I was walking alone. Sara's house was only a minute walk from my own. It was seven in the evening and the streets were dimly lit.

Although the actual party started at eight, Sara had invited me an hour earlier for something. Maybe she wanted help with the party. And I was not surprised when she had asked me to come through the back door and bring my guitar.

"You're gonna be surprised with what you may find," she had said. Damn, this girl was the mother of drama.

So, here I was walking alone in the dim light, with my guitar on my back and a small wrapped box on my hands.

I never had the chance to ask Aditi for the party. And as far as I knew, she was coming alone as well.

I mentally kicked myself for the hundredth time for not talking to Aditi. She would not have rejected me. I am a friend after all. And I was the only friend she had had when she was alone.

Damn I missed the days when I was not thinking so much about a girl. Actually it used to be the other way around. I never gave a shit about other girls in school. But that hadn't stopped them from asking me for coffee or a dance. So why was I hesitating?

In just a while I could see Sara's house appearing in the distance. It was a small house with faded, violet-colored walls. I wondered if they had ever repainted the walls in ten years.

I had been in there quiet a few times and knew that her parents weren't home that evening. If they were there would not have been a party there. Her father was one angry devil with a serious drinking problem. As far as Sara had told me, he came home every night drunk and had fights with her mother.

Sara hated her father. If it hadn't been for her mother, Sara would not have been living in that mad house, they call home.

But I had to go there anyway. There are certain things in life that you don't want to do but you have to just for the sake of it.

I reached Sara's house and took the small alley on the side to get to the back door. The houses on the other side of the alley looked like they had not seen light for centuries.

I knocked on the door and waited, impatiently tapping on my thigh.

The door flung open and Sara greeted me inside with a hug and a big smile. I hugged long enough to seem polite and handed her the wrapped box.

She was wearing jeans and a shirt, too baggy for her skinny frame.

"So, what am I doing here?" I asked looking around her house; nobody was around.

"Have patience, child." She winked at me sarcastically and led me upstairs to her room.

We took one of the three doors into her room.

"Hey, Samar?" Aditi's voice cut through my inquiries as I entered Sara's room. She was sitting upright on the bed and looked shocked to see me there.

I turned to look at Sara. She gave me a smile and walked up to Aditi, leaving me standing awkwardly as the two girls exchanged glances.

"So, I wasn't the only one to be called early." I said with a bit of sarcasm and much amusement in my voice.

"Nope." Sara said.

"So, again, what am I...we doing here?" I said looking at Aditi and then back at Sara as I put my guitar leaning on the wall near the bed.

"You are standing and I am insisting you sit." She said as she got off the bed and pulled me.

I awkwardly sat next to Aditi, who was silently looking below.

Sara stood in front of us and cleared her throat.

"So, I'm gonna get some coffee. You guys keep it PG-13, alright?" Sara said.

Aditi's head whipped up. She eyed Sara for a moment and looked at me. I shrugged nervously. I may be walking out of here today with a broken arm or the guilt of murder. I surely had the motive to murder Sara now.

Sara walked out of the room giving me one last wink. I finally understood her motive for inviting me early. I just wasn't sure if I liked it.

"So, you play guitar?" Aditi was the first one to break the silence. Man I was getting really good at being silent.

"Yeah, a little." I replied looking at my guitar.

"Are you good?" She looked at me for the third time that evening.

"Not so much." I sighed. I was being a little modest but I wouldn't go around saying I was the best guitarist in the world, so modesty was good.

"Do you mind if I check out your guitar for a moment?" She said.

"Not at all." I said and fetched the guitar. I unzipped the bag and reveled my white guitar.

"Gibson." She read out the name.

"Yeah. Gibson." I repeated.

She tried to rest it on her lap and play it but it just kept slipping off.

In the end, I had to teach her how to rest the guitar on her lap and use her fingers on the string.

"I can't." She said finally. "I can't press it hard enough." She sighed.

Sara had already brought our coffee and was gone again for sorting some "issues".

"You play it." Aditi said handing me the guitar.

"Okay. What should I play?" I asked.

"Let me think. Umm...Oh, 'If you ever come back' by The Script."

"The script? I thought you listened to Rock 'n roll." I said frowning.

"I do, but I love that song."

"Give me another one." I said hoping this turned out to be a song I'd heard and knew how to play.

"Watch over you." She said after thinking for a while.

