name:- Date Night
word count:- 3800 words
published on:- 10th April, 2019.
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[unedited]
N A N D I N I
It was New Year's Eve today. The year was coming to an end and we had an off for a week from college. It was cold, probably one of the coldest nights in the month. I was up from sleep since a few hours, but refused to get up from bed as I kept snuggling more into my blanket for warmth which surprisingly failed to do so this very morning.
I know you'd find it odd how I loved staying up at night. But for me, it was... peaceful. I could stare at the empty walls for hours without the fear of anyone judging me. I could be myself while the world goes still and calm like someone paused everything. It was the most natural therapy when my mind went chaotic.
"NANDINI!" I heard a shout and I almost flinched as I raised the blanket off my head to see an enthusiastic Manik enter my room with coffee mugs in his hands.
I sighed, giving him a sleepy smile, "you know you're not supposed to enter a girl's room without permission, right?"
He made a fake surprised expression. "I wouldn't have, if I wouldn't have been knocking outside your door for the past few minutes. I figured you were asleep and came in to wake you up," he informed and I smiled sheepishly, embarrassed.
"And it isn't an everyday thing that I have a girl sleeping right next door right? You're the first girl I've been used to having around... sharing houses with," he said, pointing around and I smiled as I got up, yawning.
He smiled huskily, placing the coffee on the side table with sugar on the side. "Get ready, today is an amazing day!" He sounded excited.
"And what is today?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Well, it is 31st December, we have so much to do!" He said, before giving me a goofy smile, "and also, today is our date," he smiled and my eyes widened.
I had almost forgotten. Almost.
"Oh right!" I say, hiding the nervous smile as all the anxious butterflies come flooding in. "Date" I repeated, more to myself.
"You look nervous," he teased, smirking. "Nervous? Me? Not at all!" I squeaked, sounding like Ross when he says I'm fine.
He laughed as I took the coffee, stirring it and followed him out, then tying my hair into a bun. I covered the coffee with the plate he had got and then moved to the bathroom to brush. "What's the plan though?" I ask.
"Uh, not much! I haven't planned anything special, though there's a place I have in mind. I'm sure you'd love it," he smiled and I smiled back. Shit, I had nothing in mind to wear.
"Uh, also... I am going to be out until evening. I'd directly pick you up at 9?" He asked and I nodded when our phones buzzed together. He looked at me and I at him, confused as we picked our phones.
Mukti added you to the group Fab 5 and extensions. It immediately buzzed again.
Navya:
Extensions? Seriously, Mukti? You called me and Nandini extensions?
Mukti:
Couldn't think of anything else. What's the plan for tonight? New Years together?
My eyes involuntarily reached Manik's who was already looking at me, his face pale before he gave me a smile and typed something onto his phone. I waited for a few seconds before my phone buzzed again.
Navya:
Can't. I and Cabir have to spend it with my parents :(
Aliya:
It's my cousins birthday today, dad says I have to be there :(
Mukti:
Argh. You guys :( What about you Nandini? Manik? Aryamman?
Aryamman:
I'm in. Can celebrate with Netflix and chill (with beer of course). What say?
Mukti:
I'm super in!! Manik, Nandini... you guys?
Manik:
Can't. Have plans with family.
I looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. "What? You're family!" He smiled sheepishly and my eyebrows just raised higher.
"You shouldn't be ignoring your friends because of me!" I say, in a whisper.
"What?" He squeezes his face together. "I'm not ignoring them. I'm just preferring to go on with our date rather than watching Netflix all night." He shrugged, "but it's still on you. We can join them, however you like it!" He walked into his room.
I signed, biting my lower lip as I nodded my head.
Me:
Can't. Have other plans already. Sorry guys, next time. :(
I keep my phone aside, taking a deep breath. The dress part was still left, and I couldn't go shopping. I just didn't feel like, and I was definitely not the person who liked shopping. I couldn't even understand how girls are so obsessed with it all the time.
I took my iPad, face time the man I hadn't seen since days and felt guilty about. My phone was answered in three exact rings.
"Nandini!" He smiled groggily, still on bed, sleeping shirtless.
