RAVI (formerly Indie-America)

37

(((Edited•)))

   Luca pulls up in front of a restaurant called Queens. It's pretty far from home but Luca doesn't seem to mind. Surprisingly we only exchanged a few words while in the car but he wasn't being hostile towards me at all. When he parks correctly he comes down quickly and opens the door for me.

"That wasn't necessary," I say. He smiles brightly at me as he closes the door.

"The birthday girl can't be over pampered." I can only smile to that.

Luca leads me inside the restaurant that I belatedly realize is empty except for the waiter standing by the door.

"Good day Master McQueen, welcome." He greets formally but Luca returns the greeting with a familiar pat on the hands. He starts moving forward but I stop him quickly.

"Umm...Luca, this place is empty." I say awkwardly. Luca gives me a face,

"I know Ravi. That's the point, I booked the entire restaurant,"

I gape at him, "Why would you do that!?"

"Because I want to Raaavvi, now are you gonna stand here and talk or will you prefer to take a seat?" He raises his eyebrow at me and I give up and follow him to the booth by the corner.

"I think this would inconvenience many other people." I say as I sit down and he snorts.

"They got their money back, no biggie."

"How did you even manage to pull this off so quickly?" I ask, noticing that the interior of the restaurant is plainer than it should appear to be. There are pale pink roses placed at strategic corners so that wherever I turn to, there's one staring right at me.

"You decorated this place didn't you?" I can't stop the corners of my lips from curving.

"With a little help from Nelson and the gang. And with regards to the short time frame...I can't believe I'm saying this but money makes the world go round."

"I can see."

"Would you like to order something now?" He perks up and I nod even though I'm not that hungry. The waiter appears next to me, ready to take our orders.

"What would you like to have?" He asks me.
"I'll start with a plate of mozzarella, pepperoni and olive bites," I order. Luca orders the same and the waiter goes to get it.

"So...were you gonna tell me about your birthday?" Luca implores. I can't help but bite my lip, I knew this was coming.

"Probably. Most probably,"

"Most probably," he repeats. He's obviously affected by my choosing to keep quiet and I rush to apologise.

"Look I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I should've. It just didn't cross my mind and I–"

"Why are you apologising Ravi? I'm not mad. It is your birthday after all, so you must have your reasons," he pauses and looks at me. "Actually that's what has got me worried. Your reasons. After organizing this whole thing I stopped to think: why would Ravi keep her birthday from me? Did I do something to her or–"

"Oh no, not at all. You didn't do anything Luca,"

"So are you gonna tell me? I'm not trying to rush you into anything but I really do want to know."

The waiter comes with our food, interrupting us. He curtly serves us and leaves only after he's satisfied with his work. I only start talking again after I've successfully taken 5 bites of my food.

"I don't like talking about it, because I've been trying to put it behind me. But it's almost like everyone wants me to talk about it." I watch as Luca's eyes soften slowly, he actually looks pained from seeing me pained.

"Then don't. Seriously, you don't owe me an explanation, we can talk about something else,"

"But the thing is that...for the first time ever, I want to." I look straight at him and feel our eyes connect. No, no electric shocks this time, just something almost like a soft melody.

"I had a brother," I start plainly, no need to beat around the bush. "His name was Rohan, he was my twin. My twin brother. And he died when he was 16, which is two years now I think. So whenever it's my birthday I feel like a stone, it's the worst day of my life to be honest. Because there's nothing like knowing that you used to have your special someone with you on that day but now the person's gone," I pause to catch my breath but my voice cracks and I feel the tears building in my eyes. Luca reaches to hold my hands in his and wipes the tears that haven't even fallen.

"I'm so sorry Ravi," he whispers. I nod quietly and swallow back the remainder of my tears.

"It's alright, it isn't your fault."

"Listen, I understand why you don't like your birthday but I know you, and I know that you would stop doing so much more things because of Rohan's death," he says. I shrug, it's not as if he's lying.

"I stopped attending soccer matches because my brother was in the soccer team. I couldn't face the same field again. But I still play football games, Teddy gets them for me,"

"That's why you refused to attend any one of my games earlier,"

"Yeah. The only thing I didn't stop is painting. I couldn't stop doing that,"

"Ravi depriving yourself from doing the things you love isn't going to make anyone happy. This might come out harsh but Rohan is dead, it doesn't matter what you stop doing it isn't going to affect him. And I know for a fact that all he'll ever want is to see you happy."

"Yes but it's more about fear than deprivation. I'm afraid I won't be able to handle doing those things again, I'm an extremely emotionally weak girl," I wipe my eyes with my handkerchief.

"Hey," Luca says. His voice is stronger than before and it makes me raise my eyes to his, "You're one of the strongest girls I know ok? And it's ok if you're taking your time. People deal with grief differently, so stop crying now. I can't stand seeing you like this," he makes me wipe my face clean and only stops once he's satisfied with it.

"So now I think we need to get some air," he takes my hand and stands up.

"But Luca the food–"

"They can eat it,"

"But all the money you spent–"

"It's fine RV, really. Now come with me or else I'll have to drag you." And so I end up back on the road, just that it's by foot this time.