Warning: Lots of cussing ahead because 'guys' do that a hell lot.

~Demons~

Manik

MISS.

"Don't even think of coming close to me."

I won't. I won't. I won't.

I WON'T.

MISS.

"You're not my best friend, anymore."

No. I am not him. I am not him anymore.

MISS.

"To hell with the second chances and hopes."

I never thought you would hold on. I thought you will forget me if I stay out of your life. I thought you will hate me if I never talk to you again. I thought you will have no hopes. You were not supposed to have hopes.

MISS.

I tried my best. I tried my fucking best.

Yet, she had hopes.

Hopes for our friendship.

Hopes for me.

MISS. MISS. MISS.

"I am done holding onto our friendship when you clearly never bothered."

I did. I did bother. It did bother me. Everyday. Every minute. Every fucking second.

I held on even when I shouldn't have. I held on even when I hoped you wouldn't.

I held onto you for all my days in those five years. I still do. I always will.

MISS.

But you won't.

MISS.

Because I won't let you.

MISS.

Because I don't deserve you.

MISS. MISS. MISS. MISS. MISS.

FUCK.

I groan as I smash the ball hard onto the ground.

Every fucking shot is a miss.

The balls bounces for a few seconds and rolls back to my feet.

"Urgh! Piece of shit!" I bend down and pick the ball up again.

I aim for the basket and keep my gaze fixed at it for a few moments.

I hurt her.

You had to.

I hurt her.

It's for her best.

I HURT her.

She has to stay away. She has to hate me.

I fucking HURT HER.

You. Fucking. Had. To.

I FUCKING HURT MY BEST FRIEND and I hate myself more than I ever have.

I breathe hard. My eyes fixed on the basket, I shoot.

And I miss the basket, again.

Get a grip, Manik. Get a fucking grip. Don't act like a pussy. Keep your shit together.

"All you have to do is stop thinking and shoot." Sam's voice reaches my ears as he walks into the basketball court. "You're thinking too much." My eyes dart to him.

"I'm not thinking anything." I throw the ball at the basket again and it misses. Fuck.

"You sure are thinking way too much, buddy." He picks the ball up from the ground and holds it to his chest with both his hands.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, holding my hand out asking for the ball.

Sam shoves my hand back to my sides and takes my spot in front of the basket.

He squats a little, holding his hands with the ball over his head and shoots. The ball lands right in the basket. Sam turns around and throws me a 'that's how you do it' look.

He picks the ball from the ground and thrusts it at me.

I catch the ball and dribble it a few times, preparing for my next throw.

"It's not long before the other three show up as well." He says and clears my way.

"Why?"

"Because they're all bummed about how we couldn't catch the scene inside that room on the camera." He says, looking right at me with suspicion donning his eyes.

"Oh." I say and retract my eyes from his. I throw the ball at the basket once again and this time it drops right in. And thank fuck that it does or else I would have flipped.

"Yeah, surprising right?" Sam hasn't moved his eyes off me for even once.

"Yeah."

I drop the ball on the ground and head back to where my stuff is.

"Where to?"

"Practice over dude."

I better head out before he kills me with his eyes. He sure suspects I did that on purpose.

Because I did that on purpose. I took her into the wrong room.

The room that didn't have the camera that my friends had set up to prank her because I told them that she was the one to cause the blackout yesterday. My mouth needs a fucking filter. These retards didn't need to know.

The second they knew, they started plotting how teach her a lesson and to stop them I had to manipulate things.

Because nobody, and I mean no-fucking-body messes with someone I care about.

"I don't know how though because all I've seen you do for the past ten minutes is miss the basket." He follows behind me.

"Yeah. Well. I just got the last one right." I pick my bottle from the stair and sip on it.

"You got her in the wrong room." He won't let me drop it off.

So play it cool, buddy.

"I thought the room to the right was the one with the camera.."

"It was the one on the left." He says.

"Oh. My bad." I shrug coolly.

I take my towel from my bag and hang it across my neck while I stuff rest of the things into it. Once I'm done, I zip it close.

"How does it even matter though? I taught her a lesson for messing with me. She won't ever cross our way again." I try my best to suppress the burns that saying these words cause me.

"That explains the tears maybe?" He lifts an eyebrow up.

"Tears?"

"I saw her coming out. She was a wreck."

I stiffen.

All because of me.

I made her cry.

Fuck. I am the worse friend ever. I just have to keep her away from me no matter what it takes.

