"Aditi, this is Roman and Roman this is, Aditi."
I finally had a chance to introduce my new friend with my old one. He had been in a vacation with his family. And my other close friend, Sara; being his girlfriend, was with him too. So they had left me alone for a couple of days; until yesterday. I made a new friend, Aditi. Or the other way around.

"Nice to meet you." Roman let his hand forward.

Aditi blindly stared at him. She didn't move, didn't blink away; just stared at him like he was an alien or something.

"Uh, Aditi?" I touched her hand; it was cold. Her face became pale and started sweating.

"Awkward." I said in a cheesy tone trying to clear the atmosphere building between us three; that I couldn't figure out.

Aditi looked paralyzed.

"Aditi?" I called again.

"This doesn't happen, usually." Roman smiled.

My inner Sherlock said something was going on. And my outer self said-

"You okay? What happened?"
She sat down and held her head between her hands.

"I'm okay. I'm just-just-. I just have a headache."

Okay. So, what do we say to comfort people?

"It'll be okay. You're gonna be okay." I said, rubbing my hand on her back.

"Yeah, thanks." She shrugged my hand off her back.

Not the touchy type, eh? Good, I don't like them either.

We got seated for our Maths class. I sat next to Aditi and Roman sat next to me.

"So, where's Sara?" I asked turning to Roman.

"She's home. She'll be at school tomorrow, maybe." He frowned. "We ended up in a weird note."

"What the hell does that mean?" I frowned a little too.

"She's a little pissed."

"Because...?"

"Apparently dirty jokes don't work for seduction." He sighed.

I laughed causing everyone in the class including my two friends and the teacher(who I don't know when got in) to look at me.

"Anything you'd like to share with us Mr. Pathak?" He gave me a sarcastic look.

"Not at all." I turned back to my book.

"Good." He went back to writing equations on the board.

"What was the joke anyway?" I asked Roman again.

He scowled.

"Ask Sara when she's back."

____________________________________

I wouldn't say I was the smartest of all, but I didn't have to pull out a guide book to figure out that something was fishy between Aditi and Roman.

Aditi never talked to or about Roman. But I didn't ask her why. She'd tell me about it herself after she'd feel comfortable with it. And I didn't want to breach her comfort zone.

It was lunch break. Aditi and I were in the cafeteria with a table for our self. She was deep into her geography work and I was deep in thoughts about her.

She was so quiet at most of the times. The only times she talked was if she needed anything or during lunch breaks, if only she hadn't brought her damn work to our table.

"Not hungry?" I asked pretending to notice her work for the first time.

"Not yet." She sighed.

Yet?

"Yet?"

"I mean I'm not done yet. I have a lot to catch up with. Joining mid-terms sucks." She frowned.

"Yeah, it really does. So why did you come here? I mean changed school, why?"

"Long story." She went back to jotting down on her little blue notepad.

"I have time." I smiled. She had to speak now.

"Well, I don't."

Ouch! Straight on the belly!

"Okay."

I quietly chewed on my sandwich thinking of something to makeup a longer conversation.

"Samar, bro, where have you been?"

Oh geez.

I pretended that I didn't hear anything and kept my eyes fixed on my plate.

Walk past me. Don't stay. Don't stay.

"Long time, no see." Amit sat next to me, resting his arm on my shoulder.

"Hey." I said, not sure why he was there this time.

"What? You're not happy to see me?"

"No, I'm happy. I just have a hard time showing that I am."

"Works for me. Anyways, I was wondering if I could take a look at your Chemistry notes."

"Sure." I said quietly.

"Thank you. And I gotta say I ha-" He turned to Aditi.

"Oh, excuse me. Girlfriend?" He said turning back to me.

"Yeah."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Well, then, I'll see you in class." He said as he started walking away.

"Nice." He mouthed to me from far.

I turned to Aditi wondering if I could get away with it. She had her gaze fixed at me. Her face gave away nothing.

"Don't look at me like that. I only said that to get rid of him."

"I know." She nodded.

Smart. Smart girls don't usually work for me. Not that I've been in too many relationships to know.

She was back at her work.

"That's it!" I cried. "Put that pen down."

She slowly put her pen down and looked at me, totally confused.

"We're friends, right?"
She nodded.

"So we should talk. You know, have a good conversation."

"Okay..." She closed her notes and folded her arms. "What do you wanna talk about?"

"I haven't figured that out yet." I raised my eyebrows.

"Okay, lets talk about ourselves." She leaned back.

That just backfired. I wasn't ever eager to talk about myself. Kind of like a repelling attitude. But I had no choice.

"Okay. You go first."

"Okay. I live with my parents and a little brother. We moved here from Dudhe, where rest of the family is."

That explained the joining mid-terms question. It wasn't that long of a story; she didn't have to exaggerate it.

"I love music and reading novels. Rock 'n roll in music and Romance in novels. I also love, crave for anything that tastes sweet."

"And?"

"That's it. You go."

"Okay..um... I live with my mom and my little brother."

"And dad?" She put her hands on the table near my own.

"My dad walked out on my mom when I was five." I said.

It was a bad thing being reminded of my father. I hated him all my life and tried my best to avoid any conversations relating to him, even with my mother.

Aditi put her hand over mine.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Its okay, I'm over it." I said.

I used to tell myself that false sentence all the time.

Aditi's hand was warm over mine. Well, at least my father earned me that sympathy.

The bell rang, marking the end of my somewhat good time.

I kept looking at Aditi all the way from the cafeteria to the hallway.

"What?" She called.

"I still don't believe Amit thought we were a couple."

________________________________________________________________________

Hey people. So what do we think? Better than last one? Worse? Just give me some feedback.

Vote and comment if you liked this chapter.

Lots of love.

~Hunt.