Dedicated to sesha_naidu, you make me smile!

Chapter 5.

You are beautiful, anyone would want to talk to you.

~~~

Rylee saw the tall standing figure of Aahan Miller from far way and reflexively her footsteps fastened. Her pace picked up speed and in minutes she was standing in front of him.

"Hey!" Rylee breathed out.

Aahan looked at her heaving form. "Did you run? That's wasn't necessary." He looked at his wristwatch. "You are only 3 minutes late."

Rylee cleared her throat trying to even out her breathing. "I didn't run. I just-" She took a deep breath. "-like breathing like this."

"So heavily?"

She took another deep breath and huffed it out. "Yes."

Aahan shrugged his shoulders, he wasn't the one to judge. "I don't think that's very healthy but okay. Should we go in then?"

Rylee nodded. She took her time trying to appreciate how he handsome was looking. He had a chiselled jawline and black hair that fell in effortless tousled waves across his forehead. He was always dressed casually but managed to pull it off very well. Rylee knew that if he tried to be social, he wouldn't have any problems in getting girls.

He was very attractive when you actually noticed him.

They entered the ice cream shop and like most days it was moderately crowded. Half the seats were full and half the seats were empty. Luckily no one from their batch could be seen. They were probably all at the Blanc Party, drinking away their worries.

Aahan stopped at the counter. "Which ice cream?"

"Mint chocolate chip." Her reply was instant. She was very loyal to her ice cream and hardly ever cheated on it. Truth be told, she just didn't like any other flavors that much.

"One mint chocolate chip and one cookies & cream."

"I can pay." Rylee piped in.

"That's fine." Aahan gave her a smile and she almost felt her heart stop.

"You have a dimple?" She all but screeched, making the girl behind the register jump up in fright.

Aahan stumbled ahead and held on to the counter, jumping out of his bones at the sudden shriek. His ear drums vibrated. "Huh?"

Rylee looked around and found the whole shop staring at her. She looked down at her feet, cheeks flaming and neck turning red. Within 5 minutes, she had managed to embarrass herself. That had to be a record. "I'll find us a place to sit." She mumbled under her breath and waked away.

She chose the farthest corner so that others couldn't see her and judge her for screaming.

Aahan joined her soon enough, placing the ice cream cup and tissue in front of her.

Almost as soon as he sat down himself, Rylee hissed in accusation. "You have a dimple!"

Aahan touched his left cheek frowning at this funny woman in front of him. "What's the big deal?"

Rylee opened her mouth but her brains didn't give her words to reply. What was the big deal honestly? Dimples weren't that unique so why was him having one such a shock? And it wasn't even that deep just a small one when he smiled.

Maybe it was the fact that this was the first time she had seen him smile big enough to get a dimple.

"It's not." She replied sullenly, digging into her ice cream.

"Did you want sprinkles?"

She did. "No, not really."

She stared from beneath her eyelashes as Aahan put the spoon in his mouth and licked it clean. All of a sudden, dirty thoughts filled her mind. How soft his lips were, how smooth and so tempting. She shook her head violently to get it out of her thoughts.

"What's wrong?" Aahan asked wondering if she was sick. Heavy breathing and violent head shaking, what were these the symptoms for?

Rylee nodded. "Yes yes. Um, just there was a mosquito so shook it off."

He looked around the chilly area. "Here?"

Rylee blinked, knowing that it wasn't a good excuse. "Yes, here."

Aahan didn't believe her but he also didn't know if he wanted to know the real reason so he dropped the subject. "Sorry."

"For what?" Rylee asked.

Aahan shrugged a shoulder. "You didn't go to the party and instead you came here."

Rylee waved in nonchalance. "Not a big deal. I didn't want to go to the party either."

"Really? You looked eager in that message."

Rylee tapped her fingers on her knee anxiously. Well, that was party true. "I wasn't."

"Why did you ask me in the first place?"

It was a mistake, you were supposed to be Mikaela. "Umm." Rylee bit her lower lip. "I just thought maybe you would enjoy going to the Blanc's party. It's rather infamous."

Aahan didn't believe her, it didn't make sense theoretically. "Really? You asked a guy you talked to the first time in four years?"

