"Where are you lost?!" Aryan questioned taking a seat opposite Khushi. He had waved at her at first but she had been lost in her own world. "Oh, nowhere," Khushi replied, returning back to reality. Aryan rolled his eyes at her, this hadn't been the first time she had been lost in her own world. Something was clearly up with her but if she wasn't going to tell him, he didn't see the point in probing. "How was the lecture?" He questioned, changing the subject. "It was okay," she smiled, not that she had been listening. "Where were you? I called you like five times!" She asked in an unimpressed tone. "Oh, I fell asleep and then I had to iron my clothes. To be honest, I had a look at the lecture last night and the notes weren't that good," Aryan replied glumly. "You had to iron your clothes? Seriously Aryan?" She rolled her eyes at him. Aryan was unbelievable!. "Well I like to look presentable, urgh! I can't stand people that walk into lectures with just their pyjamas on. I don't think they should be allowed to enter if they can't dress normal," he commented, annoyance clear in his eyes. Khushi laughed at that, he really was such a drama queen. "Wheres Alisha anyway?" "Oh, she wasn't feeling well," there had been something off with Alisha this morning. "Oh, well that's a shame," Aryan replied.
"So what were you thinking of doing this afternoon then?" Aryan asked, trying to move the conversation on but Khushi didn't seem to be listening, she was too busy looking elsewhere. "Khushi! What is wrong with you?" He shook her elbow, causing her to loose her balance for a second. "Oh my god. You are ogling at that guy from the flat party!" Aryan exclaimed quickly catching onto who she was so intently staring at. "I'm not ogling!" She shot him an annoyed look. She had noticed Arnav walking into the cafeteria suddenly and had been trying to deduce what he was doing, if he had seen her. She looked back and he was no longer there, now she was really annoyed at this Aryan. "Aryan! Oh my god! Where did he go?" "Oh god!" He rolled his eyes, "he's such a creep!"Aryan then commented, forming a disgusted face. "And how is he a creep?" "That's what's his name right?" "You mean Arnav?" "Yeh ARnav," he made a face again, whilst emphasising the first two letters of his name. "There are way too many rumours around him. Plus look at him, half the time he's walking around alone, like a loner." "Aryan, walking around alone doesn't make anyone a loner and nor does it make them a creep," she replied exhausted. "Well it kind of does!" He snapped back.
"Hi guys!" Alisha exclaimed, joining them at the table, whilst two pairs of eyes looked back at her surprised. "What is up?" She questioned, baffled. "Oh sorry," both replied at the same time. Aryan opened his mouth to reply, but Khushi cut in. "We were just having a very heated discussion about Arnav, who Aryan thinks is a creep because he walks around alone." Khushi explained, throwing another dirty look Aryans way. Alisha burst out laughing. They both looked away from each other. Alisha managed to calm her laughing down and started to make an attempt to cool down the situation. "Okay okay guys. Just chill. Why do we care anyway?" She questioned now curious. "Because Khushi is obviously in love with him," Aryan laughed. Khushi was clearly growling and angry now. "What?! Seriously?!" Alisha screamed. "NO!" Khushi exclaimed back. "What I can't look at people now?" "There's looking and then there's ogling!" Aryan corrected. Khushi turned away in a huff once more. "Oh ghosh guys, calm down. Plus Khushi I haven't really heard good things about him either," Alisha quickly added in. "What do you mean?" She was almost scared. "It's just apparently he sleeps around with like everyone. And apparently he can be quite violent. Someone said he also did drugs for a while." Alisha was mumbling now, concerned at how quickly the colour had drained off of her friends face. "Yeh see! I told you he's a creep!" Aryan continued. "I think you should just stay away from him to be honest. He's just a weirdo." "Hmmm," was Khushis only reply.
----
"They could all just be false rumours you know," Khushi quietly mumbled to Alisha, once they were back in her room. "What could all be rumours?" Alisha asked confused. "All the things you were saying about Arnav, he seems like a genuinely nice guy." "Yeh I guess," replied Alisha, "I mean when it comes to guys you can judge them a lot better than I can. Plus Khushi you are capable of handling difficult situations, much more than me anyway. So I really don't know." "Hmm," Khushi replied, "you know what? I'll try hanging out with him a bit more and find out for myself what he's really about. I've never believed in rumours before and just because I'm in a different place, I don't think I'm going to start either." "Up to you," Alisha replied with a reassuring smile. She knew her fried was more than capable of dividing right from wrong. "But then why do you care so much?" Alisha, knew why but she just wanted to hear it from Khushis mouth. Khushi looked back annoyed, why were her friends after this poor guy. "I don't care. I just find him nice to talk to and he's being nice to me." She replied, attempting to stay calm. "He's being nice to you? I don't remember your first impression of him being the best." "Well you can't always judge people on first impressions, if he's making an attempt then I don't see why I shouldn't give him a chance." "Well Khush did you try asking him why he was so rude to you on the first day?" What Alisha said sounded so logical to Khushi but it just hadn't entered her mind. "Oh my ghosh! I totally should!"
