Once Upon A Mr. Goody Two Shoes

Chapter 14

"Hey! Look at you. Haven't heard from you in days. I didn't expect you to meet in a concert!" Abhay chuckled, his hands flying in different directions.

"Well, I didn't expect you to see in Delhi, in the first place!" I exclaimed in shock.

"It's a free country Aashi, people can travel from Mumbai to Delhi without having to state reasons for it," Abhay answered, and I was reminded of how much of an ass he was. Ah! Some things were beyond a normal person's capabilities. Abhay Raut was beyond mine.

"Let's do this again. What are you doing here?"

"If you didn't know, this is a concert, Aashi. People come here to listen to artists."

"Alone?" I raised my eyebrows, giving him my best shut-up-and-speak-the-right-thing expression.

"As much as I don't mind that, I'm here with my cousins tonight. And...we're being completely rude," Abhay drawled, looking up in Abeer's direction. In the shock that followed seeing Abhay, I had forgotten about Abeer.

"Who's this guy, huh?" Abhay went the extra mile and wiggled his eyebrows at me. I internally groaned. I glared at him, but replied nonetheless.

"This is my...colleague, Abeer and Abeer this is Abhay, my best friend from school," I motioned towards Abhay while introducing him. Abeer flashed him an acknowledging smile, the one he had professionally perfected.

All was going well, the customary hi's and hello's done, it was my cue to take leave. And just then, Abhay felt the need to make things awkward. As always.

"Seriously Aashi, best friends, huh? That is what we were?" His gaze shifted from me to Abeer. " I was actually this lady's first boyfriend."

"Twelve years ago when we were fifteen," I ground out, not quite happy with how things had suddenly turned against me.

"...and also her first kiss." Because Abhay couldn't stop at the boyfriend part. I closed my eyes in exasperation, and embarrassment.

"We have spent so much time together and made so many memories and yet this is what she introduces me by," he said, just as he pulled me towards him to wrap a hand around my shoulders. If I could get away with one murder, a single one, I knew just the perfect candidate for it.

As inexperienced as I was, even I knew that this wasn't quite what a guy liked to hear on his first date. And for that, Abeer was taking this rather quite well. I looked up to his face, and my stomach dropped.

Ahem, perhaps not.

His lips, which were generally curved into a smile, were pressed into a thin line, all his face muscles tense. It wasn't a good sign. Good God, it wasn't. And then he spoke, his hand entwined in mine.

"As far as introductions go, I do say she doesn't quite fare well with them. Or else she wouldn't have introduced her date as a mere colleague. Its not over yet. Our date I mean, and we should get going. Enjoy your night, Abhay," Abeer put deliberate emphasis on date and his name, and by the time he was finished, I was pulled away from Abhay's hold and we were out of the ground in no time. 

With our hands entwined.

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It was close to midnight but the restaurants around the ground were still open. We went in one of them and placed our orders. Things went pretty downhill from there. Abeer had lapsed into absolute silence since we had left Abhay in the concert. I had placed the orders and was desperately trying to fill in the silence by chattering at length about nothing in particular.