"And you Mr Mehra have a knack for rescuing damsels in distress," I said jokingly but the gratitude I felt for this man at this moment far outweighed everything else. 

Maybe I wasn't in any real danger, maybe it was all in my head. And yet I felt all my senses relax in his presence. I really wanted to hug him but had to quash the impulse very carefully. I did not want a repeat of last time. 

"What even were you doing out here?" he said and shook his head.

"I was trying to make a call, it's really loud in there."

"Yug and Siddharth are in the car if you were trying to contact them," he said turning away.

At that moment I saw Nirav and his posse emerging out of the lounge and grabbed Angad's hand leading him farther away from its entrance. I had no wish to interact with any of those individuals ever again. 

Angad seemed taken aback by my sudden contact but followed me without comment. 

"I'm sorry it has just been a very weird evening for me, I was trying to avoid certain people," I offered a hushed explanation as they left the premises. 

Angad strained a little to get a look at the people in question.

"What happened?" he asked, concern evident in his voice. 

"Nothing," I answered. 

"Meera, is everything okay? Are you in trouble?" he asked looking at me very earnestly. 

"No, no everything is fine. I just got roped into this weird interaction... it was just stupid. A classmate of mine is friends with the union people, he introduced me around and I'd just rather not go through the ordeal of interacting with them ever again," I sighed running a hand through my hair, not meeting his eye. 

I knew I was rambling at this point. 

"Hey," he said very gently, "You can tell me."

I met his eyes and he had such a tender look that I felt myself leaning in a little. His gaze flitted to my lips and our breaths mingled. His eyes were so beautiful and he smelled heavenly. Our lips were millimetres away when I regained my senses and jumped back. 

"No," I whispered. 

Angad stepped back and groaned. 

"Meera," he sighed. 

"I am so sorry but I have to leave." 

I would say I ran away from him but let's be real, after spending hours in those four-inch heels the best I did was hobbled away as fast as I could. Angad did not attempt to stop me and I was glad for that. 

***

Hours later I lay awake in Vahni's room thinking of that moment. 

Why do I always end up this way with Angad Mehra? The score for us meeting and ending up inches from each other's mouths has been 2 for 2 so far. 

Sure he was attractive but when had that been a deciding factor for my romantic preference? It helped I guess but then again, I didn't really know him. I could count things I knew about him on one of my hands. 

Why am I so compelled to mash my mouth against his every single time?

There was the remote possibility I liked him but it was too preposterous to even consider. I shoved that thought aside. It was too early to tell and that was one thing I had to stay away from. 

I had angry texts from Yug because I hadn't stopped to meet them after I ran away from the Angad debacle. I ran inside the lounge saw Vahni right away who was actually looking for me the whole time.

We left right after, mercifully, without seeing any of Vahni's friends. I told her of my encounter with Nirav and edited out only the last part. I didn't know why I was hiding the two close shaves I had had with Angad from her or even Smriti; or Yug or Siddharth for that matter. 

When I met Sarah for coffee the next day I finally spilt the beans. Sarah and I had been busy with our respective lives so we hadn't met since our fresher's party. And this wasn't something I felt comfortable discussing with her over the phone or text. 

So here we were, seated in a cafe near my place as I caught her up over coffee. From the eventful end of the fresher's party to the subsequent evasiveness on both Angad and my part and the culmination yesterday with the almost kiss. 

Sarah was quiet while I narrated what happened. She only raised her eyebrows or smiled slightly to emote and I didn't really understand what those expressions meant. When I finally ended she said,

"So what is the problem here?" 

"The problem, Sarah, is that I have made things even more awkward for both of us. We managed to not interact for a couple of weeks but we cannot keep this on any longer. Our social circles overlap and I will inevitably have to see him for practice anyway." I said exasperated. 

"Meera I don't really understand why you're so adamant about not dating him. He clearly likes you and you obviously like him," she said even more exasperated. 

"I don't like him!" I protested blushing at the implication. 

"I'm not even going to contradict that," she said but then set her mug of coffee down, " You know what? I am going to contradict that. You have met him twice, you have kissed him twice--"

"Once!" I interrupted.

"Fine, you have thrown yourself at him twice. He has been nothing but nice to you, he has asked you out which you declined for reasons that remain a mystery to me, then he was respectful of your boundaries." she listed. 

I just huffed.

"And the fact that you're sitting here discussing him with me at length means that you are still thinking of him," she finished. 

"Sarah, you know I have sworn off dating completely," I said, "It's a recipe for disaster. I don't want to ever go through that mess again.

"Oh, c'mon Meera it was a silly high school relationship! He was an asshole, he didn't deserve you and you need to move on." she snapped but then softened as she saw my expression. 

"I'm sorry if I crossed a line but it needs to be said," she said gently.

"No, you're right I have moved past it but I am not dating the first guy who happens to ask me out," I said.

"Fair enough. Don't date him but clear the air. If you're going to be around him you need to make sure it's not awkward for either of you."

"Yeah, I'll talk to him," I decided.

"What's the deal with that Siddharth guy?" she winked at me after a brief pause. 

"He's a great guy, you like him?" I asked.

"Not for me silly," she said.

"He's a friend." I said flatly emphasizing the 'friend'.

"Ugh, I thought 'New Meera' was supposed to be fun." she rolled her eyes and I chucked a balled-up of tissue at her as she laughed. 