"Why are you sleeping shirtless? Love showing off your four packs?" I raise my eyebrows and he smirks as he tilts his camera to the girl sleeping beside me, her naked back facing the camera and my eyes widen.
"ABHI!" I almost scream in shock and he shushes me immediately as his camera goes blank for a few seconds and then on again, and I can make out that he ran into the balcony. "Who's she?" I ask, my brows squeezing in anger.
"Not really someone you have to worry about," he winks and I sigh in disappointment. "For me, the rules are no hanky—panky until you approve the guy. And you can do whatever you like with anyone? What rules are those?" I raise an eyebrow and he smiled sheepishly.
"I'm not at a risk of falling in love with anyone, unlike you." He smiled fake sweetly. "And also, I'm not the one who can become pregnant. You are!" He points and my cheeks redden.
"Why are you my best friend again," I sigh, shaking my head. He smirks, "because you have no other friends, my love!"
I roll my eyes. "I called you... to ask you... uhm...." I hesitate, "what do you think can I wear for a date?" I squeeze my nose and eyes.
He stares at me for a few seconds like Sherlock Holmes before he raised an eyebrow. "Date?" He asked, "with whom?"
"Not me!" I reply instantly. "Mukti has to go for a date... and she asked me what to wear, and I—... I am a bit bad at this stuff, remember? So I'm asking for her!" My brain ran for excuses.
"Mukti," he sighs, licking his lips as he thinks of something. "Tell Mukti she can wear anything she likes because she looks pretty in anything she wears," he smiled, "but not any light colour, because she tends to spoil pastel colours easily like she did in her previous date. And also, dark red looks gorgeous on her," he smiled softly and my eyes softened too as I closed my eyes.
"I spoiled my pastel dress on the last date I went and you always say Red looks gorgeous on me!" I whisper and he raised his eyebrows as I look at him apologetically. "I'm sorry."
He smiled. "It's alright, sweetheart. Just remember, you're not supposed to hide anything from me, ever." He says and I nod.
"Now listen up, don't wear anything very showy, it kinda gives the wrong message to boys. We boys are regards so don't easy trust a man's intention. Stay safe, send me your live location when you leave and call me to give me all the details tomorrow, okay?" He said and I nod again.
"Okay, bye," I whisper, "I love you."
"More, darling; more," he winks before cutting the call and I sigh. Abhi just increased my confusion for the dress. Without thinking twice, I call another person. My phone rings for a long time before a sleepy voice answers my phone.
I don't know what made me do this, but I don't waste a lot of time beating around the bush. "Is there any chance you could help me buy a nice dress?" I ask, answered by silence for the longest time.
"Why? Do you have a date, Nandini?" I could practically hear Cabir smirk from the other end.
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"I bought you such a nice thing to wear Nandini! Can I still not know who this date is with?" Cabir whined sitting on my bed as I brushed my hair. "Nope!" I replied with a smile, with a popping p. He frowned, looking away.
"I swear I wouldn't tell anyone!" He pleased and I nodded negatively.
"But I must say, you look gorgeous in this. Red is totally your colour," he smiles and I smiled back, pushing him a grateful smile. I would have normally thanked a person here, but I had thanked Cabir at least twenty times after he got me this and he said if I said thanks one more time, he'd take it back to the store and exchange it.
"And straightened hair suits you. Maybe you should do it more," he says getting up as I look at myself in the mirror. I had worn a dark settled red, long jumpsuit with flaps in the sides and a thigh high slit on one side, which fit me perfectly. Cabir forced me into slight make up and a settled red lipstick and since we had so much extra time, we ended up straightening my waist long hair.
Cabir was my ultimate saviour. "This is the queue for me to leave," he smiled, as he came forward and gave me a hug. "Remember, I'm just a call away. I can turn up at any moment to kick the balls of the man if he treats you wrong," he says and I nod, gratefully.
I wonder how he's react he if he gets to know that the man who's balls he'd kick was his best friend whom he claimed to love so much last night.
I kept that to myself as I shut the door behind him, and slip into my stilletoes, plain black. Just when I was done looking at myself for the tenth time in the mirror, the bell rang. I looked at the time. 8:47 PM.
