The next day, mom suddenly informs me that we would be visiting my grandparents who live with my uncle, Akhil (my mom's elder brother), his wife, my aunt, Rema and—drum rolls please!—my little cousin brother, Shravan and his elder brother Ajay.
We were cousins, but we had grown together that we consider ourselves siblings. Alone, you never would have seen anyone as obedient as us but one can only hope that the house doesn't burn down when we three come together.
Yippe-ki-yay, motherfucker!
Feeling elated, I get ready and quite literally inhale my breakfast and start tailing my mom, asking her if there were any chores I must help her with so that we can get to my grandparents' house earlier.
"Wow, try to show this enthusiasm to work every day Vicky because I'm your mother and all, you know."
Chuckling, I pinch my mom's cheeks.
"Aww, I love you Ma, don't get jealous that I love them too."
Slapping my hands away, she playfully pinches my forearm, but boy did it hurt like a bitch!
"I'll just get the keys and then we can leave." My mom says, heading to her room.
Meanwhile I go get changed into jeans and a siblings-goals t-shirt that me and my cousins wear whenever we meet together after a long time.
Smoothing the shirt I grab my EDITH eyeglasses, put them on and pack a backpack with my pj's and a set of casual attire along with other necessities, since my mom said we will be staying there overnight.
I recheck if I need anything else and when I was good to go, I made my way to the living room to see mom going through her wallet and checking if she had adequate money.
"Shall we?" My mom asked, gesturing to the door.
Nodding eagerly, I throw the door open and dash down to the main gate as I wait for my mom to get on the scooter and start it. Once she does, I seat myself behind her and we start moving away from the apartment after wearing our helmets.
I impatiently get off of the scooter and open the main gate after we reach our grandparents' house for my mom to park the vehicle as I run up the stairs to my grandparents' house—which was in the last floor of a two storied building that was owned by them—as the sound of my heavy footsteps echo around the walls.
Right when I reach the landing right in front of the door, the door opens, revealing Aunt Rema standing with a smile on her face.
"Hi Auntie Rema!" I hug her and remove my footwear before entering the house.
Once I did, I hear my brothers' voices coming from Shravan's room. I go towards the room and their attention snaps to me from their game of NFS:MW 2005.
Slowly, wide grins appear on our faces as we all squeal like teenage girls—well I am literally a teenage girl, but my brothers aren't—and rush together for a group hug, jumping as we hug each other.
We point at each other's shirts and burst out laughing.
"We still don't forget to do this." Ajay says, sighing as he drapes his arms around me and Shravan.
"What's all the noise?" My grandpa comes inside and looking at us, he smiles.
"As long as you don't wreck the house, we're good." He states before leaving us.
Plopping on Shravan's bed, I call out for Alexa to play 'Cherry Pie' by Warrant craving for a rock genre, with Shravan agreeing with my choice.
Butting in, Ajay shouts out for Alexa, instructing to play ''Till I Collapse' by Eminem and the music changes.
"What? No! We want rock!!" Shravan shouts for the two of us.
Shrugging, Ajay lies down on the bed, bopping his head to the beat.
Scowling, Shravan changes the song again.
Ajay was about to interrupt with his voice command but I slap my hand on his mouth on time for 'Cherry Pie' to start playing.
Ajay squirms, but when I didn't budge, he starts licking my palms to which I wrinkle my face in disgust but still keep my palms on his mouth.
He starts thrashing but I wrap my legs around his arms and torso with my hands still on his mouth while Shravan sits on Ajay's legs to keep them from kicking.
All the while during wrestling Ajay, Shravan and I belt out the lyrics.
"DON'T EVEN TRY 'CAUSE YOU CANT IGNORE HER!" I look down at Ajay while singing this particular line, making him roll his eyes and say something that comes out muffled under my palms.
When the song ends, we let go of Ajay and firstly, I wipe the traces of his saliva from my palms on his sleeves.
"Eww." he wrinkles his nose to which I roll my eyes and reply, "It's yours, dumbass."
"You do know that song is not for those of your age right?" He asks Shravan but after the simple shrug he gets for a reply, he pounces on Shravan and starts tickling him, occasionally pinching him.
My gaze falls on Shravan's keyboard on the right side of the room and I walk to it, pressing some keys randomly.
"Aaaaaah! Please help! Vicky, look!" Shravan shouts in between his laughter.
"Eh, I've been looking at these faces for almost 16 years—13 in your case, Shravan. So, I think I'll pass." I tease.
Both of them then turn to me with a mock offended expression and they tackle me down and start tickling me.
I give no reaction as they try to tickle my ribs, my face remaining stoic and I hardly twitch when my sole is tickled.
"Ugh, I forgot she isn't too ticklish." Ajay huffs, letting go of my shoulder and getting up, but in the process his fingers brush along the sensitive skin of my neck.
