ℝ𝕦𝕖
Me, Zinnia, Amy and Lily were sitting at the steps of the ground entrance as the last hours were free for us.
There were guys who were getting ready to practice soccer for their upcoming tournament while cheer girls were warming up on the side. Ash was also there, stealing glances at Amy who was busy talking and laughing with Zinnia. It seemed like Ash was missing her as she was avoiding him nowadays. Well, let him have a taste of his own medicine!
I was sitting beside Lily and commenting on guys when Andrew came and stood in front of us.
"Hey, baby," Lily said, spreading her arms and dangling her legs, calling him for a hug.
Andrew chuckled at her cute actions and bent down to give her a tight hug and kissed her forehead.
He indeed is a sweet guy.
I smiled at their lovey-dovey interaction.
He pulled from the hug and smiled at me saying, "Hi, Elka."
"Hey, bro," I said, grinning.
Lily and Andrew were taken aback hearing me calling him 'bro'.
Lily chucked while Andrew was still shocked.
"Are you practicing for any mannequin challenge?" I asked as I saw him standing still, his chest puffed.
Lily laughed and said, "Drew, breathe out."
"Ye-yeah," he stuttered.
I let out a small chuckle and looked straight to the ground. Lily was talking to Andrew about her plans of going shopping when my stomach growled loudly which made her halt her words. They both looked at me which made my face blush with embarrassment.
"What the hell was that?" Lily asked me.
"I didn't eat anything for lunch. As usual," I said, looking down at my feet.
"Why don't you eat lunch, Elka?" Andrew asked.
"She doesn't like the food here. And with that she didn't eat breakfast today as she woke up late," Lily said before I could open my mouth to reply to Andrew.
"But you're starving," he said.
"I know. It's fine. Just one more hour and then we are going home, right?" I said.
"So?" Andrew asked.
I looked at him with narrowed eyes to which he said, "I-I mean, are you going to starve for one more hour?"
"Maybe?" I replied, shrugging.
"No, you're not!" he shot, receiving narrowed eyes from me again. "That was like the loudest rumble I have heard. Even I didn't have one like this when I was starving on su-" the rest of his sentence got stuck in his throat as he realised what he was saying.
I looked at Lily from the corner of my eyes while she was looking at him, her lips pressed into a thin line. Andrew giggled and shook his head to change the awkwardness.
"The point is, I'm not going to let you starve yourself. I'll go get something to eat."
"What? No, no need. I'm fine," I said, refusing his consideration.
"Don't expect a meal but a snack or something. I'll be right back," he said, ignoring my refusal and turning his heels.
I was looking at him from afar until his figure faded from my sight. I turned my head towards Lily who was smiling at me.
Of course! She is happy!
"Why didn't you stop him?" I asked her.
"Why should I?" She threw back.
I sighed and looked straight.
After a few minutes I said, "God! I feel awful. I was so fucking mean towards him."
I was cradling my head in my hands that were resting on my knees and looking down at my feet.
"Hey, it's fine. He knows why you were like that," Lily said, consoling me. "He knows that you're protective over me. He knows how much you love me and care for me and that's why every single time you strike at him, he likes you even more. And above all, he knows the true meaning of hunger. That's why he didn't let you starve."
I raised my head and looked at Lily.
"I just jumped to conclusions without even asking you about Andrew. And when he was actually being nice, I was telling myself that he was putting on a fucking facade," I huffed. "I'm a horrible person Lily. I'm fucking bad at judging people."
"Ok, I'm going to disagree with your first statement till my very last breath. And no hard feelings, I'm going to agree with you on your second statement. You are indeed the biggest meanie when it comes to judging people," Lily said.
I laughed at her. I didn't know whether I should be happy as Lily said I was a good person or be angry at her for calling me meanie because of my judgements.
Well, the truth always won. And she was right about me being the biggest meanie.
"I think you're still doing that," she said.
"Doing what?" I asked.
"Misjudging."
"I was drowning in guilt and regret thinking about Andrew just a few seconds ago. And you still think that I'm judging him?" I asked her furiously.
"I'm not talking about Andrew you dumbo," she snapped.
I tilted my head.
"Danish. I'm talking about Danish."
I rolled my eyes at her.
Why does she have to bring that dipshit's name now?
"You're so rude towards him, do you know that?" she asked me.
