I'm back! Thank you for being so patient and I hope you really love this chapter, because I loved writing it. It's one of my favorites, from both the stories I've written so far.
I'm still sick, so do be a bit forgiving for any editing errors:)
Song of the Chapter: Mera Naam Kizie, Dil Bechaara💗
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The rest of the school day rolled by rather quickly, with Abir staring longingly at Lavanya, who had no clue whatsoever as she happily chattered away with Ayaana, while Nirvaan and Sid made fun of him.
It was in the last period that they decided that Abir would have a proper conversation with her at one of their classmate's party that evening.
The party would be a chill environment, and they could casually have some alone time without it being weird, unlike in their homes, where some overprotective fathers would randomly barge in, and little Myra would often eavesdrop and stakeout outside their room.
Neil had to turn down the invite, with him being the busiest of them all, managing the Musical and his college applications together.
The plan was set into motion, it was finally d-day.
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"Hello? Where the hell are you guys? Itni difficulty se maine Lav ko akela choda hai, and now is the time you guys decide to play hide and seek?"
Ayaana angrily whispered on her phone, as Nirvaan rolled his eyes on the other side of the call.
"Firstly, don't yell at me.-"
He said, making her shake her head and sigh, infuriated.
"-Secondly, woh mera best friend hai, kutta nahi, ki main uski location track karta rahu poore time. Drinks lene gaya tha, I'm sure mil jaayega. Wait for 2 minutes, and see that no other dude approaches Lav. "
Nirvaan instructed matter-of-factly and hung up the phone, before Ayaana could even nod.
Polite as always, Nirvaan Malik.
"Anaaaaaa!"
A cheer broke out, alerting Ayaana as she felt someone grab her hand tightly, her balance unsteady.
"Bir! Kya kar raha hai? I would've fallen, you ass."
She complained as she let out a sigh of relief, partly from the fact that it was Abir, with an amused Sid and Rhea besides him.
For a second she thought it was some psycho axe murderer. She'd seen an episode of True Crime the previous night which was still giving her the shivers.
"No Ana, why would you fall? If anyone should fall, it should be Lav. Yes. She should fall. Fall in looooooove with me!"
Abir yelled with a wide grin, spinning around uncontrollably, making Ayaana look at him with concerned, confused eyes, before she turned to Sid and Rhea for an explanation.
"Um, ye..nervous tha thoda. Toh mujhe laga ek drink peeke chill hojaayega."
Sid said with a sheepish smile, as he ran his fingers through his hair, while Rhea giggled uncharacteristically.
"Tujhe ye kitni baar laga? Kyunki I'm sure this is not Abir after just a single drink."
Ayaana asked him frustratedly, as she struggled to hold Abir by his shoulders, lest he run away, or fly away as he'd think.
"Yaar ab drink glass mein daalo, ya seedha bottle se piyo, ek drink toh ek hi hoti hai."
Sid joked guiltily, making Ayaana widen her eyes. A whole bottle?!?
"He was nervous so you let him drink a whole bottle? God, Sid. Please don't ever try to calm me down when I'M nervous."
She reprimanded him with piercing eyes, making him laugh faintly, as if scared.
"You too, Rhea? I mean Sid toh hai hi....Sid. But you could've said something!"
She turned to Rhea, who raised her eyebrows at her, before breaking out into laughter.
"Um...she is also.."
Sid said, pointing his hand towards a drink at the end of the sentence, making Ayaana facepalm.
"Brilliant, just brilliant. Main uski location track thodi karunga, kutta thodi hai, 2 minute mein aajayega."
Ayaana murmured while she struggled to sit Abir down, mimicking Nirvaan as she made faces to herself, while Sid looked at her with a half confused, half concerned expression.
Ayaana was the only sane one there, surely she couldn't have gone mad too?
"God Ayaana, you know you really need to like...chill. Like you're so wound up. Just calm down man."
Rhea said with a slurring voice, as she traced her fingers on Ayaana's nose, much to her irritation.
"Yeah I'll calm down, you alcoholic."
Ana muttered sarcastically, making Sid chuckle as he made the two drunk teenagers drink water.