As I walked to the door, I couldn't stop thinking. Manik was.... before time. Impressive, Malhotra.
I opened the door to see him tapping his black leather shoes impatiently. White shirt, black leather jacket and a bouquet in his hand with a smirk on his face that made my heart flutter.
"You look gorgeous, Nandini." He said, dazed as he stepped inside and I smile. "You look nice too," I say politely. But who was I kidding? He looked much more than nice. He looked extremely ravishing and hotter than the sun himself.
He smiled. "Is that for me?" I point towards the bouquet of white and light pink flowers that he had forgotten about and he flushed while I hid a giggle. "Yeah... uh... ofcourse," He stammered, handing me those.
"These were the most beautiful flowers at the florist, and the most beautiful I have seen. But suddenly, looking at you... they just faded away," he flirted but there was an emotion running in his eyes that showed his sincerity as he said this.
I blush, looking everywhere but at him.
"Shall we?" He asked, forwarding his hand as I nodded, placing my hand into his.
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"God. I loved the food here!" I smiled, keeping my fork back on the plate as I leaned back on my chair and he smiled in content, eating the last bite of his pasta. Pink pasta was his favourite and that's all he ate here, in this fancy Italian restaurant.
I wouldn't lie. Fancy Restaurants weren't really my thing. For me, the perfect date was definitely something we do together, spend time, talk under the night sky and go star gazing. But he made everything fun, even fancy dinners. We spoke about random topics, from youtubers to our upcoming final exams. It felt more like a dinner between two best friends and less like a date and that was what made it perfect.
As we moved out of the restaurant, I followed him. "What is your perfect kind of date?" He asked and I licked my lips. Speak the truth or go with the lie?
Speak the truth. Any relation based on the foundations of lies could never sustain.
"Open skies. Heartfelt talks," I smiled, and he looked at me in shock. "Are... are you serious?" He asked and I nodded hesitantly.
"Oh my god! Wait," He almost shouted moving away for a minute and I tapped my foot, leaning against the car. "Let's go," He smiled enthusiastically and I got into the passenger seat of the car.
Spent 24 hours
I need more hours with you
You spent the weekend
Getting even, ooh ooh
We spent the late nights
Making things right, between us
But now it's all good baby
Roll that Backwood baby
And play me close
One of my new favourite songs blasted through the radio and I smiled, tapping my foot to the sound, murmuring it as I stared out of the window as we drove through the hills at an elevated height. He rolled down the window and cold air blew past me as I closed my eyes, feeling every bit of it, my hair flying with the wind.
" 'Cause girls like you
Run around with guys like me
'Til sundown, when I come through
I need a girl like you, yeah yeah " he sang, shocking me as I looked at him with a wide smile and he winked at me.
"Girls like you
Love fun, yeah me too
What I want when I come through
I need a girl like you, yeah yeah
Yeah yeah yeah
Yeah yeah yeah
I need a girl like you, yeah yeah"
I joined him, as we sang random and crazy songs until he parked his car. I wasn't really following the route so I was pretty shocked when I stepped out of the car to see city lights shining in front of us, a clear view of Mumbai city partying their hearts out this very night, lighted beautifully. In between the ground, there was mattress lighted with fairy lights and a cooler with lamps all around.
My eyes twinkled as I looked at him to already find him smiling at me. I stepped ahead, admiring the view when I heard him clear his throat, his voice low and husky. "I was sixteen when I went for my first date, and booked an evening under the sky. The girl never called me after that, and I pretty much figured that girls love fancy restaurants on dates."
I giggled, still not facing him. "I guess not all girls are so fond of fancy restaurants then," I shrug looking back and he walked towards me, "I made you bored tonight, didn't I?"
"Oh come on!" I smile, walking towards him. "The point of this thing was to spend time together. Fancy restaurants or open skies don't really matter as long as we're together, right?"
He smiled at me for a long time, walking closer to me until we were just a feet apart. "Right," he murmurs and I bite my lower lip.
"This place... it's beautiful," I smile, taking a step back and turning to see the city lighted like it was Diwali. He smiled back. "It is... beautiful" he stared right into my eyes, making my smile redden.
