"Nikki," Rhea sat beside Nikita.
"What do you want?" She stared at her coldly. She was sitting with another group of girls.
"I want to talk to you, do you have a moment?"
"No, fuck off,"
They all started laughing and Rhea came back to her seat.
"She's so clingy, I swear to god!" Nikita laughed.
"Why were you even friends with her?"
"Meh, I don't know. I must have lost my mind,"
Rhea looked outside the window, waiting for the day to end. Once it did, she ran after Nikita until they reached the cycle stand outside the school gates,
"Nikita, please listen to me,"
Nikki turned towards her, "What is your problem?"
"Look, I'm sorry it happened. I never wanted it to happen,"
"Is that all?"
"What did I do? Why are you so angry at me? Ember rejected you, not me,"
"Ember. I never even saw him in real life. Does he even exist or was it just a fake account you created?"
"...Have you gone crazy or what?"
"Yes, I have. And it's because of you! You should've never met me!"
"...It's always my fault, isn't it?"
"Yes. You need to learn when to fuck off,"
"But I don't want to..." Rhea said, "It was so fun with you...I didn't want to ruin it,"
"That online boy ended it for us. If you really loved me, you would have supported me and stayed away from Ember or help me get with him, not be my rival. Because we both know I can't win against you," Nikki walked away as she opened her umbrella.
Soon, it began raining and Rhea stood under the rain, staring at the smog that ate her away. She slowly walked to her bicycle and sat on it. She started paddling and then stopped, as tears rolled down her eyes in the rain, "I lost another friend..."
. . .
"Oh my god, what have you done to yourself!" Rhea's mother exclaimed as she looked at her, drenched in the rain, standing at the doorway.
"Quickly go and take a warm shower. You have a class too after this,"
After the shower, she dressed up for her class. It had stopped raining by then. She went downstairs and looked into her phone.
Neel heard his doorbell and walked towards the door. He opened it and looked at Rhea, "What?" He asked.
"Give me your number,"
"Why?" He asked.
"Just give it,"
He told her his number and she saved it into her phone. Then, she ran away. He closed the door and went back into his room. He continued doing his homework when suddenly his phone buzzed. He checked the message,
"I tried talking to Nikki,"
He shook his head, "Why?"
He could see that she was recording audio and once it was finally there, he played it. He could hear wind and paddles of the cycle, its tyre splashing against the puddle water, and her clear voice in the foreground,
"Because that's just how I deal with people. Before I give up on somebody, I try and try and try until it's no more in me, so that I don't regret not trying to make them stay,"
"It's so funny," He recorded another audio, "Because I see how obvious it is. She's full of shit, negativity, jealously and a need to bring others down to make herself feel good. She's enjoying your attention, stop giving it to her,"
And he sent it.
He received her reply after a while, it was a text.
"She wasn't always like this,"
"That is how certain people are, Rhea," He typed, "They will support until they realise you might actually make it. That's when the hate kicks in,"
"I know her better than you,"
"All I'll say is good luck. If it doesn't work out, you can cry on my shoulder, because I bet your ass it won't,"
"We'll see," She typed as she entered her class and looked at Ember sitting at his desk with AJ beside him.
"That online boy ended it for us,"
'Was he not supposed to like who he wanted to?' Rhea wondered as she walked towards him, 'How was it his fault?' He was smiling, he didn't seem affected by that rejection he had given her. Not at all. He really did not like her.
"Hello Rhea," He smiled at her.
'Does he really like me?' Rhea sat beside him, "Hello Ember,"
She could smell sweet Autumn Clematis as he sat behind her on her bicycle while she paddled. She was annoyed, not with him, not with Nikki either, she didn't know who she was annoyed at.
"Are you mad, today?" He asked and she applied the breaks.
"I'm just pissed off. But I'm not pissed off at you,"
"Then, who are you pissed off at?"
"I don't know..." She looked down and back at him, "Do you really not like Nikita?"
"What? No! We're just friends. But it seems like she liked me. Well, not anymore, I guess. I'm blocked so yeah, that's it,"
"She blocked you too?"
"Yeah,"
"You don't even look like you care though..."
"I mean," He looked into her eyes, "It's not my duty to always answer in affirmation or my fault that I don't like her. It's my choice. And if she can't respect that, then I'm glad she walked out of my life herself,"
"But...Weren't you friends?"
"She broke our friendship herself. Did she say something to you?"
"Huh? No...Why don't you paddle? I don't feel like paddling today..."
He smiled, "Sure,"
He sat at the seat and she pressed her arms on his shoulders. He pressed his foot on the paddle and then pushed it down. Suddenly, he stopped,
"What happened?"
"Huh? Nothing," He pressed the paddle down again, "I'm sorry, I don't feel very well,"
"Fine, I'll paddle," She sighed and got up, "Sit back,"
"Sorry," He sat behind her, his face pressed on her back. His mind was lost in thoughts. Rhea looked back at him again and again as she paddled.
"Is everything okay?" She asked as she dropped him near those old buildings.
