Day - 2
It was raining when Aayrah and Ahana reached Amritsar on Sunday evening after taking numerous halts in between Mumbai and Amritsar. Ahana refrained from letting Aayrah drive considering her wild skills and took the charge by herself. They rested for the night in a small hotel which came in the way to Dalhousie and now after having breakfast and feeling fresh they start again the journey to the next stop. That is Dalhousie!
It is a four-hour route but Aayrah and Ahana are well aware that it will take them double to reach and they had no problem as the destination wasn't in their mind but this road felt more beautiful. The luggage was resting in the trunk of their small car while Aayrah's extra luggage according to Ahana that is her guitar took the backseat occupying the whole space. The heat and moisture were too much making them sweat like pig and they just hoped they reach Himachal soon. Aaryah was wearing shorts and a t-shirt with a jacket over it. She never thought about the future and rather focused on the current moment so even after getting tons of warnings about the coldness of Himalaya, Aayrah settled in her shorts. She held her fancy blue stranded hair high and tied them in a bun letting her neck tattoo visible. She had three of them. One on her neck, one on wrist and final on the right side of her body just below the breast. All of them with some meaning like how she loved them while Ahana hated the concept of getting tattooed or dyeing hair with different colours.
Aayrah put the glares on as she yawned opening her mouth full and making a loud sound. Ahana gave a look to her little sister and her disgusting behaviour.
"Gross," she said making Aayrah rolled her eyes who was sleep-deprived even after going to bed around 10 and waking up after ten hours.
Aayrah moved her gaze out of the window to see men and women working in the fields. The trees surrounded the road every now and then as the Sun peeked from the leaves making her chuckle. She felt free in nature as she was tired of the traffic and city life of Mumbai. Aayrah held her camera and clicked a few photos on the way asking Ahana to slow down the car. They exchanged the seats in between the small break where they roamed around and clicked a few pictures. Aaryah started putting the stories on Instagram and got tons of replies for the same.
They knew Himachal is not long away when the mountains came into view making them smile wider. There is something about the mountains that always attracted those two souls who were different from each other but mountains bounded them closer. There was a calmness, a stillness about them which made the love deeper. The hoarding read that Dalhousie was still some 60KM away and they needed to fill their empty stomachs as it was already past noon and they were craving food.
Aayrah slowed down the car when a Dhaba came into their view. She looked at Ahana to get some signal if she should stop or they can go further to search for the next one. But Ahana agreed to stop at this as it looked decent with a few cars already parked outside. Aayrah parked the car and got out quickly as she started fanning herself with the sudden change in her surrounding from 18 degrees of the car to some 40 degrees of outside.
"I can feel the mountains but why the fuck is it so hot?" Aayrah said getting frustrated with temperature. Though she was very well used to be in hot considering she lived her life in Mumbai but still, it irritated her.
"Those are still away," Ahana said making her way inside. A guy gave them a smile politely and asked them to grab a seat. She smiled back and looked at Aayrah who was following her.
"60 is not a long-distance," she said with irritation. Ahana chose the place which was closer to the table fan.
"Sorry but I don't handle the weather change," she said making a duh face. Aayrah rolled her eyes getting seated in front of her on charpai.
"I wish you could," she said moving the fan around so it could fan her face directly.
💫💫💫💫
Shivansh glared at Chirag who was busy talking with their driver. He didn't believe their journey started on such a bad note. First, the flight got delayed by 2 hours. They were greeted by rain when they reached Amritsar much to his annoyance and now when they were on the way to Dalhousie, then their car broke down on the deserted highway in this hot temperature. He let out a frustrated groan seeing the cars passing by but couldn't do anything. Chirag was still trying to speak to the driver who said they need to get back to Amritsar as he won't find a mechanic here. He was frustrated and hungry which made him angry. So he made his way to where Chirag was standing.
"Is there any restaurant or something nearby?" Shivansh asked narrowing his eyes because of the Sun bursting in the sky.
"Yes, at least that. Even I am craving food," Chirag said with a smile. Shivansh glared at him.