"Alter Bridge. I like that." I said.

"So originally this song is in open G tuning but I will play it in standard tuning nonetheless on a condition that you will have to sing it with me." I continued.

"And I don't understand what you said except that you will play it and I have to sing it. Done." She said and sat cross legged on the bed to look at me.

I started playing song and she started singing it in a soft voice. She sang goo. And I joined in when she was out of breathe or if she couldn't hit the high notes.

We ended the song with serious look on our faces. The song itself was of tragedy and it surely did not bring smiles. I could tell Aditi sang it from the heart. I just couldn't tell who it was for or what grief she had gone through. Maybe it could be for nothing and she just liked the song, like myself who sang it for no sorrow.

"You sing very good." I said noticing her face still full of grief.
"Thanks. You too." She smiled back at me. And we were silent again.

"You really have a great talent." She was the first to break the silence again.

"Not so much. And hey, maybe I can teach you how to play guitar." I said with excitement. I certainly was excited about meeting Aditi everyday outside school.

"Would you?" She looked at me with her beautiful, full of sorrow eyes.

"Yeah, sure. I'd love to."

"Thanks, Samar." She said. Her eyes looking less sorrowful now.

____________________________________

"Would you like to dance?"

I looked up. There beside me stood a girl. Her dress was too short to cover her thighs and I was sure if she bent her back a centimeter I could see her underwear. Her lipstick was red and bright on her painted face and her eyes looked as if they were designed by a computer.

Her face looked perfect but painted. Too many products went into her face and I couldn't imagine how much went on her body.

"No. I'm sorry but I don't dance." I told her. I was leaning near the back door and facing Sara's living room turned dancefloor.

Her eyes narrowed, like in a way of saying 'you'll regret this'. But I didn't pay much attention.

"You sure?" She said again wiping that disgust look from her face.

"Yeah, I'm sure." I said and gave her a smile just to be polite.

"What the heck is your problem?" Roman said after she was gone. He was dancing with the birthday girl just before he came to me. I guess his surprise did work on her.

"Why? What's the matter?" I looked at him; totally confused.

"Do you what you have done? I'll tell you what you've done. You have just turned down Alisha Magar: the hottest chick in school!" His voice was low but firm. I didn't understand why he was making such big deal out of it.

"So?" I asked again.

"'So?' So, you can die in hell. I mean seriously man, what the heck is wrong with you?"

"Do you not know that I have not ever, ever danced with any girl in a party?" I threw another question at him.

"I do. But that doesn't mean you just turn down the hottest girl. You could've at least came to the dancefloor."

"Nah, I'm good." I said ending the conversation.

"Whatever you say. But I tell you; you're gonna regret this." He said walking back to the dancefloor.

"Asshole." I swore under my breathe after he was gone.

The music was getting louder and the food was getting lesser; mostly on the floor and the walls. Sara was gonna have a fit cleaning all that.

I stepped out for a cigarette, I couldn't stay there any longer.

I took a cigarette out of my pocket, followed but a lighter and lit it.

I leaned onto the house's wall far from the door. The house ahead of me looked extra creepy in moonlight.

"Five seconds."

I practically jumped in the air hearing Aditi's voice. She was leaning near the door and looking at me. I hadn't even heard the door opening.

"That's because of the music." She said again.

"What?" I called.

"You didn't hear the door opening because of the music."

I looked at her with my mouth open. Did she just read my mind?

"Yep. I read minds." She continued.

If I was shocked earlier, I was way beyond that now. That's like the shock-est of all shocks. I looked at her with my mouth open and my eyes, the size of tennis balls.

She burst into giggles.

"I'm just messing with you. Works every time." She said.

"You got me worried there for a second." I said letting go of the smoke I'd forgotten was in my throat.

"Worried of what?"

"Well as far as I've heard vampires read minds."

"Don't worry, I will refrain from drinking your blood." She paused. "Or will I?" She said and giggled again.

I looked at her again. She didn't look like a nerd now. She was different. She knew how to have fun. She was alright. Well better than Alisha Magar: 'the hottest chick in school'. I didn't want any hottest chick to be my girlfriend. I just wanted a girl who was like me, who knew sorrow and could still smile with it. Who knew what it was to be alone and appreciate what a friend meant. Who knew how to laugh but also when to be silent.

I wanted a girl who knew me.

