《Short Recap》

I shook my head, laughing, "And here I thought boys thought about something other than money, sex and sports."

"Come on, you can't just stereotype everyone Akira!" he protested, "Anyway, I think we should get back now. We start on our drive back at six thirty so that we can get back home by midnight."

"Yes, I need to go and pack all my stuff." I nodded.

I drove the first part of the journey until we stopped on the highway for dinner. I was exhausted and spent the remainder of the drive sleeping, my mind already readying itself for college the next day.

But deep inside, I felt weirdly different.

●○●

The human mind works in funny, unimaginable ways that baffle me. You can be living a dream within a dream, a reality within your own and you wouldn't even know. Until it all comes crashing down.

Goa was my fairy tale reality. It was amazing while it lasted but once we returned, I almost drowned in studies and project work. I'd also been chosen to represent the college at a hackathon. And I, being the suck-up-to-authority that I am, agreed politely without a moment of hesitation.

I need to learn to say no.

"No." I huffed to myself, "As simple as that. Just say..."

"What?" Neel looked up his laptop screen and stared at me like he was waiting for me to say something.

"What?" I raised my brow.

"Didn't you just ask me something?" he asked, his lips curving downwards.

I shook my head passively in response as Neel shrugged and returned to his work.

Normally, I'd spend a Saturday night reading a book in a cosy corner or learning a new recipe that Ma had sent me on Instagram. She'd joined recently and had just discovered the difference between stories and DMs. Naturally, I was the lucky lab rat who had to endure her slow texting and excessive use of red hearts and smileys.

Now I'm proud to say that we share memes with each other.

But today was the day that we'd set as a deadline to complete our app development and run trials before we finalised the launch of the app on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. We had set up camp in my living room so that we could work as long as it took. Even sacrifice our precious Sunday if we had to.

DantelSoft.

That's what we had decided to name the app. It definitely did sound like a cool diminutive for Data Intelligent Software.

"Harsh was supposed to be here by now." I frowned, glancing at my watch.

"Give the guy a break Akira." Neel replied shiftily without looking up from his glare free screen, "While we were busy doing shit in Goa, Harsh perfected our UX design and interface."

"Yeah, I know and I love him for that." I sighed, briefly wondering why Harsh hadn't come to Goa.

No normal person would give up two days of fun just for the sake of it right? I made a mental note to ask him about it later.

As if on cue, the doorbell rang.

I set my laptop aside and scampered barefoot towards the door, and squinted through the peephole before pushing the door open.

"Hey Harsh." I smiled, ushering him inside, "What took you so long?"

"Oh, I'm sorry but I had to accompany Uncle to the hospital. Apparently they've found a kidney in their organ bank that matches his body." He replied kicking off his shoes outside the small shoe rack, before holding up a large paper bag, "If it's any consolation, I brought us pizza and a large bottle of coca cola."

"Dude, did I ever mention I fucking love you?" Neel grinned at Harsh, bro-fisting him.

"A couple of times I guess," Harsh laughed, "But I don't mind hearing it again and again dude. Although I'm lacking in the romance department, at least my bromance is going strong."

Shaking my head at their dorkiness, I made my way to the kitchen and brought steel plates and glasses for us.

Neel flung open the cardboard pizza box and helped himself shamelessly without offering any to either Harsh or me.

"I brought plates for a reason you numbskull!" I squealed as an olive fell off the cheesy triangle and Neel caught it just in time with his free hand.

"Yeah I know." He shrugged, "I'm just saving you the time you'd spent washing it."

"Who said that I was going to wash your plate?" I scrunched up my nose.

"That's even better then." Neel stated, before grabbing another piece of pizza and stuffing his mouth with it.

I swatted his arm with the back of my hand, scrunching my nose.

Harsh sat through our mindless argument quietly, chuckling softly as he poured cola into the three glasses I'd brought before serving himself and eating quietly.

I watched as he fired up his laptop and got to work as he ate.

"Do you happen to have a two way USB cable?" he asked.

"There's one in the front zip of my backpack." Neel replied, nodding in the direction of his bag.

After connecting my laptop with his, Harsh transferred his entire code into my system. We put together his half along with mine so that we had the complete program ready.

"Do you think it's going to run successfully?" I asked skittishly as my finger hovered over the Enter button.

Harsh nodded, bring the inside of his cheek.

Drawing in a sharp breath, I punched the Enter key and waited for the program to get processed by the Java converter.

I waited with baited breath as the program ran. A message box popped up on my computer screen.

2 syntax errors

"Dammit!" I gritted through my teeth, pulling my lips into my mouth.

"It's ok," Harsh said calmly, "Don't panic. It'll be something trivial that we must have overlooked because I checked the entire code myself."

I pulled the laptop towards me and scoured through the entire code to find the highlighted error.

Thank heavens that Java has an inbuilt debugger, otherwise it would have taking us days to come across the error.

