Endless Road (Wattys 2015)

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

24th March, 2010

       

      

      Once I turned my focus from worrying about trying to fit in with the big group to being myself, things did get easier. I distanced myself from Ajay, because being close to him was clouding my mind. It would only lead to me staring at him, casting him longing looks, and him getting wrong signals from me. So I stood where Milli and Rishi were talking, and smiled whenever someone talked to me. It was like a constant repetition of rules—smile, talk, joke, laugh. Accept compliments and birthday greetings, too. It turned out that we weren't that many of us, after all. When the four of us went up to the bowling rink, I saw three other people standing by the entrance. Pranay, Megha and Nishant.

       Now we were all locked in a battle, outdoing each other on the bowling platform, and currently, Pranay was leading. He'd already gotten three strikes, while we were all struggling with six and seven pins.

      Milli was in fun mode, too. She was cheerful, receptive to jokes, and she was purposefully avoiding Rishi, who seemed to be doing the same. While I was laughing at one of Nishant's jokes, I happened to look to my right and saw Megha casting Ajay looks. I blinked. Ever since the breakup a year ago, things had been strained between them. Ajay  had never talked to me about her, never given me the details about their relationship or the breakup, and I had never asked. It was a mystery—as much of a mystery as he himself was.

       "It must be so awkward," Milli whispered in my ear, and I turned to her. "To be in the same room with your ex."

      "I know," I said quietly, although I didn't. Not from personal experience, anyway. Ajay wasn't  talking to her. He wasn't even looking at her.  All they'd said to each other the whole evening was just one plain hi. That's it. I wondered why she'd even come.

      "Are you going to stand there all evening and look pretty?" someone said in my ear, and I turned, startled.

       Pranay was looking at me, his eyes gleaming with mischief as he held a ball in his hand. I blinked, wondering what to say to that.

       "Or are you going to prove that you have some skills apart from dazzling guys?"

       I felt my cheeks heating at his words. However, I didn't let him see I was embarrassed. I cocked my eyebrow, moving forward to invade his personal space. "Dazzling guys?"

       "Don't act coy," he murmured. "You know exactly what you to do to them."

      "I don't," I said innocently, making my eyes bigger as I looked at him. Then slowly, I raised my hand and touched his arm, moving along his forearm to his fingers. We stared at each other. His brown eyes got darker, and suddenly, the ball from his hands fell into mine. I broke into a grin.

       "Shall we see what I can do with this?" I said, holding up the ball. His lips had pulled up in a faint smile now, and he was moving back to give me space. I approached the alley, swinging my arm back, then released  the ball with a gentle arc. It rolled straight ahead, hitting a  clean strike. Hoots and cheers erupted as I straightened, as I turned and met Pranay's eyes. He was looking at me with that same half smile he'd had on moments ago, and I realized that I was sort of shying away from all that attention.

      "So?" I said, challenging him. "What do you think?"

      "I think, Dia Gandhi, that you are a lethal, lethal girl."

      I didn't say anything. Honestly, I didn't know what to.

      He winked at me, causing me to stare with surprise, and brushed past me to take another ball. As I stood there, pleased and confused at the same time, I thought about what just happened. Had I been flirting with Pranay? Oh my god, I thought to myself. I had. And he had been flirting with me, too! It was so strange to see the effect I'd had on him... did he really like me that way? If so, why had he made a move after such a long time? Ajay had told me last year about how he felt... then why hadn't he tried anything before? I didn't know. It didn't even matter. I wasn't really good friends with him, and I didn't know much about him. Falling for his charm was too far yet.