked, and sat up straight, she looked around to find herself in the middle of a mess of blankets. Her heart beating in her throat, as she still vividly remembered the blood splattered on Abhi's face.
"Just a dream..." She whispered to calm herself, only to find her voice breaking. A bead of sweat trickled down her sweaty forehead to her cheek, blending with the tears streaming down her face. She knew she was shaking in the darkness. Not caring to look at the watch to check the time, she stood up to do what she needed to, to stop herself from breaking down.
She was still in her office clothes, she had come back home from work, and was finishing up cleaning a code, when she was overcome with sleep and thought it would be a good idea to take a power nap. Now the tight office suit was suffocating her. But she had to first make sure Abhi was alright.
It took her five long horrible minutes to open the door to Abhi's room as the key he had given her shook horribly in her trembling hands. Once she was inside, she didn't hesitate to walk straight to his bedroom, and breathed a shuddering sigh of relief at the sight of him lying peacefully asleep, sprawled the over the gigantic black bed of his.
Her lips formed a smile as she sat on the bed, looking at his handsome face, his eyes closed, his bottom lip pushed out a little like a little child, his hair storming over his face...she jumped slightly as an image of her nightmare with Abhi's hair similarly messed up on his bloody face flashed across her mind.
"Abhi..", she whispered sitting on his bed, clutching his arm tightly, tears streaming down her face as she helplessly shook her head trying to shake of all the bad thoughts.
"Abhi..", she whispered again, so far gone that she didn't do anything to hide the fact that she was crying...she couldn't.
"Abhi...", she cried out again, her grip on his hand so tight it was hurting her.
*
"Siya?" Abhi's groggy voice filled the room, as he lifted his head slightly to figure out what was happening. It took him a while to realize it wasn't one of his wild dreams. He realised with shock that it was Siya, dressed in her office suit, who was not only tugging tightly at his arm but also crying vehemently. All sleep evaporated Abhi's mind as he sat up straight on his bed, beside a shivering Siya.
"Siya?", he crooned, pulling her to his lap, wrapping his arms around her tightly. She didn't seem to care that he only had on his boxers and nothing else as her hand left its death grip on his arm and she flung her arms around his shoulders, pressing her shirt clad chest to his bare one.
Abhi's heart clenched itself into a tight knot, as Siya shook violently, her tears falling on his chest, where her face was digging into him.
What was it? What hurt her? Who hurt hurt her? How could he make the pain stop?
"Siya..shush..Siya...calm down sweetheart", he said trying to sound calm, as he stroke her back, rocking them to soothe her.
"A-Ab-bhi!", her voice came muffled as she hiccupped due to excessive crying. Abhi's insides clenched tighter at her defeated, helpless voice.
He slowly picked up the glass of water from his nightstand, keeping her cradled to his chest, and guided her towards the glass. She drank it like an obedient child, her hands never slacking its gripping on his shoulders.
He placed the empty glass back on the nightstand and then pulled her along with him to the middle of the bed. Her clothes were drenched in sweat. Why the hell was she still dressed in her office clothes?
He kept rocking her in his arms, till Siya took the last of her receding shuddering sobs. He took her face in his hands, and wiped away the last of her fiery tears, as she took a deep breath and finally looked up to meet his eyes.
Abhi noted how her hold on him was still as strong, while he searched her deep brown eyes with his hazel ones. She had exhausted her limit to shed tears and he, Abhi was sure she wasn't going to cry anymore.
"What's wrong Siya? Tell me." His heart hurt painfully at the emotions which he clearly saw were raging through Siya, but his face showed calm, and strength and gentleness.
She closed her eyes, blocking the access he had to her soul, preventing him from knowing the intensity of her pain.
"I had a nightmare", her voice came out in a croak to her embarrassment, and her lips tugged upwards slightly at how ridiculous she just sounded. Abhi frowned at the little smile on her beautiful little lips, trust her to find her hoarse throat funny while Abhi was dying with concern.
"About what?", he asked, suspense's didn't go down to well with his impatient self, and when it came to her, he was always impatient, though he knew where this was headed.
To confirm his fears, the tiny bit of humour drained out of her pretty little face. His hand left her face to coil itself around her tiny waist, to support her. Her eyebrows drawing together with pain and fear as she whispered the word, he expected her to, "You".