I jumped off the wall and stood in front of her.

"Up for a walk? I wanna take you somewhere." I said.

"Now? The party is going on." She said pointing to the door.

"And I just turned down the hottest chick around. Come on, you know you wanna go." I said pulling her hand.

"Alright." She said and came along without resistance.

We walked out of the alley to the highway. The lights were as dim as ever and the headlights of the few vehicles that moved far away looked like stars.

Aditi was close to me; our hands almost touching. I wondered if I could hold it. She was a bit shorter than me; probably around 5.3. I could see over her head to Sara's house. Do they even know we were missing?

Well it didn't really matter as long as I was with her.

"So, five seconds?" I tried to make a conversation by bringing up a part of previous, unfinished conversation.

"Nothing." She said quietly.

I chunked the cigarette on the ground and spoke again. "Is that so?"

"Yeah, nothing, really." She said quickly, this time.

"So, where are we going?" She asked.

"Its a surprise." I replied.

"So, this is my house." I said after a while pointing at the building on our left as I led her through an alley.

She looked at me, her face blank.

"Don't get any ideas. This is not where we're going." I quickly revealed to her.

"Okay." She said slowly.

So, she was not liking this walk very much. But she'd be surprised. I knew she'd be.

"Watch your step, watch your step." I repeated all the while we were crossing the wooden bridge to the other side of the small river.

"So, this is the place?" She asked again.

"Finally, yeah." I said.

"Oh." She said looking around the place.

It was not a place to come with a girl, but it surely was a place to come at quiet nights like that. There was a small hill and a big mango tree next to it. You could pick the mangos of the tree from the top of the hill, if you were six feet tall and you jump.

The hill sat on the back of the small river and there was a great chance you could fall straight into the river if you are not careful on the top of the hill.

"I come here very often. Helps me think." I said walking to the mango tree. Aditi followed me and we both sat down leaning on the tree.

"And what are you thinking, Samar?" Aditi said looking up at the sky; or part of it that the branches could not hide.

"That you are beautiful." I said and looked at her.

She laughed and looked at me. I wasn't laughing, wasn't even smiling. I was being completely serious.

"Yeah, right." She said and looked back up.

"So, the hottest chick in the area?" She said after a while.

"Yeah, a girl named Alisha Magar asked me for a dance." I sighed thinking about that girls mascara face.

"And you rejected her, why?"

"I don't know." I said.

"Come on, tell me." She was almost pleading.

"Some questions don't have an answer to Aditi. And its wise not to ask them." I said.

She let out a small 'hmm'.

"Is it because of your crush?" She looked at me and then back to the sky.

"Maybe." I smiled and looked around. Could I kiss her? What would she do if I did?

"She must be a lucky girl." She said. Was that disappointment that I just heard in her voice?

"Why would you think that?" I questioned like I didn't know. But I knew what she'd say.

"Because a guy like you has a crush on her." She said.

"Define 'guy like you.'"

"You're smart, you are funny sometimes, you play the guitar and have a great voice, you don't care who is the hottest girl or not, you know when to be silent, you're a great friend."

"Wow, sounds like you have a crush on me." I said and laughed.

She nudged my shoulder and I had to grab the tree's bark to maintain balance.

"Ouch!" I cried.

"What? What happened?" Aditi almost jumped.

"I cut my wrist on the bark."

"I'm so sorry, Samar. I didn't mean to do it." She was almost crying. I just looked at her face as she wrapped something around my wrist. I looked down to see a blue handkerchief wrapped and tied around my wrist.

"That should stop the bleeding. I'm so sorry, Samar. I didn't know that would happen." She said again.

"Its okay. Its just a minor wound. I'll be okay." I said.

"We gotta go to the hospital." She said trying to pull me.

"No. Its okay. I'll be fine." I just didn't want this moment to end.

"Samar, we gotta get you to a hospital." Aditi got up and tried to pull me up as well. Instead I pulled her down next to me.

"I don't wanna go." I said slowly.

If only this night never ended. If only time froze and I could stay with Aditi forever. Even with a slit wrist, I could live like that till time.

If only I had time.

________________________________________________________________________

Hey friends. What do we think? The story is going well? This chapter is a little shorter than I thought it would be but it is here nonetheless.

Vote if you liked this chapter. And comment to let me know what you think.

Lots of love.

~Hunt.