I nearly had a seizure when I found it and I think I fired a couple of neurons in my grey matter due to embarrassment.

"I made a spelling mistake in the freaking variable name?!" I stated aloud in disbelief, before running the program again, "Thank God it's not a missed semi colon. That would be the cue to drop everything and go live like a hermit in the Himalayas."

"Hermit life in the mountains doesn't sound that bad though," Neel answers, chuckling, "Those guys are high and happy. If you know what I mean."

This time the program was successful. The output displayed on the screen, data speed and usage values fluctuating just like it was supposed to.

"We did it!" Harsh was the first to break our awestruck silence.

"We fucking did!" Neel yelled punching the air aggressively.

He pulled both Harsh and me into a bone crushing hug without warning.

"I can't breathe Neel!" I wheezed.

"Oops." He said, releasing us instantly, "I'm sorry."

We gathered around my laptop and conducted a couple of standard crash tests to check the security of the application.

"Ok which logo do you like better?" Neel asked, turning his monitor screen to face Harsh and me, "Black and white or leaf green and sky blue?"

"Second one." I said, the moment I saw the two.

"Same." Harsh nodded in agreement, "By the way how's the interface design coming about?"

We worked tirelessly for the next few hours. No one talked except when we had to ask for opinions or needed help.

By the time we were done it was way past midnight. Almost one.

Harsh picked up his stuff and started stuffing it into his backpack as I gathered the empty pizza cartons and plates.

"Where are you going?" I asked from the kitchen.

"Home." Harsh replied warily.

Neel patted his back once and got up to clean the rest of the mess.

"Oh come on," I laughed, "Just sleep over. It's too late to go back home anyway. One of you can take Vinay's room and the other can take the sofa."

"Are you sure?" Harsh asked, slightly uncomfortable, glancing at Neel who offered him a tight lipped smile.

"Of course." I said, patting his shoulder lightly.

"Okay, thank you." Harsh smiled, "Hey, Neel I don't mind taking the sofa."

"You sure, man?" Neel shouted from the bathroom in Vinay's old room.

"Yeah." Harsh shouted back, propping his backpack against the foot of the sofa.

He began to set a cushion on one end of the sofa. "Wait, I'll get you a pillow."

I scurried into my room and picked up the pillow that Ma had been using while she was staying her and made my way back to the living room.

"Thanks." Harsh said politely when I handed it to him.

I closed the balcony door and fastened the lock on the front door when Harsh's absence in Goa suddenly struck me out of the blue.

"Hey Harsh, why weren't you in Goa with us last weekend?" I asked curiously.

He sat up with a start and looked like he'd been caught off guard as he blinked a couple of times before answering.

"Uh..." he started, "I had to take care of Uncle because Aunty had to take Millie to a tennis camp.

I raised a brow at his implausibility.

"But you said Vinay's father is getting better now," I stated, "I'm sure he could have managed without you for two days. Besides you work too hard for your own good Harsh. You should take a break."

"I...uh, yeah." He conceded.

"Now tell the actual reason." I urged inquisitively.

"It's not important." He shook his head, "Can you please just let it go?"

"Fine I will." I said with a quiet sigh, pulling my lips into a thin line, "I don't want to coerce you into answering."

I turned to switch off the light before going to my room.

"Akira?" Harsh called out in the darkness.

"Hmm?" I hummed in response.

"I didn't come to Goa because I couldn't bear to see the girl I like in someone else's arms." He managed to whisper.

I held my breath, waiting for him to continue. I really hoped this wasn't heading where I thought it was.

Harsh muttered something incoherently under his breath about the darkness making it easier to confess.

"I really like you Akira."

The words hung heavily in the air like lead five hundred tonne weights. I was at a loss of words as I blinked in the darkness.

"I'm so sorry that you feel that way Harsh." I managed to say kindly.

I moved forward to place a reassuring hand on his shoulder, his body tensed. Shrugging my hand off, he shook his head.

"You don't need to pity me Akira. I'm sure I'll get over my feelings with time." He said in a scratchy voice, "Seeing you with Vinay hurts a lot already. I know I never had a chance but it hurts nevertheless."

"I'll give you your space then." I said gently, my voice quivering, "I don't want it to be harder than it already is for you."

"Thanks." He breathed.

Without waiting for another moment, I ran to my bedroom and shut the door behind me. I grabbed my phone texted Neel immediately.

akira_joshi

You knew right?

_neelk

Yeah :/

I suddenly felt the urge to have a cup of coffee but I resisted. I didn't want to go outside with Harsh sleeping on the couch. And anyway I was too exhausted to even think.

With a last sigh, I switched off the lights and concentrated on my breath until I drifted to sleep.

●○●

Do you think that's Harsh's jealousy resurfacing or for once does he have actual feelings?

Anyway- vote, comment, share and don't forget to spread the love!

QOTD: Tell me if you're more of a brownie or cookie person?
I'm personally a brookie person XD.