I'm toxic for her. Hell, I'm even toxic for myself.

I'm only going to hurt her like I hurt everyone else and I have to stay away from her even if that means making her hate me. I'm going to hurt her to protect her.

"What did you do, Manik?" Sam asks me and I know he wants nothing but the truth.

Because he knows. He always does. He knows I did something and he knows why and I know he will try to talk me out of it but hell, I won't listen. Because just like his demons live with him, mine do too. And the person that they make of me will never let me be right for Nandini. My demons will consume her and ruin her. But I'll fight for her. For my best friend, for someone I've never given up on.

Anyway, it's not like lying to him will give me anything.

The only person who knows what a fucking mess my life has been all these years is Sam. And he understands. He understands because he knows where I come from. He understands me just like I understand him.

We both come from the same place. We've both done things we hold ourselves responsible for.

He can see through me just like Nandini could see through me when we were together.

I mean, not together together but, together. Even if we weren't a thing for sure but I never denied to myself the feelings I had for her and it was just so much more than what a best friend should feel.

Nandini can see right through me even now because even if I want to, I can't help it. She just doesn't know it if she can do that now. I saw it her eyes today. She's uncertain of who I am. She thinks she'll figure out but I won't let her.

She needs to stay the hell away from me.

But even though I found a friend who I gave a part of me to, he could never step into Nandini's place because she has the whole of me.

"I probably scarred her enough to keep her out of my way." I scoff.

I'm a bad person for her.

"Manik, you shouldn't do this to her." And he knows what I'm planning on.

He knows because he knows me well enough.

"I have to." I shake my head, holding my ground. He can't talk me out of this.

This was the plan all along.

I never really thought she would come back here. It was a lot easier to let her go when she wasn't around but with her back into my life, I don't know till how long can I keep the facade up.

But I have to for as long as I have it in me to stay away from her. And if me staying away from her means she'll be happier, I will stay away from her for good.

I'm trouble. She will be safe without me.

I'll ruin her. She will be happy without me.

"Manik-" Sam steps ahead but stops what he has to say when the sounds of two people bickering enters the basketball court.

"You're as good as horse-shit." Sharon grunts as she steps into the room.

"You did nothing either, Miss Sassy pants. You could have checked too!" Aarav follows.

"You know, for once I thought you weren't a total gone-case. Turns out I was wrong." She makes her way towards Sam and I.

"All of this, it was my plan." Aarav says, "I filled your empty brain with this amazing idea, so you should be thanking me instead."

"Thanking you for not charging the camera? Oh, my god, Aarav! I am so lucky to have a brother like you. I'm honestly, terribly, honoured! You're so smart, I'm sure girls must be all over you because your brain works like that of a Panda!"

"What's wrong with a Panda's brain?" Sam asks.

"It's the dumbest on the planet I've heard." Sharon whispers to us.

Sam stifles a laugh and I manage one too.

"Where's Reyaan?" Sam asks Sharon.

"He had some work." She says.

"C'mon guys, seriously? You can't be on her side too." Aarav looks at both of us.

"That was highly stupid of you buddy." Sam tells Aarav and then his eyes dart to me.

"Leave me out of this. I played my part, I'm done." I pick the bag off the court stairs and sling it over my shoulder.

Aarav's eyes turn to Sam, "You were the one who went to check up things, you could have-"

"It doesn't matter. Manik took her to the wrong room. Even if we had the camera working, we still would have nothing." As soon as these words leave Sam- the sucker's- mouth, there are two pairs of eyes piercing right through my skin.

"I got confused." I shrug.

"Damn, man!" Aarav stomps his feet on the ground. "I really wanted to see what scene you caused bro. That girl had some guts sneaking into your party and busting it."

"Yeah, well, so much from a girl that small." Sharon huffs, "So are we going?" She eyes the bag over my shoulder.

"Yeah, let's move." I say and start walking towards the door.

"We still need to talk." Sam falls into step with me.

"I'm not sure about what though." I ignore looking at him and keep my head ahead.

"What'd you exactly do in that room, Manik?" Aarav wiggles his brows as he jumps in front of me and walks backward.

"Just told her to stay away."

"Man, details." He pins.

"I just fucking told you." I grit.

"You just told her to stay away from you? You were in there for so long bro!"

"Don't press, buddy." I warn him. "When I am saying nothing happened, I mean nothing happened." Nothing he's worth knowing.

Aarav is someone who is always getting on my last nerve with his chirpy self. I mean literally, the guy is always babbling. Not much of a guy trait though.