"For realllll. Sometimes you're a real party-pooper. Poore time complain, complain, complain."
Rhea went on lazily, and this time Ayaana gritted her teeth.
Like okay, she was drunk, and maybe even right, but could she shut up? Jeez.
"Don't mind her, she's out of it abhi."
Sid said, noticing that Ayaana was getting annoyed, to which she nodded, offering Abir and Rhea some food to soak in the alcohol.
"Maybe that's why you got Juliet. She was kind of annoying too. The whole 'you die I die' thing was her idea after all."
Rhea muttered with a wide smile unconsciously , making Sid facepalm, and Ayaana shake her head.
They both knew she wasn't doing it intentionally and would never want to purposely hurt Ayaana, but she seemed to be good at really pulling strings that hurt.
"Okay, you know what. This time, you be the party-pooper."
Ayaana stated with a deadpan, making Sid look at her in alarm, what was that supposed to mean?
"No, seriously. You be the adult for a change. I am seventeen too, and this is my party too. I deserve to have some fun and I did not get these two idiots drunk. So you deal with it."
She said calmly, reaching her breaking point, maybe Sid widen his eyes.
Ayaana wasn't doing this out of spite, or just to teach someone a lesson. She was genuinely tired and needed a break.
"Bu-but, arey hello!-"
Sid yelled as he saw Ayaana grab her purse and start walking away.
"Yaar main in dono ko akele kaise handle karu? Ana! Sorry na please!"
He shouted desperately, making some people look at him weirdly, not that it ever bothered him.
"Call Nirvaan! Let him handle his best friend!"
Ayaana yelled back with a smirk, and giggled as she ran away.
She felt good, felt like she was genuinely stress-free after a long while, even if just for a few minutes. She'd obviously go back to help Sid.
Or so she thought.
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"Hey there, lonely boy!"
Ayaana greeted Samar cheerfully, as she saw him sitting alone at the patio.
"Hello to you too, Juliet."
Samar greeted her back with an amused smile, noticing that she wasn't quite normal, yet seemed to still be in her senses.
Maybe she'd had a drink or two, he concluded.
"Where's your Romeo and the rest of your crew?"
He asked genuinely, sipping his Redbull, as Ayaana scrunched up her eyebrow, taking a sip of her beer as well. Hey, it was a party.
"Why? Can't I be alone? Do I NEED to constantly be surrounded
by people?"
She asked, a little irritated, surprising Samar.
"No, no. I was just wondering. Sorry I asked."
He explained with a decent smile, making her grin too.
"Acha mera chodo, tum hamesha ki tarah akele kyu ho?"
She asked him unabashedly, making him chuckle.
She really was out of it, normally she was never this confrontational, he thought to himself.
"I don't know, I guess St. T's just isn't my scene. It's a bit too much. Everyone just wants to know who my dad is or what my mom does."
He explained nevertheless, with a shake of his head.
"Hmm, that's true. I mean they only give us this much importance because our parents are super-rich. And like, kind of semi-famous."
Ayaana said as she nodded her head, referring to the entire gang.
"I just realized I've no idea who your parents are. You like them?"
Samar asked with curious eyes, and a tinge of bitterness.
Even while drunk, Ayaana could make out he most probably didn't have a good relationship with his parents. Like her dad, or Malik.
"Yes, they're pretty cool.-"
She began to speak but hiccuped, much to Samar's amusement, who chuckled, making her giggle as well.
"So my dad's Manik Malhotra. Ew, taking his name is weird. Anyway, he's like a well known music producer, and low-key a rockstar? He had a band but they stopped performing publicly, they still do it for us though, pata hai, uss band ke baaki members Sid, Lav aur Bir ke parents hain!"
She explained excitedly, as Samar nodded, controlling his laughter.
"And my mom's Nandini Murthy Malhotra. She's the CEO of Oberoi Research, which is a huge deal apparently. I don't know man, she's the lady that makes my hot chocolate for me."
She exclaimed with a pout, and this time Samar couldn't help but laugh, as she smiled cheekily too, having now realised that she was indeed drunk.