----
The next morning Khushi didn't see Arnav. She wanted to talk to him. She'd even rehearsed her questions. Damn it where was he. Then she realised she was being stupid. Maybe he didn't have any lectures that day.
----
"Nani! I'm running late! I told you I'll come if I can make it! Stop creating a fuss!" Arnav exclaimed into the phone. This conversation had been going on for half an hour and they were getting nowhere. "Chote!" Her voice was stern, even more angrier than the previous times, "stop making excuses. I know you have nowhere to go. We haven't seen you in two months. This is getting beyond ridiculous." "Nani! Stop being such a pest. I do have somewhere to go, I have a lot on my mind." "So does everyone chote," she was exhausted of his excuses now, "start facing the world! Stop following in the cowardly footsteps of your father!" And with that she slammed the phone down.
Arnav was seething with anger, this was the way every argument with his nani ended. She always compared him to a person that he wasn't, a person he never aspired to be. He had tried to face it all, to attempt to mend broken relationships, forget the past. But it was difficult. He didn't have that much strength left in him anymore. He just wanted to move away from it, pretend nothing was wrong with his life...
----
Khushi headed out of the building after the lecture, she wanted to go to the library alone and browse for some books. She was making up a list of books to check out in her head when she saw someone that looked like Arnav walk out of the library. She immediately followed. Yep definitely was him, that strong frame, those toned arms. She was surprised at how she could even recognise him now by looking at his back. "Hey! No hi today? Just going to walk away?" She asked coming to a stop in front of him, her face beaming with a smile. But she noticed his face was glum, his mouth fallen. "Oh hi," he replied, a lot quieter than usual attempting to smile. "I didn't see you," he replied casually, no witty comment in return. Something was up. "Is something wrong?" She asked concern clear on her face. "No why would anything be wrong?" He sounded somewhat annoyed. Khushi continued to walk with him, in the opposite direction to the library. "Weren't you going to the library before?" He asked now curious as to why she was continuing down the wrong way. "Oh yeah. I decided I didn't need to check the books out till next week, so why waste an extra week of keeping them," Khushi quickly made up an excuse. Arnav couldn't help but smirk at that, you had to admit it she had a knack for making up excuses. "So what have you been up to today?" She continued attempting to create conversation. "Nothing," he replied glumly. His answers were too short, this couldn't be the same guy who had made Twilight jokes at her yesterday. Khushi was too engrossed in thoughts of what was wrong with Arnav to realise that she was now off of the pavement, standing inches away from an approaching bus. She felt strong arms almost lift her up and move her. "Can't you watch where you are going?" He exclaimed, anger flaring out of his face. Khushi stared back in astonishment, also angry at his sudden outburst. Then she realised that she had been standing in front of a bus. Okay that was kind of her fault but there was no need to get that angry. "Hey! There's no need to shout! I don't know what the hell has got into you! One minute you are nice and the next minute you are the coldest person I know! You know what I'd rather not attempt to make conversation with a brick wall! And a rude one at that!" He stared at her baffled as she continued to scream at him. "You know what?!" She continued "You might be okay with having some sort of split personality disorder but I don't associate with people like that! So goodbye Arnav!" And with that she stomped off. His face turned from an expression of disbelief to hurt. He knew he had hurt her feelings, she had attempted to understand what was wrong and he had shunned her away. Why was it that he always ended up doing the wrong thing.
Khushi came to an abrupt halt. Only then did she realise that he hadn't uttered a word in return to her outburst of anger. He had saved her from an almost accident and she had yelled at him in return. Wasn't it her own fault for not concentrating on where she was going. She turned back around to go back and apologise but he was no longer anywhere to be seen...
She would make things right again...
How can I decide what's right?
When you're clouding up my mind
I can't win your losing fight
He knew it wasn't fair. He had lashed out in anger at her when it was someone elses fault. It was what he always did. It was all someone elses fault and yet the people around him were paying.
Nor could I even own what's mine
When you're always taking sides
But you won't take away my pride
No, not this time
Not this time
She had to find out what was wrong. What he was hiding, was eating him up from the inside, he needed to tell someone and she would make sure that she was there to listen to him. Like he had been there for her.
The truth is hiding in your eyes
And it's hanging on your tongue
Just boiling in my blood
But you think that I can't see
What kind of man that you are
If you're a man at all
Well, I'll figure this one out
On my own... On my own...
Lyrics credit: Decode by Paramore
P.S I may not be able to update the next chapter for a while. My exams start on Monday so not sure if I'll find any time to write, depends on how tight my revision schedule becomes xxx
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