Time Fast Forward: A Few Days Later

***

A fest was coming up in a few weeks. Gladly, some people from our faculties were friends, which made the work a little easier.

Jade and Simon from Engineering were friends with Lila, Hem, and Jake from the Fine Arts. I had liked Lila from the moment I saw her. She was a brunette with a round face, light freckles, and smiling eyes. She was one of the sweetest people I met.

We were sitting in our class, at the tables, talking about random things. The professor had some work, so we got a free lecture.

"So, we're still on for tonight, right?" Jason asked,

"Of course, we are!" Mayor said excitedly.

We had plans on hitting the drinks tonight. Our same old bar that Jason's uncle owned, because of which we would get free drinks at times or heavy discounts.

We were busy planning everything when someone called for me. Peeking out the door, I saw Lila.

Oh my god, is my hair looking alright? I hope my shirt isn't wrinkled,

"Hey, Lila," I said as I stepped out of the class, with an unrealized grin,

"Hey. Did I disturb you?" she asked politely,

"Oh, of course not,"

"I had a favour to ask you,"

I nodded, "Go ahead?"

"About the fest, I was wondering if we could get some more innovations and ideas. Our plan requires more material too,"

"What's our plan again?" I asked nervously. She laughed, "We are asked to put in our knowledge of Fine Arts and Engineering to create something resembling the connection between the two," she explained,

"And what are we creating?"

"Since we both are free, how about I explain to you everything over coffee?" she asked smiling,

"Why not?" smiling back at her, we headed towards our cafeteria,

"Did you come here alone?" I asked, "The faculties are not close by,"

"Oh, I met Sky at the footstep of your faculty building, but when I told him that I was about to meet you, he left," she replied,

Sky?

We walked down the stairs, leaving my faculty. After getting our coffees and being settled on our tables, she pulled out her notes and started explaining,

"I was thinking of a photo booth," she said,

"Won't that be too simple? Some other faculty might be already working on it?"

"Which is why we need innovation,"

I nodded,

"What if...it's just a what if idea..." I said waiting for her to respond,

She nodded,

"What if we could install such a technology in the photo booth that would let you click photos next to your younger self? Like a time-lapse. We could use a green screen,"

"Interesting. Go on,"

"People would hand over their younger self pictures and we would put it over the green screen. After it sets, we would ask them to click their pictures and then just merge them making it look like their past younger self is next to their present self. All this for a small fee,"

"So, people will want to do it again?"

I nodded,

"Won't we need a tech genius for the green screen setting?" she asked,

"I am in Engineering, Lila. There's nobody I don't know,"

She laughed, "Of course,"

"Are you exceeding your budget?" I asked glancing at the list of materials,

"Yes, which is also where I need a little help,"

"How about we build the booth out of curtains, and recycled cardboard and use as minimal wood as we can just for a vintage feel?" I suggested,

"I'm talking about those designer double-layered curtains. They're enough to stop light from penetrating and cheaper on rentals. For the roof, we can use thick cardboard, inside of which you can paint, draw, and design however it suits the booth. Let's use wooden materials for making the door of the booth. It might look funny, but this is what will attract people, which in fact, will attract money," I explained further,

"Not a bad idea, Dew,"

I was quite proud. She laughed and showed me a thumbs-up. We gently bumped our coffees, cheering on our newly invented plan.

"Thank you," she said keeping her hand on top of mine,

I looked at our hands, and the first thought that jumped out was to slowly slide my hand back toward myself,

What's wrong with me?

"I'll let others know about this plan," she said smiling, noticing the little uneasiness. I nodded sipping on my coffee, while she pulled out her phone and told other people about our plan,

"Can I ask you something? It has been on my mind since the day our faculties... you know," she asked,

"Sure, what is it?"

"Why are you and Sky always on each other's bad sides?"

"It has just always been like that. Why were you curious about this though?"

"After the fight that day, when we all were sitting in our classes, Sky asked me to check up on you. It doesn't look like a rivalry to me, so the curiosity,"

He asked...what?

"Are you sure that's what he said?" I asked to confirm. Why would he ever ask that?

"Yeah. That was the second reason why I wanted to see you today. I did ask him about this curiosity of his since he was involved in the fight, but he walked away without an answer,"

Is this another stupid prank of his?

"Do you think you can talk things out with him?" she asked, "He looked a bit worried,"

It seemed impossible to believe her right now. She wouldn't lie to me, and why would Sky ever ask for such a favor? It definitely does not bother him,

"Maybe give him a chance?" she asked again,

I was about to reply when I heard Sky behind us. He kept his drink on the table and sat beside her,

"He probably thinks I'm playing some kind of prank on him," he said shaking his head,

"So, what? Do you want me to believe you?" I said raising my voice,

What kind of game are you playing, Sky?

"Why would you believe me when your parents never taught you to at least talk to me," he argued,

"How can I possibly believe that you were worried? I'd rather believe in ghosts,"

"Even if I told you, you wouldn't take it seriously. Why would I want to waste my time fighting with you?"

"Someone sounds a little desperate. Why? Do you want us to be friends?" I smirked,

"I told you, there's no use in talking to him, Lila. He always gets ahead of himself," he said irritated, turning to her.

