Om and Shivay walked into a very busy canteen after their football practise, to see there were no vacant spots available. "Perfect, now how do we grab food before the lectures begin?" grumbled Shivay and was about to walk out, when Om stopped them. He pointed at two people sharing a table for six. "Look bro, your brother and her boyfriend is sitting there, let's join them" laughed Om.
"Om! She is not my BROTHER, and he is definitely not her boyfriend!" screeched Shivay in irritation as they went to join Soumya and Rudra in their table.
"Hey Somu, do you mind if we join?" asked Shivay casually as they reached them. "SOM-Z not SOM-U bhai" he corrected Shivay with gritted teeth. Om sniggered at that and Rudra gave him a confused look. Shivay didn't say anything, they joined the table and were munching food by themselves.
"Somz did you clean the trek shoes for tomorrow mate?" asked Rudra while munching on a samosa. "Yep dude, I am all set" replied Soumya nonchalantly.
Shivay looked up and looked at the pair of them. Trek? Tomorrow morning? What? Then he remembered Anika's word about Rudra coming and picking her up in the middle of the night for a drive - he had tried Rudra's number last night, but even that was unreachable - time was ripe thought Shivay, Somu needed the talk'.
"Soumya, we need to talk." He began, but Soumya didn't seem to listen, he called her again, and still she pretended to not hear him. He needed her to pay heed to his words, so he decided to try it her way. "Okay Somz, bro we gotta talk. Man to man. Now" Soumya looked up and frowned and then she said, "Sure, follow me". Shivay stood up and excused himself from Om and Rudra and walked out.
Om noticed Rudra giving a quizzical look to Soumya's retreating figure. A smirk escaped him - Rudra looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Your girl?" Om asked motioning towards Soumya. Rudra looked startled for a second. "Girl? Somz?" then he laughed "Dude, I am not gay". Still annoyed with Om's attitude towards Somz, Rudra took out an assignment from his bag and flipped through the pages as he munched on samosa - too bad the canteen was so full, sitting with this jerk of a guy was annoying him.
***
Anika walked into the canteen and was upset to see it so full, now how was she ever going to complete her assignment before class? True, last night she did begin working on it, but that Shivay's chuckle and concern was too much for her to handle. She couldn't concentrate on work at all, finally in the wee hours she decided to call it a night and finish her work in the canteen and go to class - that way Shivay won't know she still worked on her assignment in the last moment. But now what? She was about to walk out in disappointment, when she heard Om call her from behind. She turned to see Om and Rudra sharing a table and quickly went to join them.
"Hi Om, thanks! I desperately need to finish today's assignment" she smiled at him softly. Om sighed, but he knew there was no point teling her to focus on her work before Shivay's - He knew Anika had a soft corner for Shivay, and he tried to tell her subtly many times that Shivay had nothing for her, he liked his cousin Tia - but Anika wouldn't ever pay heed. So, without dweling further, he let her begin working.
Anika on the other hand greeted Rudra too. "Hi Rudra? How was last night's drive? And where is Somz? I thought she..oops, I mean he left home early today!" Rudra smiled at her brightly. He liked Anika, she was soft and caring and most importantly a loving roomie to his best mate Somz - "Hey Anne! Last night was KILLER, if we ever go out with the other girls, we will get you too! And yes Somz was here, but Shivay called him to talk."
When Anika just finished her assignment, and tallied her findings with Om, Shivay came back to the canteen, with Tia at his heel. They came with fresh stock of coffee and joined the table.
"Hey bhai, wanna hit Miami 69 for the Friday hitout tonight? Shivay and I have made plans!" squealed Tia in excitement, tugging onto Shivay's hand. Om looked up, he had a long week and there were too many assignments the whole week, he could do with a breather, so he quickly agreed. "Sure Tia, hey Anika, you're in right?" he asked as he turned to Anika. Anika looked up startled, and at the same time heard a distinct cough of disapproval from Tia - she glanced at her and then turned to Om, "Actually Om, you guys carry on, I have some work" she stammered. Om had heard the cough too, it embarrassed him to no end to acknowledge that Tia was his cousin, when she did things like this. "No Anika, you HAVE to come. Come for me? Please?" coaxed Om, then he added, "Shivay, you ask her nah, if we did three assignments in a week and got tired, imagine she has done six! Three her's and three of yours!" then he gave Shivay a hard look. After that out of curtsey, Shivay didn't have a choice but to invite. "Hey Anika, I think Om is right, you must come" but seeing Tia's angry look, in order to lighten the situation, he looked at Rudra and said, "Hey bro, why don't you and Somu, I mean Somz, join us too?" Rudra looked up at him, "Sorry bro, Somz and I have plans, we are trekking tomorrow early morning, gotta call it an early night today" but Shivay continued, "No man, Somz has some work, he won't go trekking tomorrow, he will call you. So join?" Rudra looked bewildered, but then if they weren't going, they could sure join Shivay and his gang. "Cool, count us in".
***
Anika was very nervous, she had never been to a night club before - back at home, her mother never gave her and Mallika permission to visit these places and after joining college, even though she secretly always wanted to visit one, no one seemed to invite her. But Mallika of course indulged in parties ever since she joined college. Mallika was always so popular, unlike her – soft spoken, fragile and quiet.
Anika sat panicking, she didn't know what to wear, should she wear a simple t-shirt with denims? Or maybe the dress that Mallika gave her on her birthday (she hasn't found an occasion to wear it once even), or maybe try a short skirt and a halter top, like the ones Tia wears to parties? (yes, she stalked Shivay on FB too, and he seemed to visit every party with Tia nowadays!) - maybe she should call Mallika, she thought - but it was too late, 9PM on a Friday night, Mallika would probably, already be partying somewhere and her phone would be unreachable invariably. After a lot of debate, she decided on her birthday dress - it was a modest black dress that fell up to her knees, it had a plain round neck and thankfully didn't have elaborate back cuts - the back was fully covered with a zip from the base of her waist to her neck.