But the fact that he has shit loads of porn on his laptop, I know he is as straight as one can be.

The only reason I tolerate him is because he is unfortunately Sharon's twin. Otherwise I would have crushed his balls to make sure he never feels horny in there.

The guy is always horny.

I mean, yeah, most of the guys are. Well, most of the times if not always.

Because testosterone is a corny little son of a bitch.

"Why didn't you let me do it? I would have done a hell lot more than just talking, you know." He chuckles.

My blood boils.

I will kill this little fucker.

I ball my fists and start to turn to face Aarav when Sam tugs on my hand.

I look at him and he knows I'm burning inside. He shakes his head slightly in a no and pleads me with his eyes to calm down.

Sam and I are two different poles.

I am rebellious and an introvert while my best friend here is friendly and calm.

But that's how it works for me. I need him to calm the boiling shit in me for if he won't, I will surely go around breaking jaws and what not.

So ignoring Aarav, I walk ahead of him.

"You guys think I should, you know, maybe apologize to that girl on your behalf? For doing what you did today? Though I don't know what, anyway." Aarav speaks again as he approaches me from my right.

I stop walking and turn to him. "What?" I am not sure he said what I heard him say.

"Yeah, you heard me." He grins.

"Why would you do that?" Sharon steps up besides her brother.

"Sister, you won't understand. If only you saw girls the way I did." He grins slyly at her and she smacks his head hard.

Thank fuck she did or else I would have done that and that wouldn't have been anywhere near just a smack.

"Ow. Bitch." He hisses.

"Seriously bro, why would you apologize to her? I mean, she busted our party." Sam says.

"And we kinda bullied her, I think. If Manik did what I am thinking." He winks at me.

I will poke his eyes out if he says something inappropriate right now.

"He didn't do anything wink worthy, asshole." Sharon grits.

"I know. I never meant it that way. Jeez, you've got a filthy brain." He mocks.

"At least I've got one."

"Fuck off."

"I hope you get swallowed by death in your sleep."

"I'd rather-"

"Shut the hell up both of you." I turn away from them and start to walk out of the court.

"No seriously though, that girl is cute as fuck and when little girls get angry, they're hot as fire." He blurts following me out of the basketball court. And I try my fucking level best to keep my arms by my side and not entangle his neck with them.

If only he could shut his mouth.

I take the keys from my shorts pocket and lock the room once everyone is out.

"I don't see the point you're trying to make." Sam says.

"Does he ever make a point?" Sharon chuckles.

"You're not funny." Aarav gives her a straight look.

"Neither are you." She retorts.

"Enough of you guys!" I groan, "My head aches of your bickering. I'm out of here." I say and start to walk out of the corridors. Rest of them follow behind.

It's almost around 5 now. The corridors are cleared and the gates are about to close soon.

"Dude, I'm definitely making a move on her." Aarav grins wide standing in my way.

"Why the fuck?" I am trying my best to control my anger.

Keep it down.

"What? How does it even matter to you? It's not like you're into her or something. And you messed with her and we didn't even get to enjoy any of it. You can't just do it all alone, you know. It's our thing. We do the ragging together." He complains, frowning hard.

"We do the ragging together, agreed. But we don't what you're thinking of doing with her. No girl is use and throw." I grit, holding back from smacking his face. My fists are balled.

"How do you even know what I'm thinking of doing? I might just be nice and friendly." He quirks a brow up and grins.

"With the stuff that I saw on your laptop two days ago, I highly doubt that."

"Hey, a guy's gotta live someway!"

"What did you find on his laptop?" Sharon turns to me.

"Let's just say something's that can scar you for life. You'll refrain from having sex. Ever." I tell her and she makes a face like she's going to puke.

"That wasn't something you tell my sister, asshole. She's going to threaten me about telling it to dad until I am buried six feet under or burned down to ashes."

Sam laughs, "You had it coming."

"Just because I want to hit on that girl? What problem can you possibly have besides the fact that she's with that dickward?" Aarav turns to me.

"That's a new word." Sharon looks at her brother.

"Porn isn't the only thing I Google." He winks.

"You Google cuss words?" Sam gives him an incredulous look.

"What? It's fun! I discovered so many more words and it's fantabullistic!" He grins.

"You're incorrigible. Jeez." Sharon shakes her head and starts to walk towards the gates. "I'll get the car. Keys?" She looks at me and I reach my pockets and throw my car keys to her.