Rylee felt the awkward air rise and swirl around her. She looked around the white walls of the shop, trying to form some kind of reply that could end this topic. "Well." She coughed. "Not the first time."

Aahan nodded, taking another spoonful of ice cream. "I have a good memory. You stared at me but never talked to me." He stated without a change in expression. He was far too candid for her liking.

Rylee wanted the earth to swallow her or maybe dip her red mortified face in the minty ice cream. She couldn't think of a single reply to that and couldn't even accuse Aahan of lying because he was right. She did occasionally glance at him but she never stared or at least that's what she kept telling herself.

Aahan looked at the facial expressions of Rylee, her lips were twisted and her eyebrows furrowed in a cute v shape. Her fingers tapped on her knee and she kept her eyes focused on the ice cream.

"Are you ashamed?"

"No!" Rylee's defensive scream was super squeaky.

"I think you mean yes."

Rylee's mortification only grew. Every meeting with this boy somehow ended up in her humiliating herself and yet she couldn't stop wanting to talk to him. What was wrong with her? Rylee cleared her throat. "I thought you wouldn't want to talk to me."

"Why wouldn't I?"

Rylee shrugged a shoulder, chewing on her bottom lip. "Maybe because you don't talk to anyone in school."

"They don't talk to me." He corrected.

"I am sorry." Somehow, she felt bad that for the past three years of high school he had survived without a friend. she couldn't image how terrible it must've been. She would have fallen into depression without the support from Mikaela and Nina and her other friends. It would've been impossible to bear high school.

"Don't be. I am not complaining, just stating. I like the solace plus our school has quite a lot of rude people."

Rylee couldn't disagree with that. Elosie was the prime example of rude people. "Yeah."

"Plus you are beautiful, anyone would want to talk to you."

And there went Rylee's heart into an overdrive and blood gushed to her cheeks. She felt the corner of her lips form a small smile and she felt the sudden urge to scream into a pillow. But she controlled her delight.

Her mind on the other hand wasn't that docile. It was shrieking loud and doing dance steps that no one had invented.

He thinks I am beautiful. He thinks I am beautiful. He thinks I am beautiful.

It was a chant for her brain, it repeated over and over again.

"Rylee?'

Rylee blinked at Aahan's questioning face. "Yes?"

"You dazed out a little. I am sorry. Should I have not said that?"

"No no. Thank you." Rylee immediately answered, her smile was larger than a Cheshire Cat's. "That just-" she licked her lips. "It made me happy."

"Me calling you beautiful?"

"Yes."

"Don't you hear that quite often?"

She did, not very often but often enough. And none of those times had made he feel such happiness. It hadn't made her heart race or her cheeks tint bright red. She wondered what was wrong with her. What was it about Aahan that was so different? "I hear it often."

"So you must feel happy a lot." Aahan quietly noted.

Her mouth opened and shut not quite knowing how to answer that. She hadn't felt really happy in a while now but he didn't need to know that. So Rylee just nodded. "Sure."

Aahan looked at the two empty cups of ice cream. "Would you like more?"

Rylee nodded, she always said yes to ice cream unless it wasn't mint chocolate chip.

Aahan stood up, throwing the empty cups in the nearby dustbin. "Which flavor?"

"Mint chocolate chip."

Aahan didn't blink in shock and that shocked her. He understood her choice and went to the counter. Most people would argue back and say that it was time to try another flavor.

He came back without the ice cream. "It got over."

Rylee's shoulders slumped and her lips dropped, disappointment clear on her face.

"If you don't want any other flavor then should we leave?"

Rylee's eyes widen briefly and she instantly answered. "No!" She did not want to leave, not yet. She didn't know why but she knew she wanted to stay. She wanted to spend more time with Aahan, talk a little bit more, know more about him. But why? "I like all flavors." She blatantly lied.

Aahan tilted his head to the left, eyebrows furrowing. "Really?"

She nodded in agreement, forcing a smile. "Yes. All of them. Get me any flavor."

She stared at Aahan's retreating back. She was confused, not once in her life had she lied about ice cream. If minty chocolate chip wasn't there then she didn't eat ice cream, it was that simple for her. And yet today, she surprised herself. Why did she agree to eat another flavor? She frowned trying to come up with a valid reason for her behavior.