Now Anika realized why Mallika took so much time in dressing up for a part - it was a difficult task in itself! Here she was struggling for the last fifteen minutes to zip up her dress and she just couldn't reach it! Finally giving up, she shouted for Somz. Somz popped his head into her room. "Somz, can you please do me up yaar?" requested Anika casually pointing at her zip that was for unknown reasons, stuck near the waist. Somz gasped.
"A-N-I-K-A"! You're so damn shameless!" screamed Somz. Anika got startled. "Sorry, what?" she began, but Somz cut in. "Anika, I am a GUY and you are a GIRL and not to mention you're half NAKED! And you're calling me to help you?" shrieked Somz in disgust. Anika just stood there baffled and amused at the same time. Then an idea struck her.
"Somz, you're a guy and I am a girl, and I am half naked and calling for you - but you don't seem turned on. Is there anything wrong with you? Are you a guy even?" asked Anika with a crooked smile. Somz breathed fire at that. He stomped into Anika's room and roughly pulled up her zip to the neck and hissed, "Maybe it's because I am not a CHARACTERLESS man, Anika!" and rushed out of the room. Leaving a bewildered Anika with a half smiling and half exasperated look on her face.
Anika was almost ready, when the doorbell rang, it must be Rudra thought Anika - Rudra was picking her and Somz in his car today. As she touched up her soft rose pink lipstick and rushed to open the door, she took two steps back to see Shivay standing there. "You" she stammered, but Shivay didn't respond, he was taking in the breath-taking sight before him.
She was in a black dress that covered till her knees. She had minimal make-up, but the highlight was her soft brown doe-eyes and soft lustrous pink lips that looked like rose petals - her skin was clear and glowing against the dark black curls of her hair that she let loose today, she looked angelic, but why was his angel looking surprised?
"Shivay, you, here?" asked Anika again.
"Yes, I err..I didn't want Soumya to drink and ride her bike, so I came to pick her up in my car" he paused and then sheepishly added, "You can join too". Anika blushed, but she kept telling herself, Shivay had come for Soumya not her, since they were going to the same place, out of curtesy he had invited her. But before she responded, Somz came there.
"Bhai please stop treating me like a chic okay! I have had enough of this since morning! Fine, I agreed to not go to the trek owing to the monsoon, but this is too much! What? Now I can't drink and ride my bike too?" she screamed in frustration. A perplexed Anika kept looking between the brother-sister duo in shock.
"Somz, I am not putting rules on you - I thought since we all are partying together, then why not drive you there - that way, without having to worry about riding back, you can drink more and have more fun you know?" argued Shivay, looking at Anika for validation, who shook her head vehemently in support. Somz looked at her with narrow eyes, and then turned to Shivay.
"Bhai, for your information, Rudra is bringing his car, he will pick us up. You don't worry. Go pick Tia instead" she flashed.
"Om is picking her up, guess I will have to go alone then" muttered Shivay lowly and was about to walk out. Anika felt bad for him - he was only looking out for his sister, it wasn't wrong - but she knew she couldn't say anything - she desperately looked at Soumya, hoping she would change her mind, but she stood there firm not ready to budge, but then she looked at Anika with an odd smile.
"Bhai, wait. Don't go alone - we will do it this way. Since I planned with Rudra, let him pick me up. You take Anne with you. See you all there then" she finished and walked back to her room, leaving a flabbergasted Anika and an awkward Shivay behind. After a few minutes, Shivay looked at her, "Guess we should get going then Anika".
Anika followed Shivay out of the room quietly. Then she turned back to lock the door behind her, when Shivay turned and stood there in shock. Anika's dress, though modest from the front, was quite scandalous for her at least, from behind. It was made of those thin chiffon fabric that were translucent, hence practically her entire back from the waist to the shoulder was semi-visible. For a moment Shivay stared at the perfect curve at her waist and the slightly protruding shoulder blades, but then she turned and he quickly turned away to hide his gaping expression from her.
***
Om was driving down to the club with Tia by his side, he wanted to pick up Tia, and so he could have a word with her in private. As much as he didn't want to interfere in his cousin's life, today he had to. Anika was a very nice girl and his friend, and he didn't like the way Tia indirectly insulted or taunted her.
"Tia, why do you hate Anika thus?" asked Om quietly.
"Bhai? What's this? Why do you ask?" replied Tia curiously.
"Anika has become a good friend of mine, and your attitude towards her, bother's me. That's why" replied Om shortly.
"Wow, should I be worried? Should I inform chachi that you've found her a behenji for a bahu?" chuckled Tia. Her words irked Om more.
"Shut-up Tia. It's not that. I think she is a very nice person, and your unruly behaviour towards her puts up a detrimental image of your's before others" he replied carefully. Tia seemed to consider this one.
"By other's you mean?" she piped in.
"I mean Shivay especially." Said Om, carefully noticing her from the corner of his eyes, he knew he had hit the nail in the head, then he continued, "You see, Shivay loves Soumya unconditionally. And Soumya has requested Shivay to befriend Anika and take care of her - you like it or not and even Shivay likes it or not, he will do Soumya's bidding - he WILL look after Anika, how much ever he cribs - so if you don't like her, ignore her, but don't insult her - because once Shivay sees how nice a person Anika is, more sooner than later, Shivay isn't going to like your attitude towards Anika."
Tia looked thoughtful. Om figured, she wouldn't bother Anika much from now - he heaved a relief. Anika was too nice to take this from everyone - as it is Shivay treated her like doormat, and she couldn't do anything about it - but why Tia too? With a satisfied smile, Om drove on.