***

On the crisp Monday afternoon that followed, I found myself alone on campus. Both Vahni and Smriti had decided to skip the day because we only had two classes. Yug and Siddharth had a class for the next hour so I decided to go get myself some breakfast and coffee at the nearby cafe that they had introduced me to, (because I absolutely did not feel like canteen food, it gets old very fast) before the last class of the day began. I had a copy of a Julia Quinn book to keep me company. 

I ordered a cup of cold coffee and some noodles and picked up my order. 

I chose a corner table and it was only when I placed my tray down I discovered the next table occupied by the person I was most dreading to see. I had half a mind to flee before he noticed me but fate was throwing me a bone here, so I sat down and tried to psych myself up to initiate a conversation. Break the ice, clear the air, erase the awkwardness...

"Are you stalking me?" his voice broke me out of my mental monologue. He hadn't raised his eyes from his phone but I knew he was talking to me, I wouldn't have to initiate at least. 

Also, 'stalking him'? Is that how it's going to be?

"Consider this: the world doesn't revolve around you," I quipped. 

He looked up and met my eye. My heartbeat picked up as I remembered his cologne, his warm brown eyes, the lighter flecks around the pupils and his long eyelashes (why do boys always get pretty eyelashes?). 

"Says you," he replied wittily. 

"What is that supposed to mean?" I demanded. 

"Why did you try and kiss me again?" he countered and tilted his chair in my direction levelling me with an inquisitive stare.

I had no answer. 

"I don't know," I said truthfully.

Another beat.

"Why won't you go out with me?" he asked smiling a little at my previous reply. Thankfully he was more amused than annoyed with my antics. 

"That has nothing to do with you. I just don't want any of that in my life right now," I said hoping to appease him if it was his ego that had taken a beating by my refusal. 

"Any of what?" 

"You know, dating, feelings, complications, just everything. So you're great. Trust me, you're a great guy. I'm sure the girls you do date would tell you as much but I don't want all of.. that."

One corner of his lip quirked up in amusement, he got up from his table and took a seat opposite me. 

"By all means, make yourself comfortable," I said sarcastically and placed a forkful of noodles in my mouth. I was famished.

"You're really something Meera," he shook his head. 

"I hope that's a good thing," I said swallowing the mouthful of noodles. 

"It is if you want it to be," he said, "You still haven't explained what happened that night."

I sighed. He wasn't going to drop this was he? 

"It really wasn't as bad as it seemed. I told you, a classmate of mine - knows people from a political party - introduced me around - they got way too familiar - I wanted to leave - creepy guy from that group cornered me outside." I listed isolated incidents hoping it made sense to him. 

"It probably would have gotten worse if I hadn't intervened," he said gravely.

"Yes you're my hero," I clutched my hands to my heart jokingly like Olive Oyl from Popeye. He didn't seem to find that funny. He stared at me in a deadpan way. 

"Okay you're absolutely right, thank you so much. This is the second time you've been of invaluable help to me." I said sincerely and he nodded. 

"I also apologize for putting you in that spot again, that will never happen," I added, referring to the almost kiss. 

"That's okay and we'll see about it never happening again," he said airily and I ignored his jibe. He was right though, I had promised him the same thing the first time I had kissed him. 

There was a pause as I ate my noodles. I offered him some but he declined. 

"I have a proposition," I said and took a sip of my coffee.

He looked at me intrigued. 

"Let's agree to put all of this behind us. We'll definitely have to interact again. You must know I have gotten pretty close to Yug and Siddharth across the last few weeks and I consider them good friends of mine. We hang out a fair bit. Then there's Rhapsody practice too. Let's spare each other the awkwardness and just start over." 

I finished my speech and Angad looked convinced.

"Alright, let's start over sans the kissing," he said, "I would like to be with my friends."

"Sorry you had to avoid them to avoid me," I said. My suspicions were confirmed. He was staying away because of me. 

"That's okay. They've been way too focused on classes anyway." he shrugged.

"Yeah, aren't you supposed to be in class right now too?" I asked.

"Eh, didn't feel like it. I'll be too tired for practice later if I go to that boring class." 

I laughed and finished the last of my food. 

"By practice, you mean with Red Wagon, right?" I asked and he nodded.

"Isn't attendance super important or something?" 

"We get enough from the Extra-Curricular activity forms," he explained. That made sense, they were part of a major cultural group. Probably brought in enough laurels to the college to satisfy the staff.

"Right," I said and extended my arm to shake his hand.

"Friends?" I asked.

"Friends," he affirmed. 

I smiled and picked my phone up to check the time.

"I still don't get why you won't date me." he piped up. 

"Angad we just went over this," I sighed.

"No, the real reason. Any girl would kill to be in your spot," he said with a self-assured grin. There it was, the Jupiter sized ego. 

"The only person dying to date someone is you and that 'someone' is me." I grinned back. 

He rolled his eyes and laughed.

"Yeah, right. But seriously, who hurt you? Past trauma? Ex-boyfriend? Got your heart broken?" he asked still amused. 

But his words wiped the smile from my face. 

"I have to go. I'll be late for my class," I said hurriedly and gathered my stuff.

"Hey, I didn't mean to--" he started apologetically but I cut him off.

"It's fine. You didn't." I picked my bag up and left before he could say anything else. 

Truthfully I still had fifteen minutes before my class but I had no wish to broach that subject with Angad of all people. 

A/N

So, how about it? They finally talked it out. I guess they're friends now.