Abhi knew Siya had nightmares. She had started having them after the accident, when they were both kids. She used to wake up and rush to Abhi's room, banging his door, for him to let her in. After the second time this happened, Abhi gave Siya a key to his room.
They had spent countless nights, sleeping over in Abhi's bed, with little Abhi holding an even more little Siya until she fell asleep. He would make sure she did, before falling asleep himself. The nightmares happened almost every night for little Siya. But as she grew up, her nightmares receded, to become almost non-existent. Or maybe she didn't come to him anymore. Either-way, the sleepovers stopped when they turned thirteen, but the key he gave Siya was always with her.
It was the same nightmare, it involved her in a car, and the same truck that crashed into the car that Siya, his mother and her parents were travelling in. Usually she saw her parents, his mother or even his father in the aftermath of the crash.This was the first time she saw him in the crash.
"You weren't slowing down...the car..the speed..a truck was speeding...I asked you to slow down Abhi..you weren't listening...Abhi you were lying motionless...the blood on your face...Abhi!!!", she gasped.
"Abhi I-"
He cut her off by touching her lips with his. It was a peck, nothing by the standards of the kiss they'd shared last evening after their date.
His thoughts drifted to the kiss.
The moment his lips met hers, a slow but potent fire started building up in his body, it was spreading through him rapidly causing his ears to ring and his heart to thud wildly. She had gone stiff, from shock he supposed, but didn't seem to push him away, which he took as a good sign.
He kissed her upper lips, then the lower. Then pecked her twice on her lips. Slowly her body started relaxing under his attentions and she started melting in his arms.
Feeling her relax in his arms he shifted his hand from her waist to hold her face, kissing her fiercely now.
Slowly but surely he felt her start responding tentatively. She seemed unsure as her lips started to move against his. And that's when he lost complete sense of control.
It hit him full force how he was the first man she ever kissed and how he would be the only one. Somewhere within him, the caveman he never knew existed was thumping his chest at the fact that he would be her first everything. Her first date, her first boyfriend, her first kiss, her first...everything.
He was consuming her, her lips moving as frantically as his, both of them hungering for more...and more. He lightly bit her lower lip, causing her to gasp. He took that as a que to slide his tongue past her lips. God! Her response was mind blowing. She gave all that she got. Their tongues danced together in a rhythm of their own. She didn't seem unsure anymore. It was like their bodies knew each other, like it was natural for them to kiss so passionately.
Her hands tangling in his hair as she pulled him closer. She was shaking, he realized, with pure need. Oh God! Who would have thought the sweet innocent Siya had so much passion stoved under her. She was as lost into him as he was into her. So much that when he broke off the kiss, she groaned in protest.
Her protest was short-lived as his lips found the sensitive spot beneath her ear. He started giving her open-mouthed kisses along her sensitive neck. Her moan of encouragement, sent Abhi in a frenzy. He couldn't believe his childhood bestfriend, the little girl he grew up with, was the same wild woman in his arms.
He finally stopped at her collarbone. Breathing in the scent of her. He could see her cleavage, her ample bosom struggling to take breaths. He needed to stop. Stop before she came to her senses and slapped him for taking it so far.
This was her first kiss, first time a man had touched her like this. She didn't know what to do with the crazed sexual lust that a make-out session could spur. And he didn't want to take advantage of that. So he stopped, and took a deep breath to get his body back in control of his sanity.
He took a step back to look at how she was coping, and saw her struggle to get her composure back.
"So?" He asked, his voice thick with traces of lingering lust.
"Um, what?" She asked puzzled by his question.
"Did you like my last surprise?"
She blushed, refusing to meet his eyes.
"It was good"
"Just good?"
"It was great. I...I didn't know what to do at first but, well I think I did okay. You guided me well...I mean I- um, you were really...god I should just stop talking."
Abhi controlled the laughter threatening to burst from him.
"I was asking about the lanterns"
"Oh!" Siya said, covering her face in embarrassment. And Abhi couldn't control his laughter anymore. She was just so easy to fluster.
She narrowed her eyes as he doubled over with laughter.
"Oh my god! You ass! You're deliberately harassing me!", she exclaimed, hitting him to stop him from laughing.
He easily caught both her wrists and pulled her close.
"I just don't want things to get awkward okay? You're my best friend. We will be doing way more than what we did today in the future, but I never want the friendship and ease between us to change."
She smiled, her heart filling with the strong emotion again.
"We will always be bestfriends Abhi. That is never going to change."