He took his eyes away from me, and back ahead to the scenic in front of us. "I come here quite a lot, you know. Whenever I fight with mom and Dad and can't sleep, I simply take my guitar and come here, it gives me some different type of peace," he says as he sits on the huge mattress as I sit beside him. I was glad I didn't wear short, or else sitting would have been so difficult.
"Fighting with your parents?" I ask. Months ago, we sat on bandstand under the sky having the same discussion and I had to refrain myself from asking this question and now I felt in the position to ask this. I could see how we had made progress.... together.
"Well, it's complicated," he sighed. "My parents... love me. But my dad, he wants me to take over his companies in London. And I want music. I want a future in music, I want to sing. My dad doesn't understand, and we've had these arguments since the day I turned eighteen and he gifted me the papers to sign and take over his company." He sighed.
"It all got overboard a few months back and I moved out in anger. Mom tried stopping me but it went out of hand. Dad gave me six months to prove to him that I could make a future in music. I've been trying to get a job at a café, as a singer for some extra pocket money, you know? That's where I went today. I want to win Musicana this year to show him I can, that's the plan," he completes and I smile, folding my lips as I slowly keep my left hand on his.
He looked at me and smiled. "I'm proud of you," I whispered as he takes his hand in mine and pulls me closer into a side hug, his hand rubbing my arm and providing me the warmth I was missing all my life.
"But sometimes I wonder what's the point of all this. What if Musicana doesn't happen the way I planned, what if I can't prove Dad. What if....," his voice faded and I nodded negatively.
"Life doesn't always go how we plan. But all we can do is hope. And where there is hope, everything goes right even when things are going wrong," I tell him and he smiled.
"You believe in hope?" He asked and I nod enthusiastically. "What is life without hope," I tell and he raises his eyebrows.
"What do you hope about?" He asked and I shrug. "I hope about everything. I hope about being able to be strong till the very end, I hope to make it big, to always keep smiling, to be able to love and to be loved, to have my own family one day, I hope to keep hoping all my life," I smile and he looked at me, surprised.
"That is so much hope altogether," he chuckled and I smile laughed too. "Which reminds me, I have something for you," He says as he puts his hand in his pocket, left then right then jeans pocket and finally pulls out a box.
"Here," He says, forwarding the small box and I raise my eyebrows. "Manik, I'm not marrying you," I joke but his lips don't even move a muscle.
He slowly opens the box to reveal a platinum band ring with small stars engraved and diamonds in each small star, shining. My eyes twinkle as I look from him to the beautiful ring, shocked.
"I got an advance today from the job I got. I was thinking about what to buy for whom, and I wanted to get you a thankyou gift for yesterday, and then my eyes fell on this ring and these stars were so lovely and they reminded me just of you. So I had to take a ring of stars for you... for my star," He whispered and I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out.
"This.... means so much," I whisper as he pulls the ring out and puts it in the index finger of my left hand.
"Take this as a thankyou gift. It's a promise ring," He whispers as both stare at the ring, shining on my finger in the darkness, making me at a loss of words. "It's a blank promise. That you can use from me... anytime!" He whispers.
I couldn't speak anything. I put my hands around his neck and pull his face closer, kissing his cheek without a second thought. "This... thank you, Manik. I can't tell you what this makes me feel... I...," I could barely speak.
"You deserve the world, Nandini," he whispers as we lock eyes, our faces inches apart and just as we swooned closer, there was a huge sound making both of us flinch. We turned towards the city lights to see fireworks in the sky and a smile took over my lips.
"Happy New Year, sunshine" He whispers as I keep my head on his shoulder. "Happy New Year, Manik," I whisper back and he puts a hand around me, as I snuggle into his chest.
"You hope for a lot of things in this world...." he whispered and I nod, "I do."
"Maybe you could hope for us too?" He asks in a whisper as his eyes lock with mine.
"I hope for us too, Manik. I really do," I whisper back as he places his lips on my forehead, gently kissing it as the sky changed a hundred shades of dark blue while the stars twinkling overhead.
A sky full of stars,
and he still stared at her.
—Atticus
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Picturesque:
Nandini's outfit
The ring
The view
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