Riya's POV:

"Wake wake up! It's 12 already."

*
After Anandith had proposed to Tanisha, we had all insisted on him giving us a treat and had gone out for lunch to Pizza Corner.

We each ate a Conizza and some potato wedges and garlic bread and the three guys also ordered drinks. The girls of course stole the drinks from the guys, and since we were in majority, the boys didn't get more than five sips.

Throughout the entire time in the restaurant, we teased the duo.

"Awww you guys are really so adorable, " I said, ruffling my brother's hair and pinching Tanisha's cheeks.

They both swatted my hand away, but surprisingly Anandith's reply was " Of course..stop telling us what we already know..." And I burst out laughing.

Tanisha was a big fan of olives but Anandith hated them to the core. He had offered to eat one to prove the extent of his love for her. It was so cute. At the same time, it was so funny watching him scrunch his face in disgust and pinch his nose while swallowing it.

Tanisha was very amused by his antics and in return for his effort, she kissed him lightly on his cheek, in fact too close to his mouth that I felt I had to look away. It was embarrassing okay?

Rahul had also, surprisingly, started to open up and it was nice to see him becoming comfortable with my brother and best friend.

He was still a little aloof with Desh though. I don't know what was bothering him. It seemed a little strange to me. They had been extremely close few months back. So what had happened now? I had to find out somehow. And the best person to ask was Desh. But I would do it later when we had some time alone together.

After the lunch, we had spent the day outside watching DeadPool in the theatre and we had clutched our stomachs and laughed so much that the people in the theatre gave us odd looks. Hahaha I guess many of them didn't understand the subtle innuendos. We had munched on popcorn and nachos while watching the movie and had thrown it at each other's faces whenever one person had bashed the other. And that had happened a lot! We had soo much of fun!

We didn't want to go home yet, so we headed to this GameZone Amoeba. Tanisha challenged Anandith to a game of Air Hockey. The arrogant smartass aka my brother was soo sure that he was going to win that he'd offered to buy all of us an ice-cream. Not too much I know but come on... It's ice-cream! And as expected, he had lost and Tanisha couldn't be happier. She jumped up and down and hugged all of us. Even Rahul, who seemed okay with it.

By the time, we had reached home, it had been 8 and I was so tired that I had crashed into bed after gobbling up the noodles mom had made for dinner.

I knew my friends were still awake since I heard their animated voices in the background as my eyes drooped and I was swept into the land of sleep.
*

"Nooo," I groaned sleepily, covering my face with a pillow. "Let me sleep."

" Nooo I won't. It's your birthday..." Anandith said, literally dragging me out of the bed with my legs.

" Lord have mercy on me!" I screamed.

Just then I was splashed with cold water from all sides...why did everyone enjoy torturing me?

" I can't believe you're sleeping on your birthday...YOU'RE supposed to be excited, not us. Get up right now..." Kajal said, yanking the duvet off me.

I had no choice but to finally wake up. I stretched my hands up above my head and yawned.

Just when I opened my eyes to glance at the people surrounding me, they all screamed HAPPY BIRTHDAY! almost deafening me...my poor ear drums. Then they started to sing Happy Birthday in their out of pitch and out of tune voices, all together, but the sweet gesture brought a smile to my face and I grinned.

Kajal had disappeared a minute back. She came in carrying a frosted vanilla cake. Yummmmm! It had a cute picture of a tooth on it. Awww...

" Guyssss, " I said... " Thank you soo much."

" We made it BTW, you know..." Meera said, and my eyes widened in astonishment.

It looked so good and soo perfect and my mouth was watering already.
" That's amazing!"

"Enough of complimenting! Just cut it now, will you?," Desh said, handing me a plastic knife. He was the ever hungry one and the type to do anything for food.

I smirked at him.

" Just because you're asking, I am going to cut it as slow as possible."

Rahul came over and placed 20 small candles on the cake and lit them.
A beautiful glow came over the cake.

" Take a picture," someone screamed, and we all huddled together and squished each other, trying to get our faces into the tiny screen of a phone.

Then I blew the candles one by one as slow as possible just to annoy Desh. I moved the knife back and forth and back and forth...taking almost a minute to cut a slice.

My friends, who had started singing the famous Happy Birthday Song, looked at me with amused expressions.

I could feel the frustration radiating off Desh. Before I knew it he had taken cream from the cake and painted my face with it..
"Hey!"
But it was of no use. It was as if his action had started off a series of events. All my friends, one by one, decorated my face with cream. Actually! Kajal drew a smiley face and Meera, a heart. Nikita even had the guts to write Arya with the white cream. All while I was standing frozen, not being able to run due to my idiotic brother who had me pinned to the wall in his iron grip. This was so unfair. But I loved the affection my family and friends had for me. It meant that they cared. And I was so grateful I had people like them in my life.

Hearing all the commotion, my parents woke up and came over to see what was going on.

Astonishingly when I had told them that my friends had come over to stay for a few days, they hadn't scolded me like I thought they would but had welcomed them with open arms and had treated them like their own children.

" You can stay for as long as you like," they had said with a small smile.

Now they were standing near my ajar bedroom door with grins.

" Riyuuuuuu," mom screamed like an excited teenager. " Happy Birthday dear!"

She came over and gave me a big hug. And kissed me on my cheek. I was getting embarrassed by all the display of affection because my friends were standing right there staring at me. Before I could protest or run away, Dad caught me in his hold. It was as if I was some parcel being thrown from one person to another.

" Happy Birthday Riya...May you get the best in life. My daughter is growing up so fast. I can't believe this is the same girl who held my hand and walked with wobbly footsteps beside me 19 years ago. You're 20, Riya. It's just so hard to believe." he said, patting me on my shoulder affectionately.