"But yeah, I like them a lot. They're super amazing and I can tell them everything. I mean not everything, I could never tell dad about boys, he'd have any boy I like spied on. Or he'd just go and punch him. Maybe both."
She stated matter-of-factly, shrugging her shoulders as Samar shook his head.
"In that case don't ever tell him about me. I like my life without spies or punches, thank you very much."
He said with a grin, making her laugh.
"My mom's a designer. Ananya Luthra. She's pretty chill too, but she can be a tad too over-involved. Like when I have a girlfriend, I'm never introducing her to mom. She's going to start planning our wedding and just make her run away."
Samar said with a shudder, making Ayaana laugh loudly. Sounds like Navya maasi.
"I've heard of your mom though! Alya maasi, uh...Lav's mom? She's a designer too. And she's talked about your mom's work, she really likes it!"
She told him with a wide smile, to which she responded with a grateful bow of the head.
"You want to know something though?"
She asked him silently, making him turn to her with a curious expression. He could see the mood had shifted.
"I love my parents, I really do. But sometimes I feel like...like they're both so successful. And so accomplished. Like I'm literally living with people who've had ekdum Bollywood movies jaisi lives."
She said, making Samar chuckle as he nodded his head for her to go on.
"I don't know if I'll ever measure up, you know? I wonder sometimes, would all these people still think of me the way they do, or would they still be my friends if I wasn't Ayaana Murthy Malhotra. What if I was just Ayaana?"
She said wistfully, sighing. She'd never, ever told anyone that. She didn't want to sound ungrateful, but she couldn't help it, it's just how she felt.
"Just for the record,"
Samar began to say, pulling her out of her trip as she turned towards him.
"I had no idea who your parents were. I still wanted to be your friend, didn't I?"
He asked with a grin, making her smile slowly, realizing that he was right.
"And come on, I'm the self proclaimed lonely boy. Poori party mein agar bas tumse baat kar raha hoon, then you only think, why wouldn't you be a great person to befriend?"
He made her think, as she furrowed her eyebrows and nodded slowly, making him laugh.
"You're really good at explaining stuff to people, Samar. Can I call you Sam? Or Mar? Ooh, maybe Luthra. Just anything but Samar, it takes a long time to say your name."
Ayaana complained with a serious expression, making Samar shake his head in amusement.
"My mom calls me Sammy, but friends usually stick to Luthra. So you pick."
He explained, making her think. Not Sammy, that's only for mom's Sammy, she thought to herself.
"Okay then, decided, I'm calling you Luthra!"
She excitedly clapped, as he laughed and clapped as well, so she didn't feel left out.
"What should I call you then? Murthy or Malhotra?"
He asked, making her furrow her eyebrows.
"Noooo, you call me Juliet only. I like that name. It's so cute."
She said with a bright smile, as he nodded but sighed.
"Tumhe Juliet bulaunga toh tumhara Romeo mujhe maardega."
He muttered inaudibly, making Ayaana turn to him with a confused expression.
"Nothing, nothing. Acha ab, it's sort of late. So I'll get you to Lavanya or Nirvaan? They'll know how to deal with you better."
Samar said sternly yet politely, which made Ayaana nod and get up without protests, much to his amusement.
"I'm glad I talked to you, Luthra. You're really nice. I told Vaan you're nice."
She said with a big smile, as Samar chuckled and shook his head, grabbing her arm as he made his way through the crowds to look for her friends.
"Yes, I'm sure you did. That's why he loves me so much."
He muttered jokingly, making Ayaana chuckle too.
He really was nice.
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And that's a wrap! I really do love this chapter, I think it's nice to have a breather from time to time, where you read a new perspective, Samar's, in this case.
I also wanted to have a chapter solely dedicated to Ayaana as well, because she is the protagonist, if not the main lead.
But, Neil, Lavanya and Nirvaan fans, don't worry, plenty of chapters left for you to read about them too!
Other than that, please do comment your favorite parts of the chapter, your favorite characters, friendships, ships and moments!💖
Until next time, keep voting, commenting and sharing the love!✨