Lover Is A Day

Chapter 6

‘Hello everyone, I am Neha, the president of Readers Club…’
Afterall, I did come to the meeting of club. Since I’ll only need to visit here on important meetings and other than that I can come here to pick up books to read. I think this will be fine.
‘And this is Shubham, he is the vice president’, The girl who was doing the introduction said. Everyone clapped and Shubham waved. They went on to explain how the club functioned, what we were supposed to do to maintain order.
The room was air conditioned and everyone sat on wooden, yellow-colored chairs, surrounded by bookshelves. I just noticed the distinct smell of old books. And the longer I stayed, the longer it lingered.  
‘We look forward to knowing you all’, Neha smiled and concluded.
I picked my sack and got up to leave.
‘I didn’t think that you would come, but nice thing you came’, Shubham stopped me midways.
‘Yeah, I didn’t had much to do so I came’, I smiled so I wouldn’t come off as unexpressive.
‘I don’t know many people who have joined, most of them already have friends, either ways Neha said that it would be nice to know everyone’ he said
‘That’s a good idea’
‘I will inform you, when we plan something’, he smiled and patted my shoulder.
He looks very cute when he smiles… his eyes curl downwards and his nose spreads, making it appear short. His smile looks genuine…
My smile had long since vanished and so did he.

I walked over to the basketball lawn. It was a bit wet; my stance will be slippery like this. Boys’ basketball trials are very lonely compared to girls’ trials. Only the seniors from existing team, coach and freshmen who applied. And even though it was an open lawn, no one really spectated either. I spotted Abhi in jersey and sneakers. Oh, right im still in uniform and shoes, that’s why the lawn seemed slippery.
‘You’re just in time for the trials’, Abhi said with hands on hips. His looked very uneasy, maybe he was nervous. ‘Go change quickly, they’ll start anytime soon’, he added.
‘Yeah’, I turned around. Just as I turned around, I realized that I had noticed someone watching me. It was just a millisecond glimpse but could swear that it was someone. I didn’t bother much and sped walked to the washroom.

“Seniors! Step aside”, “Freshies! Form a line!”, The team captain instructed. There were around 15 guys for the try outs, including me and Abhi. We had to aim at the basket and were given 6 chances.
I hit all of them. Abhi missed once. So, we were selected for the second round. The second round was a trial match, where freshmen had to compete against the seniors. Only 5 of us would be selected. As the match proceeded, some students had stopped by to watch. Me and Abhi were well acquainted, so we had better coordination than others. The coach pointed to me and whispered something to the captain.
Long story short, me and Abhi got selected in the team.
Abhi looked very happy and tired now. He high-fived me with both hands. I drank water from my flask in one hand and high fived him back from the other. He awkwardly gripped my free hand and touched shoulders.
‘Let’s go eat somewhere’, he said
‘Yeah sure’

I went back to washroom to change clothes. It had already been evening. I am soo tired. I just want to go home and sleep now. I wiped some sweat from my towel, I was waiting for a stall to be free. It was crowded because the football team had trials today too. Abhi was changing in one stall Concurrently, 3 students dressed in white shirt and pants entered the room. They appeared to be cricket players since they wore helmet and gloves, and held bats. I guess the cricket team had trials today too.
Just as I was thinking, I realized that one of them was Shubham!
I looked away, thinking that he might notice me. But so what? I can be here if I want. What should I do? Should I approach him before he does, or should I just ignore?
I tried to steel another glance at him., but this time he noticed me. His eyebrows raised as he acknowledged me. I should just stay calm. He walked over to me, he looked exhausted.
‘Yo! You had trials?’, he asked enthusiastically, but still sounded tired
‘Yeah’
‘Football or Basketball?’
‘Basketball’
‘I see. Nice. Btw do you have any dinner plans?’, he asked ‘Neha and everyone are going somewhere’
He must have thought that im a loner, cause he’s never seen Abhi and Mayur., well he isn’t wrong though.
Abhi came out from his stall and asked for his bag.
‘Yaar, I forgot to tell you that today won’t be possible, I have to meet a girl :D’, Abhi said ‘So you see what you’ll eat, okay? Bye’
‘…’
He said and dashed out with his bag. And Shubham stood there waiting for an answer.
‘Okay fine I’ll come’, I said.

I came with Shubham and others. What I did not think was that Zenna would come along too. She stayed away but she glanced once or twice. Thankfully Shubham stayed by my side, or else I would had looked awkward. But even he was well adjusted with others. So I truly looked lonely.
We sat on two joined tables, around 15-20 people. I sat at the corner and Shubham sat next to me. It was an open restaurant and was lit by colorful lightings. Resembling a Dhaba. They ordered Parathas and Biryani, with complimentary coke or pepsi.
Most of them were friends and were already having conversions in their groups. Initially, Neha tried to engage with everyone, but eventually gave up. And then only talked with Zenna.  They both seem to be very close; they are together all the time. I went back to eating.
‘So how was Basketball trial?’, Shubham asked. He had been quiet for some time now.
‘Yea it was nice. What about cricket?’, I replied
‘It was good. Didn’t knew that all sports tryouts would be today’
‘Yeah’
‘Btw I wanted to ask you a favor…’, he half smiled and put his palms together.