My mom added, " Yeah it's only the age that goes up, not the mental age. She still behaves like a 7 year old."

I laughed because it was actually true. And I was pretty proud of the fact. It was nice to be a kid for as long as possible. Childhood didn't come back to anyone.

After my parents left the room, my friends made me open all their gifts. Nikita had made a really cute tooth shaped card for me. She had also bought me a very cute bracelet which had a tooth brush and toothpaste charm hanging from it. They had honestly gone overboard with the tooth theme this year. Rahul gave me a bouquet of roses. It was the cutest thing ever! Daz had bought me clothes and earrings shaped like impression trays. Kajal had got me a multicoloured sling bag which I had eyed in the shop for a long while and Meera had got me new earphones... It was incredibly heartening to know that each one of them had put so much of thought into buying me presents. I was over the moon. For me, nothing could have been better.

By the time we had finished with the cake cutting, chatting, gift opening, and photo sessions, it had already become 2 am. I was feeling terribly sleepy and before I knew it, I had plopped myself on the living room sofa. I adjusted myself comfortably, hugged one of the cushions to myself and closed my eyes. Sleep came to me within minutes.

Arya's POV:

I was so very tired due to jetlag that I literally crashed into bed when the hotel staff opened my room door for me.
The pre- seminar dinner was in a few hours time and I wanted to catch as much of sleep as I could.
Even if I wanted to stay up I couldn't. My eyelids were drooping and I felt drained. I badly needed some rest. So I curled up under the comforter and went to sleep.

" Aryaaaa"

It seemed like the voice was pulling me towards it.

" Riya?"

" Yeah it's me."

How was she here? Wasn't she supposed to be in Bangalore? How was she in New York?

" I came to see you."

" What? That IS impossible. I just spoke to you yesterday and you were in Bangalore then."

" I know, I flew here."

Huh?

My brain was getting befuddled. What the hell?

"I really like you Arya. I just had to tell you..."

Beep beep beep beep

I woke up suddenly with a jerk. It had been a dream. Of course, she wouldn't say such a thing in real life...Why was my mind imagining such things? And what was wrong with me?

I snoozed the alarm but I happened to glance at the clock. The dinner was in another hour...I had overslept. I had to get ready as fast as possible.
I felt like I was forgetting something. Something really important about the date. But I hurriedly showered and wore my suit and tie and walked towards the dining hall.

Just before I entered the hall, a thought suddenly struck me. It was Riya's birthday today and I still hadn't wished her. I was planning to call her at 12 but I was sooo sleepy..

I had to call her now before the dinner talk began.

I opened my iPad and called her using Face time.

It rang for a while, then her face popped up.

She looked very tired, and a small yawn escaped from her lips. She looked adorable but I wasn't going to tell her that. I just smiled at her.

She gave me a look. She was still in a half daze. When she registered that it was me on the other line, her cheeks started to turn pink and she grinned widely.

" Arya you called!" She said excitedly.

" Of course, how can I forget? I am sorry I couldn't call at 12. Jetlag. I was too sleepy."

" It's alright," she said. " Anyways, I was too busy last night. I doubt I would have heard anything ring. My friends forced me to stay awake and sang Happy Birthday all night, in their horrible out of pitch voices," she laughed.
" And they got me a cake with a picture of a tooth and actually made me blow out 20 candles. Can you believe it?"

I laughed thinking about it.

" And then Desh got me this really cute top and earrings...it was lovely. Never knew boys were good at selecting things for girls.."

Desh....Even though he had assured me he had no feelings for Riya , I was in doubt. And even a small mention of that raven-haired boy was making me jealous..

" Can we talk about anything else other than him?" I blurted out without thinking.

Riya looked at me in surprise and then she smirked.

" Is someone jealous?"

" Ahhh hmmm..."

" I am just kidding. Calm down."

But I wasn't kidding, I thought. Just shy to admit the truth.

There was an awkward silence for a while and both of us didn't know what to say. Then both of us started to speak at the same time and I told Riya to continue.

" You know what Arya I am really really happy you called," she said.
" It has made my birthday more special."

Was she trying to hint at something? Was she trying to tell me that I was special to her?

" I am really happy to hear your voice too.." I said, smiling at her.

She blushed. The rosy tint covered her entire cheeks and it was slowly starting to spread to her neck.

Then without realizing I blurted out " You too make me really happy Riya. I really like you," I said.

I was looking right into her eyes when I said it. I don't know what gave me the courage to pour out my heart in front of her. But it was a momentary slip of tongue and I couldn't take it back now. What was done was done.

Riya's face brightened immediately. Her blush deepened and her eyes widened in astonishment. When she was just about to reply, the call got cut. Stupid bloody internet connection.

My time was up too. I realized that I was already five minutes late for the dinner.

So I closed my iPad, switched it off and put it in my bag, annoyed. I was so close to knowing what she felt for me. Then I hurriedly entered the hall and took a seat next to one of my colleagues who was intently listening to one of the senior doctors speaking.

Luckily it was a dinner talk, where I had to listen and not really give in too much input from my side. Thoughts of Riya's reaction, her pretty face and what she was about to say kept flashing through my mind. I don't know if I understood anything from the exchange, but at the end I was very sure of one particular fact. I was falling in love with that girl. And there was no turning back.

_________________x ________________

Hey peeps,

Sooo how was Riya's birthday celebration? Do you wish you had friends like hers?

And what do you think Rahul is going through? Any thoughts on why he is acting strange with Desh?

Good things are nice only when they happen for a short while. Just like Arya and Riya's conversation. So pls don't kill me...just wait for the next chapter! :P

So anyways read, vote, comment and as always enjoy!!!! :)

Adios amigos,
:) harshini :)