"But, do you think she's with Karan?" Sam looks at me and I know that asshole is doing this on purpose, trying to burn me. I see a glint of hidden smile underneath his perfectly enacted frown.

"She's not with him." I grit out. "And you're not hitting on her." I look at Aarav and his smiles falls.

"Dude! I like her. She looks so amazing to me. I want to ask her out."

I take in a sharp breath and close my eyes because he is irritating the fuck out of me right now.

Maybe Sam notices my inability to suppress my anger and tries to control the damage that I was about to do. "Don't press, Aarav. We're done with ragging. We don't do it to the extremes, that's just unacceptable."

"Bro, it's not like he's interested in her. You don't want the girl? Fine. But you can't tell me what girl I go after."

That's it. I will kill him.

I spin around and step closer to him, "She is off limits. Do you get it?" I clench my jaw tight.

"Woah. Dude." Aarav backs away.

He knows he can't fight me. I'm stronger. He's a flappy bird. One hit and he'll be flat on the floor, his life running in his front of his eyes.

"Manik, calm down." Sam separates me from Aarav and stands in between the both of us.

"She's off limits. That's the last time I say it." I glare into his eyes.

Sam turns to look at Aarav. "Don't press, how many times do we tell you?"

"What's the problem with him? That girl is a fresher, he doesn't even know her and he's all riled up already! For what?"

"She's his neighbour. You know that." Sam says.

"What difference does it makes? She just shifted in there, like fuck it matters!"

"Oh, my god Aarav, can you for once leave her out of this?! She was his ex!" The moment Sam's words reach my ears, I turn him around and stare at him in disbelief like, what the fuck have you just done?

Ignoring me Sam turns back to Aarav, "You need to back away right now. Ex girlfriends are just off limits to friends."

"Fucking hell. You could have told me earlier man! I'm so sorry, I was just messing you up." Aarav says to me.

Your messing me up would have cost you your entire life, buddy.

"Yeah just.. stay away from her." I tell him and he nods.

Just then we hear the honking of a car and that's our cue to leave.

Aarav walks out of there and passing the gates he slides into the back seat.

"I'm going to fucking kill you. Why the hell did you lie to him?!" I whisper shout to Sam as we walk together towards the gate.

"He was doing that on purpose to know what the reason was to not let him go get your girl. He wasn't stopping. And if he didn't, he would have surely woken up in a hospital next day or maybe not woken up at all. So consider this a favour done on you. I saved you from ending up in Jail."

And why am I not surprised again? He's right. Like always.

He is the perfect Mr. Right girls are dying to have in their lives and here he is stuck with me, trying to cool my shit-head of a brain.

Best fucking friend I could ever have.

Well, okay. Second best. But he knows that and he doesn't mind that a bit.

So what if I can't have her in my life? She's the only thing that keeps me sane when I'm at my worse. I think of her and how we used to be and it's just enough for me to survive another day.

I think I can live a life with just that.

"She's not my girl." Is the only thing I can say because sure I have no come back to that.

He laughs, "You're fucked up bro."

"Yeah, whatever." I smack his head lightly and grab his neck with my arm as we move out of the gate.

"Not the hair." Sam warns but it's too late because I ruffle the shit out of his hair.

He pushes me away, "Fuck you." He says and slides into the car with Aarav.

I laugh and jog up to the driver's seat. Before getting into the car I throw the keys of the basketball court to the guard outside the college gate and slide into the car. Sharon shifts to the passenger's seat and we take off for the day.

"Manik, sorry bro. I really didn't-" Aarav starts.

But I cut him off, "It's okay man, you're a terrible pain in the ass but at the end of the day we manage. We're a team." I smile at him through the mirror.

He relaxes a little with that and pushes his way in between Sharon and my seats. "Let's have a freaking wild night, amigos!" He shouts.

Yeah. Well, let's.

------

Okay. Woosh. I said no updates but heh, ya'll know me. I am hella proud of how this chapter turned out. Woo!

Anyway, don't hate Aarav though, he's just a kid not as mature as Manik and Sam (Sameer).

I give into your wishes of Manik's POV :p It's fun writing him but difficult. Guys are difficult to write man! And they say girls are difficult. Pfft. Puh-lease!

But seriously now I will keep fingers away from my keyboard. I need to study man. Lol.

Anyway, do vote! And share this story please! I would really want it to progress well like Sealed Fate.

Now updates : Every Monday.

Merci❤