"There might be a Dhaba nearby. You get done with eating until then I will find some help," the driver said pointing to back direction.
"You too eat something and later we can find help," Shivansh said being the sweet that he was. The driver shook his head.
"That's better. Come along with us," Chirag insisted.
The driver agreed when two boys didn't leave him alone and rather insisted to come along. He took out the keys and started locking the car. Shivansh moved away and started walking in the direction driver suggested. Chirag came and threw his hands on Shivansh's shoulders. He glared again.
"What? It's not like I did something with the car," Chirag said in his defence. Shivansh sighed heavily.
"I was fine in Pune," he said shaking his head slightly.
"Yes, of course. Sitting at your desk, writing programs and in between peeking in your Aditi's feeds and getting angry at people for no reason," Chirag said rolling his eyes as he moved aside.
"Keep your mouth shut," Shivansh said and started walking fast with Chirag following him as he laughed out loud.
They both stood in front of the Dhaba and stared up at the nameplate. Take Rest. Chirag made a face and looked at Shivansh to the side. Shivansh let out a sigh and shook his head in disappointment.
"Take Rest Dhaba?" Chirag asked making a face.
"Seriously?" he said again when Shivansh refused to speak anything ahead.
"Who cares man," he said and started walking ahead.
"But Take Rest?" Chirag said without letting go of the topic just yet.
"Will you stop?" Shivansh said through gritted teeth in between giving smile to the Dhaba owner who asked them to seat with a namaste.
"Okay, mom. Sorry," Chirag said with a chuckle as Shivansh threw him a glare.
They walked through the charpai searching a seat for them when Chirag's eyes fell on the known face. He recognized it immediately as he has survived his engineering by copying the notes and assignments of that very girl. Though they weren't exactly close they knew each other really well.
Shivansh was asking Chirag if they should seat at one corner where he could spot an empty table but Chirag wasn't listening to him anymore. He made his way towards the charpai located near the table fan.
"Hello," he said getting in front of Ahana. She jerked looking to the side with the sudden appearance of a boy but her face lit up immediately and she found herself smile ear to ear as she got up from her seat.
"Chirag?" she said with excitement, "OMG! Such a long time." Chirag was smiling wide as he gave Ahana a quick hug. Aayrah and Shivansh on the other side were clueless looking at the two friends.
Ahana did her graduation in Pune as she wanted to get admitted into the college of engineering, Pune which is one of the most prestigious college of engineering beside she has always loved that silent city which was a contrast to Mumbai's rush. So what's a better way that completing the graduation into the city which is known as an education hub.
"Indeed but you have become even more beautiful, Ahana. The last time I saw you were in last year of BE so that makes it almost 9 years," Chirag said. Ahana smiled a little.
"Yup!" she said with a nod and noticed Shivansh who was standing beside Chirag awkwardly, "So what's going on?" she asked.
"Nothing. Thought of going for a vacation with this..." Chirag said and was remainder that Shivansh was along with him as well.
"This is my friend, my brother, Shivansh Bapat," he said as Shivansh gave a sweet smile to both girls. Aayrah who was just noticing the two boys until now got up from charpai and joined the group.
"Hi," Shivansh said with a slight awkwardness. He has always been awkward around strangers.
"Hello," Ahana returned the sweet gesture and smiled at him genuinely.
"And this is Ahana Mehta, the very beautiful," Chirag said with a wink making Ahana chuckle. Shivansh smiled again. Aayrah rolled her eyes seeing the cheesiness around.
"Shut up," Ahana said and moved to look at Aayrah behind, "Meet my little sister, Aayrah."
"Different just like your name," Chirag said with a wink. Aayrah was least interested in his flirting and gave a confident smirk.
"I would say unique just like my name," she said and winked back at him. Chirag chuckled again.
"Better and I like you," he said as he found someone who was here to give him back.
"So you two are here?" Chirag asked again.
"Obviously on a holiday. Actually on a road trip to mountains," Aayrah said. Chirag nodded.
"We have planned the same," he said.
