"But, doesn't he look too old?" said Emily as I tilted my phone toward her and saw Ahana make a face at Amir's image as well,

"He is just nineteen, maybe three years older than us," I said in Amir's defense,

"He looks older," said Zayn

Telling my friends was a bad idea- but I did not have any other choice. If I wanted to meet Amir today, I needed someone's opinion. Though, I am not sure how impartial my friends would be. Since the past few years I have spent most of my time with Kiara, and I did not really bond with others. They do not know much about me, but they know enough to judge if I should meet a guy like Amir.

We were sitting in the student lounge of my school. As it was exclusive hours for higher grades, the lounge was not very crowded. During this hour- the classes for medical students were going on in the lecture hall, and as none of us wanted to be doctors in the future except for Bella- the rest of us sat freely in the lounge, waiting for our lunch to arrive.

"I mean- if you want to, you can- depends on how close you are with him," said Riya smiling in my direction. Riya understood me the best out of all the seven members of the group. She had been my friend for the past year and had been loyal to one guy named Neil since I had known her. She has been with him since we were in middle school, and even when Neil is not from our school, they make teenage relationships look so simple. She is my inspiration when it comes to making things work out at the worst.

"I mean, he is quite good when it comes to talking," I said, thinking of all the conversations I have had with Amir so far,

"Smooth talkers make you land into the deepest trap like butter," stated Zayn, making the most judgemental face he could. I gave him the gaze of a cat looking sharply at its prey.

"Don't team up against her," said Riya shielding me,

I understood the point that my friends were making. Amir had the countenance of an elderly person, but he did not look that old. He had a slight beard surrounding the region of his mouth, and the rest of his face was not downright clean-shaved- it still had hair but not as much in volume- it made him look a little like Zac Efron. His skin complexion was wheatish, and the color of his eyes looked black through the eye of the camera. His eyes were the most attractive part of his body, they had a more profound touch to them than any usual human being- it seemed like they had their own story. His eyelashes complimented his beard, and he wore black thin-rimmed glasses to protect his eyes. I don't know if his eyes were weak because even in his pictures without the glasses, the shape of his eyes did not change. They might be the blue-ray glasses to protect his eyes against the seamless effect of a screen. His nose pin-pointed toward the center and ran straight from the middle of his eyes to the edge of his lips- his lips were of the color of a newborn rose and bent in the most alluring way possible.

I was thinking deeper into it when the bell rang, and it was time for the Astronomy lecture- my lecture. I decided to make it a rose-petal decision and follow my heart while replying to his text when I reached home. On my way to the lecture hall, I talked with Riya about the situation, and instead of making an outskirt judgment on the situation, she heard my side of the story and put herself in my shoes. She said if I had confidence in Amir's personality, the thought process of my friends shouldn't be stopping me.

Frankly, I could not concentrate on my lecture- I should make this decision as fast as I can.

------

I reached home thinking about Amir's situation. I landed my bag on the corner next to my bed and removed my shoes near the shoe shelf in the closet in my room. I decided to not touch my phone until I was completely ready to look at his text. Instead, I had lunch and picked up a book by Stephen Hawking on the top of my bookshelf. The title read 'Blackholes and Small Worlds,' sounded interesting, and a little contrary to the usual nature of blackholes. Ironic- just like my life.

I read through the first chapter and tried to understand the role of singularity in the existence of a black hole. How a singularity is the protagonist of the entire storyline of a blackhole- how it is not affected by the presence of any other matter around it - and no matter how big the object is, it tries to pull it(the object) toward itself, no matter how fast it is (even light). Just like the singularity, I am the main character of my story, and instead of getting affected by the words of my pals, I should be the one making the decisions for myself. Even if things go south- it should be me who is responsible for the anti-direction.

I finally took a deep breath and picked up my phone. I took longer than usual to unlock it and did not directly click on the green icon named Whatsapp, instead- I lingered through other applications and read through some recent news articles. I was reading about how a lake was stolen in a city in India when a drop-down notification showed itself on my screen. It was a message from Amir.

"Back home?" he asked. Instead of ignoring his texts, I decided to reply,

"Yes,"

"How was the test?" he asked,

Test? Oh, the test I lied about, "Good," I said, lying again,

"You sound bland, all good?" he questioned,

"Yeah, pretty good," I lied for the third time,

"Did you think upon the meeting situation?" he asked. I inhaled all the air I could, closed my eyes, and opened them when I made a final call,

"Let us meet this weekend," I said. I will think about the problem with my parents later, maybe discuss it with Riya.