She chuckled and sipped on her coffee.

"I think he's cute," she said. I kept my cup on the table looking at her, and then looking at him. There was now a different kind of tension in the air,

Just then, Jade showed up behind me. "Hey guys!" she said cheerfully and sat beside me.

"I was looking for you and Dew, and Sky's here too,

I wanted to ask if any of you are free to come along with me to a designer studio. I wanted some inspiration for our designs for the stall,"

Sky suddenly got up, "Let's go," he said.

"Yeah, he can go along with you. He anyways has nothing to do except being a headache," I said mocking him,

"Oh, that means you do have a head since it's aching," he replied mocking me back,

"How sweet of you,"

"I know,"

"Enough guys!" Jade got up, "I bet you both can go on like this forever," she said,

"I know, right? I bet they must have been best friends in one of their lives before," Lila added,

"Jade, can we hurry? I have a class later on," Sky said turning around and waiting for her, desperately wanting to leave,

"What an excuse to run away. We almost have the same classes and we're all free," she shrugged,

He walked till her, swung his arm around her shoulders, and walked out of the canteen,

"Bye, guys!" she yelled waving at us,

Lila laughed looking at them. "They're cute, aren't they?" she asked turning to me,

"They're alright," I shrugged.

They look just normal to me,

Something in me felt weird to see them together. It wasn't something that I could explain but it just irritated me somewhere. I couldn't stop thinking of his replies. After that fight, why would he suddenly worry?

What's wrong with me?

"Dew?" she called out. I shook my head, "Yeah?"

"So, should we go check out our materials from the store I mentioned?"

I nodded, "Yeah,"

This is right. I just need to be with her instead of thinking about him,

For some reason, the thing that he asked her to check on me wouldn't leave my mind.

What if he meant that? It kind of scared me a little. If I put the scene in front of me, it looks so confusing. We fought; we were almost about to punch, but later on, he asked someone to see if I was alright.

Why would you do that, Sky? The bigger question was, why would it bother him if I was hurt or not? And if it did bother him, why would he still want to punch me back?

We reached the store. She started seeing and picking out a few items, but I couldn't put my entire attention towards her. Things kept boggling with my thoughts and they kept getting weirded,

"Oh," she said looking at her phone,

"What happened?" I snapped out of my confused mind,

"Jade messaged me to join them at the restaurant near our college for lunch. Do you want to go?"

"Sure, if you're going," I nodded, smiling,

"Sky might be there too, are you sure you two will be alright?"

I moved towards her and kept a hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry. Pick out the items we need, let's finish paying and have lunch, okay? I'm starving," I whined holding my stomach,

She chuckled and nodded, "Cool," she replied heading back to her cart.

After about ten minutes, we moved out of the store and headed to the restaurant. As we reached, we saw the food already on the table,

"Aw, did you order for us too?" Lila asked sweetly,

"Yup. Sky ordered for Dew though, since I didn't know his likings,"

He suddenly nudged her, "What?" she asked turning to him,

"I told you to not tell him," he whispered,

"Dumbass. I can still hear you," I said looking at him, shaking my head,

"You act like you have been crushing on him for so long," Jade said, giggling,

"I know, right, it's cute," Lila added chuckling,

"Guys, this is extremely embarrassing and ridiculous, can we get to the food now?" I said shrugging it off and quickly eating some food,

What bothered me, was that he did not defend himself. He did not say a single word as if he was accepting that. We met after seven years, and talked again 3 months later, why was he behaving like this all of a sudden?

Jade wanted to fix her make-up so Lila and her went over the rest room,

I turned to him, "What's wrong with you?" I asked without wasting a second,

"What?"

"Lila told me that you asked her to check up on me, and now you ordered food for me as if you knew exactly what I liked. What's going on exactly?"

"I have known you for seven years now. The least I know is what food you like. Plus, I ordered so that Jade does not have to worry about it,"

"You're expecting me to believe that?"

"You tell me, do I like steak more or porkchop more?" he asked raising his brow,

"Obviously, steak," I answered subconsciously. I understood what he was trying to say but his eyes didn't seem to agree with his words,

He felt hesitant and didn't say anything, "Skylar, is that really the reason?" What are these weird confusions? I looked at him with every inch of curiosity of mine, as if my heart was waiting to listen to a different answer than my mind was,

He still wasn't responding,

"Why are you behaving like this all of a sudden? People are getting a wrong idea about us and you are not even bothered about it," I was annoyed at this point,

Say something, Sky. Why does it not bother you?

As he was about to respond, they both returned to our table. From then on, we never brought up the topic again. Lila tried to create opportunities for us to argue, but he was skilled at avoiding them.

Jade and Lila left together after lunch. Since mine and his houses were nearby, I had no choice but to walk on the same path as him,

I was busy scrolling through my phone when I heard a loud groan and saw Sky fall on the ground through the corner of my eyes. There were a bunch of guys with tattoos that had ganged up on him,

I ran towards him and helped me stand up, "What's happening? Who are these guys?" I asked him but he winced in pain more holding his stomach,

The bulky guys looked agitated, angered, and were anticipating to beat the shit out of Sky,

"Finally, I can take care of things my way," one of those guys roared cracking his knuckles and walking closer to us, glaring.

***