"We had," Shivansh said correcting him with a glare. Chirag sighed.
"Oh yes, our car broke down and now we need to get back to Amritsar and get it fixed," he said further.
"You were going to Dalhousie?" Ahana asked.
"Yes," Chirag said with a half-smile knowing well that they need to reschedule everything now.
"Until now. But the plan changed and we will be heading back to Amritsar," Shivansh said again. Ahana chuckled hearing him while Chirag sighed looking at Shivansh again.
"Relax, Egghead. You will be fine," Aayrah said with a chuckle and grabbing the attention.
"Why am I an Egghead?" Shivansh said with a deep frown. Aayrah smirked at him.
"I can tell that just by looking at people," she said, "I mean looking at him no one could call him intellectual or studious but you scream that." she finished pointing a finger at Shivansh whose frown deepened with her remark.
"What does that mean?" he asked.
"You won't understand, four-eyes as it needs the eyes of an extremely talented person," she said with a chuckle and wink. Chirag held his laugh back being pleased that someone irritated his already frustrated best friend.
"Can we just leave?" Shivansh asked with annoyance looking back at Chirag.
"Aw! Are you mad at me?" Aayrah asked again making a face. Shivansh glared at her but that didn't stop her.
"Will you just shut that mouth?" he asked.
"No," she said shamelessly with a smile. Ahana who was just watching at the banter and knew her sister well jumped in before she makes it worse.
"Aaru," she said. Aayrah looked at her and shrugged.
"Anyway, so what I was saying..." Aayrah started where she left before she got interrupted, "If we have the same destination and you people know each other well then let's go together. The more people the more fun." She asked eyeing three people around. She loved making friends and believed the more people the double fun.
"Why don't you ask all the people going to Dalhousie then?" Shivansh asked making her roll her eyes.
"Well, Mr Intellectual, I did mention that they know each other well," she said. Shivansh rolled his eyes.
"I like the idea but I am not sure if we should," Chirag said cutting those four glaring eyes.
"You can come along as I don't mind at all. A friend in need is a friend indeed," Ahana said much to Aayrah's surprise. She gave Ahana a suspicious glare which she didn't entertain.
"Ahana Mehta you are surprising me in a good way. I am waiting for more," Chirag said with his flirtatious tone. Ahana giggled.
"What say, Egghead?" Aayrah asked grabbing the attention of Shivansh who was giving a look to Chirag, "Are you coming with us or going back to Amritsar and then to your Pune?"
"Aaru..." Ahana glared at Aayrah and looked at Shivansh who looked pissed, "Don't worry. I am here to save you from her."
"Come along as it will be fun. Rather than just going alone, no?" Ahana asked with a smile. He didn't mind going with Ahana but he didn't like the behaviour of her little sister of hers. She was the kind of girl he always maintained a distance from. The kind of carefree, bindhast girl.
"Fine but what about bookings? We might have different hotels so are we gonna keep roaming?" Shivansh asked as he doesn't want to ruin it for anyone. He has already been started on the worse note and it just kept on getting worst.
"I will manage, buddy. What am I for? Don't worry when Chirag is here," Chirag said with a full smile. Shivansh rolled his eyes and shook his head a little.
"Let's go, pretties," Chirag said forgetting why they were here.
"We need to eat," Shivansh said getting irritated further. Chirag made a face much to Shivansh's disappointment.
"Right, of course," Chirag said giving him a sheepish smile.
"Let's adjust the bookings over lunch then," he said further and moved aside to get seated on the charpai. Shivansh took out his backpack and kept it to the side as he started walking to the washbasin to wash hands when someone grabbed him by arm and he got pulled back. He stumbled and looked to his side to see Aayrah with her ever so wide smirk.
"It's going to be fun with you on board, Egghead," she said with a wink and went back to her seat.
This is so not going to be fun that's what Shivansh thought with a painful face.
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That's all. Finally, they met. Now the ride starts. Just thought of giving you all an early update because I couldn't last week. 😌
Let me know what you think about our four souls.
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I will be back soon with another update.
Till then, bye. ❤️