"Maybe I am just bored and don't want to go home." She said to herself.

Deep down she knew that was an utterly bland lie.

Aahan came back with two cups, both were coffee walnut.

She looked at the ice cream and was already dreading eating it. It was going to be bitter, she knew it. And she was going to hate it.

"Is this okay?" Aahan questioned. "Or should I get another one?"

She nodded. "Yes, of course. This is fine" She took the spoon and with a deep sigh she gathered the courage to eat it. The spoonful was little as she put it in her mouth, letting the flavor explode on her tongue.

She instantly hated it.

Her mouth twisted and she wished she hadn't said she wanted ice cream at all.

She cautiously looked at Aahan's face, it was – blank. Emotionless. Did he like it? Did he not? "Do you like it?"

Aahan looked at the ice cream and shrugged. "I think so."

"You think so? Is it not good?" she hoped he would say yes and they could hate the ice cream together.

Aahan ate another spoon. "I like the taste. Bitter and cold, but also crunchy. The coffee flavor compliments the usual sweetness of an ice cream."

"Huh." Rylee muttered under her breath, she had never heard her friends describe ice cream in those words. It was either yikes or yummy. She stared at Aahan with a 'what the fuck' look. "So it's yummy?"

Aahan nodded. "Sure."

"You are so weird." Rylee murmured, eating the ice cream, knowing there was no other choice now.

"Good weird?"

Rylee chuckled softly and nodded. "Definitely good weird."

Aahan smiled and there was that dimple again, it made her heart soar. Her smile unconsciously widened too and suddenly the ice cream wasn't as bitter anymore. In fact she was starting to like the taste.

"So any siblings?" She asked, trying to make conversation.

"Single child." Aahan answered. "You?"

"An elder brother and a younger sister."

"Middle child. What's that like?"

Rylee shrugged a shoulder. "Hectic. You know the freshman who broke the chemistry lab beakers with a slingshot?"

Aahan nodded, it was just two days back.

"That's my sister."

"Wow, you must be proud of her."

Rylee laughed. "Yes. That is something to be proud of."

"What's your brother like? In college?"

Rylee started tapping her lean fingers on her knee and couldn't come up with a response. Her brother was one topic that she wanted to desperately avoid. Her eyes ran over the shop, avoiding Aahan's.

Aahan noticed the action and blinked, he had seen her do that a few times now. He was still trying to figure out what it meant. "Angry?" he guessed.

"What?" Rylee asked in confusion.

He pointed at the motion and Rylee's fingers stopped. Her had formed a fist and kept it back on the table. "No." She answered quietly.

"Nervous?"

Rylee sighed and nodded. "Yes, I do that when I get uncomfortable or anxious."

"So new topic?"

Rylee was stunned at how calm he was and not asking too many questions. He wasn't prying unnecessarily and making her feel obliged to answer his question. She felt grateful. "Yes."

"How about hobbies?"

Rylee smirked a little. "Let me guess, yours is reading?"

Aahan smiled. "Because I am always with a book?"

Rylee nodded.

"Yes reading, painting and don't laugh at this but baking."

Rylee was surprised a little, reading was expected but painting and baking wasn't. In fact, he was quite possibly the only guy she knew who liked baking. Painting on other hand was a different story.

"Your turn."

Rylee paused to think of what she liked. Did gossiping with Mikaela and Nina count? Or sleeping till noon and skipping lunch? "Um. I like to dance." She said. "Shopping?"

"Is that considered a hobby?"

"Well, hobby is something that gives you pleasure right, shopping give me pleasure." Rylee argued.

Aahan smiled. "I guess that's a hobby then."

Rylee smiled back mostly because she was just happy to see that left dimple again.

It was later that night while Rylee lay on her bed hugging Bob the minion with a giddy smile on her face that she came to the fascinating conclusion – this was the best date she had ever had, despite the coffee walnut ice cream and embarrassing moments. It was simple yet fantastic.

She was truly happy and the tons of party images posted on social media by her friends did absolutely nothing to ruin her mood.

That night she dreamt of a certain grey eyed boy who couldn't stop smiling at her.

And there it was, that damn left dimple again.

~~~

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