"It's fine," He smiled, "I'm just preoccupied with some thoughts,"
"Like what?"
"Some thoughts. I'll see you tomorrow, Rhea," He waved at her, signalling her to leave.
"Oh, take care then," She smiled.
"You too. See you tomorrow,"
But he didn't come to the crash course centre the other day. Rhea was paddling back home when she received Nikita's text, "Sorry I took it out on you. I was insecure,"
She smiled and replied, "It's fine,"
She walked upstairs, "Do you want to come to eat ice cream with me tomorrow?"
"Yes!"
Rhea seemed to be in a chain of thoughts for an instance and then quickly typed, "Should I bring Ember too?"
"Oh, yes yes, sure!"
She agreed and Rhea was delighted. She hasn't expected an affirmative answer.
"She's so forgiving" Rhea texted Neel as she lay on her bed, describing to him what had happened that evening.
"Yes, and you're stupid," He texted.
"Aw come on, cut her some slack,"
"I'm in the balcony by the way,"
"Oh," Rhea left her phone on the bed and stood at her balcony. He stood in his, blowing soap bubbles from a straw. They looked at the soap bubbles float between them. His green eyes looked at her distorted face through the soap bubbles. She looked at him and giggled, "You should get a cat,"
"Why?" He asked.
"Your eyes would match,"
He rolled his eyes, "Say something creative, not the same shit everyone says. Aren't you an artist?"
"Well, I'm an artist, not a poet!"
"Boring," He blew a few more bubbles and she stared at him, "By the way, I want you to come with me to my crash course centre tomorrow,"
"Why?" He asked.
"Ember, Nikki and I are going for ice cream after my class,"
"Oh yeah, two people I absolutely do not want to keep company with,"
"Come on, you'll have fun! You wouldn't wanna miss it!"
"Trust me, I would," He blew more bubbles and she looked down, "Fine,"
Her mother called her for dinner and she left. Neel continued making bubbles, looking at their transience and transparency. As he walked back home the other day, he looked at a stray black cat, sitting on a porch, licking her paws. He stopped and looked at it, she looked back at him. They both had similar eyes.
"What? Ember didn't come again?" Rhea asked AJ.
"Nope,"
"What is wrong? He never missed a class before," Rhea seemed worried.
"Maybe he is sick?" Meenu postulated.
"Oh yeah, that must be it!"
She texted Nikki, "Well, he didn't come today so maybe it'll be just you and me,"
"Okay," She replied. Rhea finished her class and waited for Nikki outside her crash course, right under the Neem tree Ember waited for her when he first saw her in that Crash course centre. She remembered him and texted, "Ember, hi!"
The florist was removing thorns from the rose, the sky was slowly turning orange. Birds were flying in the sky and people were flooding into the market ahead of her, which slowly lit up as night covered the sky like a dark blanket.
In the end, Nikki never came,
And Ember never replied.
She texted Nikki, "Where are you?"
"Oh sorry, I got some important work so I couldn't come"
"You could've texted me,"
"Sorry!"
She paddled back home, annoyed and tired. She entered her room and switched on the lights, through the grid door, she could see Neel standing in the dark, looking down at the street. She opened her door and looked at him. He looked up at her, "So, how was your outing?"
"Oh, it was horrible. None of them showed up,"
"That's what having horrible friends gives you,"
"Better than having no friends at all,"
"I'd rather be alone than being with the wrong people," He undid a lollipop wrapper and pressed the lollipop under his tongue. She pressed her hand on the wet railings and looked down at the wet streets, "I don't know. I'm just too afraid to lose people,"
It started raining again. They stood at their balconies,
"Fear is an illusion," She listened to him speak and looked up at him. The small bright lamp in his room was glowing into a bright, white haze, making his green eyes shine in the dark. Her eyes widened as she looked at him through the translucence of the raindrops, he smiled, "If you put that energy elsewhere, you'll be surprised by the results,"
These colours,
These art blooming around him, the colour in him, seems to melt, quickly.
As if bright green paint, flowing down a black sheet of paper, falling into an infinite yellow, as if sunshine captured into a jar and kept in the dark to light up the world, a thousand lights shining at once but far away, too far to be felt but close enough to be seen, or the sky falling down into a valley of green, everything occurred into her head at once. So many ideas, right at her fingertips, begging to be translated on a little board, too small to hold her world, but large enough for other people to see it. Time was ticking, she had to paint all of them before she forgot everything.
There was so much to do, and so less time. She had already started forgetting them as she walked into her room and unwrapped a fresh canvas board. She was breathless, so much life flowed through her body, her veins were going to burst from excitement, all those ideas were fading away, there was no time left. This moment would never come again, she had to make them stay. Neel stared at her from his balcony as he picked a palette and began painting, she stood before her board for an hour and finally moved away, coming back to her senses.
"Wow," Neel looked at the painting. Both of them were too surprised to say a word, him by her talent, her by her inability to comprehend her abilities.
-To be continued
Can't I Touch Your Heart?
Teach Me The Art Of Living