"How do you know that I'm rude to him? Did he complain to you or what?" I asked back.
"He said to Andrew that you're so cold and rude towards him for no reason when all he wants is to be friends with you."
"I am rude and I have a reason. It's because he's always vexing me. Do you know that?"
"It's just the way he is, Elka. He seems like a good guy. He's funny, loving, caring and not to mention, he's hot."
"You know a lot about him just within a few days?"
"Yeah. I know he's funny because I talk to him. I know he's loving and caring because Andrew said a lot about him to me and it's so obvious that he's hot. I know you won't look away from someone that looks like a whole meal. And Danish is a buffet."
I cringed at how she described Danish as something to devour. I didn't say anything but just looked away.
"If he isn’t a good guy then why did he ask Andrew to call me to check on you that night?" she asked.
"Can we stop talking about him?" I suggested.
"Why? What's wrong with talking about him?"
"Nothing," I said blankly.
Lily sighed and said, "I give up."
Just then, Andrew came back carrying a paper bag.
"Here you go," he said, extending the bag to me.
I took it from him, thanked him and took a look inside the brown bag. There were a few Doritos, a pack of chocolate cookies and a bottle of apple juice. My lips curved up into a smile. It was really sweet and thoughtful of Andrew to bring me snacks even though I wasn't anyone to him. And he picked apple juice, my favorite one, among other flavors.
I raised my head and said, "Thank you so much."
"Always," he said, looking at me.
Suddenly someone came out of nowhere and sat next to me saying, "Whatcha you upto guys?"
We all turned our heads to find Danish sitting next to me, smiling. The familiar cologne filled up my lungs which brought up moments of the coincidental meeting that night in my mind.
"Oh hey, Danish," Lily said, pushing me backwards and giving him a hug.
I was surprised by her actions.
Danish became her favourite?
"Hi, Lil," he said, pulling back from the hug.
Lil?
They returned to their position and Lily asked him, "I didn't see you at all. Where were you?"
"I was busy with taking down all the notes and going through the topics of the past seven months. I have to catch up with others real quick. Seems like I'm gonna be busy for a few days."
Few days? You are going to mug up every chapters of fucking physics from past seven months within a few days? Have some self respect and stop bragging you fucking braggart.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Danish asked, breaking my daze.
That was when I realized that I was actually looking at him with furrowing brows when talking about his bragging to myself. My eyes went a bit wide and I shook my head vigorously.
"Enjoying my irresistible handsomeness?" he asked, coming closer towards my ear.
I flinched back when his hot breath hit my skin, sending shivers down my spine as earlobe was one of my sweet spots, which I discovered when Zinnia tickled me while I was sleeping.
I stuck my tongue out at him to which he chuckled.
"Whatever you do, it's cute," he said.
I rolled my eyes at him and turned my head towards Andrew.
"Hey, Andrew. Why don't you come with us to our house after college? I really want to thank you for this," I said, slightly shaking the paper bag. "And also, it's Friday night."
Lily looked at me and clasped her hands. "That's some requiteness to be expected from Elka."
I glanced at her and then looked at Andrew, waiting for an answer.
"Umm..thanks, Elka, but I have to go to work right after college. I'm sorry," Andrew said apologetically.
I pouted and said, "It's fine."
"But your shift ends by nine, right? What about after that?" Danish asked him.
"Yeah, he's right," Lily said.
"Well... if it's fine with you guys about me coming to your house after nine, then ok," Andrew said.
"Hey, Danish, you can also join him," Lily said, stretching her neck to look at him.
"Really?" he asked, pointing his finger at me without taking my notice.
Lily got it right away and asked me, "He can also join, right Elka?"
I looked at Lily who was smiling at me with hope and pleading eyes.
How can I say no to Lily when she looks at me like that?
I sighed.
"Yeah, sure." Turning my head towards Danish, I said, "You're also invited."
"Alright then. Expect me after nine," he said, smirking.
I looked straight, ignoring him.
Two guys from the soccer team jogged and sat in front of us, their backs facing us. I overheard one of them asking the other, "Where the hell is Ash?"
My eyes wandered in search of Ash to find he was missing. I then stretched my neck to look at the other side, just to see Zinnia sitting alone, her sorrowful face meeting my eyes.
Oh, I'll live forever, oh, oh, oh, oh
I'll live forever, oh, oh, oh, oh
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