I let out a giggle, making both of them slowly turn towards me with Ajay still straddling me and frozen in the position in which his fingers brushed my tickle spot.
I slap my hand on my mouth, regretting my reaction, but when Ajay tickles the same spot again, all hells break lose and I start laughing—hard—and Shravan joins in after commenting, "Fucking finally."
Not too loud though, we don't want people asking who taught Shravan all these words.
It's your fault. Hell, even Ajay chides him sometimes, unlike how you encourage him.
"Oh no..." Auntie Rema mumbles as she looks at the chaos.
"Fine, fine. Y'all're like, the handsomest faces I've ever seen! Let me go now." I pant.
Both of them get away and offer their hands, sitting me up as I accept them.
"Heyo kids!" Uncle Akhil greets cheerfully. Yes, he is the man-child of the family and kinda like our leader. But he can be strict when he wants to.
"Hey Vickers!" He greets me separately, raising his hand for a high-five.
Slapping it I greet him, "Hey Paps!"
"How are yous?" He asks
"Fines. Yous?"
"Cools."
"Goods."
"I'll never understand why they add 's' in the end of a sentence..." My mom mutters exasperatedly.
"You're jealous of our equal wavelengths Leila." Paps comments, referring to my mom.
Scowling, my mom slaps her brother for that statement.
We all then have a family brunch and sit for a movie in the living room, which was of horror genre and the adults took the couches while we kids sat on the floor.
With our backs leaning on the couch, I sat in between Ajay and Shravan, cuddled as close as possible and the movie went with Shravan burying his face in my shoulders and asking, 'Is it gone?' or 'Is it dead?'. Basically, he was just listening to the movie.
After a game of monopoly—that started right after the movie ended—which ended only before dinner, we all went to sleep.
Sleeping arrangements were only slightly changed with my mom taking the guest room's bed while Shravan, Ajay and I took Shravan's bed in his room.
"So, how's life?" Shravan asks, as we three lie down and stare at the ceiling in the dark, again I'm in the middle and we were cuddled close to each other.
"Eh, ok." I reply, when in reality it wasn't.
"Uh-huh and how's Nikhil?"
Shravan has always been fond of Nikhil and vice-versa and they tend to join me in my crimes whenever they were together with me.
"He's um...he's good too. He's been improving in other subjects now as well. You know how he likes Science and Math but almost cries out for other subjects." I chuckle at the memories of Nikhil groaning whenever the social science period came.
Both of them give me a surprised look which I return with a confused one.
"Hey what about Ved? I heard he's in your school now..." Ajay asks with a frown and I also see a frown on Shravan's face.
They call themselves Team 'someone else' and yes, they are against the 'Rithvika and Ved' concept. It must be Team Ved vs. Team 'someone else' and shit like that, so when I ask these dickheads about who the 'someone else' is they've always told me that when time comes they'll tell me.
"Yeah, he is."
Both of them turn completely to look at me and even in the dark, I can sense the surprise.
"What? That's it?" Shravan asks while Ajay says, "No squealing or 'he's-so-hot' or fawning over him?"
"Um...no?" I answer unsure of where they were getting to.
"Spill the tea sis. What's up with your feelings?" Shravan says excitedly his eyes almost glimmering in the dark.
I don't know why my romantic life entertains them so much. But nevertheless I sigh and tell them about the current status of my feelings between Ved and me and Nikhil while Ajay and Shravan listen silently.
When I'm done I notice that Shravan had fallen asleep on my side and Ajay hadn't, but he stayed silent.
"So you really don't know how you feel?" Ajay asks me slowly after sometime.
"No, brother. I really wish I did—"
"You really thing I'm gonna buy that Vicky? I've known you since you were born and yeah I'm six years older, but that doesn't change anything about how I know you.
"Honestly, I think you're in denial." He finishes, wrapping his arms around me.
"About what?" I say, reciprocating his action.
"About falling for Nikhil." He said casually, while resting his chin on my head with little movements as to not wake Shravan.
"F— f— falli— Are you insane? I'm telling you I'm not sure if I even like hi—"
"Oh, you're way past the liking sis." He muses.
"Yo! You used to give me awesome advice man, what happened to you?"
"As much as I'd like to just spell out everything for you to understand, I think you must figure this out yourself. I love you and all, but sometimes you're too dumb. No offence kid."
"None taken." I mumble, my eyes getting heavier.
"Oh and I think it's time you know the Team we're in. You know, we call ourselves Team 'someone else', and you've asked me who the 'someone else' is?" he asks.
"Yea..." I murmur sleepily with my eyes closed.
The last thing I hear before being pulled into unconsciousness was Ajay murmuring into my hair, with a smile that I can feel while his lips move on my hair.
"We're Team Nikhil."
A/N: Thoughts? Vote and comment, please and thank you!