Not-So-Girly-Girlfriends #MissionDesi #YourStoryIndia

New Beginnings.

Vicky

'New Beginnings'. New Beginnings is what my first issue will be all about. I'm glad that I have got a perfect staff along with an amazing writing team in such a short span of time. I have made everyone familiar with their works and briefed them about the topic. They all seem to have caught it very well. My creative department has already started designing the cover of my magazine, 'The Maze' for this issue. Since I know that I have got everything under control, I handed them their very first deadlines and came off to my girlfriend's engagement.

I told her that I would be directly arriving on the engagement day but I want to surprise her. Her expression is going to be priceless. It's been a lot of time since we have met each other. Having been together since the third grade and then being on separate ways, plus no face-to-face in the last year, has made us long for each other a lot.

I just got off my flight and took a cab. It's a half an hour route to her place. I'm one of those silly Indians who count distance by means of time. So to kill the time in the cab, I am going through the screenshots I have clicked from the messages I shared with him. We have exchanged over seventy-six thousand messages, so says Facebook, since I had started scrolling up in the memory lane because that is one place where I find him. I wish I could have recorded those conversations we had over the phone as well. They were really... something. I miss those days.

So here I am, sitting in a cab, missing those good old days. No matter how hard I try, New Beginnings can never come to me. I am still trapped in my past. I just cant let it go this easily.

I keep my phone aside since my subconscious was bitching about me, to me, for rereading those chats. She can turn really bitchy at times. I pick up the magazine kept on the seat next to me. It is Vogue, hence I just flip through the pages and keep it down again. Fashion and me are unrelated.

I look outside the window. The city is pretty calm today. Well, I am just proven wrong by the traffic awaiting us ahead. There is no chance for us to change the route as other cars have already flooded in behind us. Okay. I am stuck here for a lot of time.

It's a matter of a few minutes when I spot a recognizable face on the footpath, to my left, looking down at two girls sitting on the bench. I lower the window and take a look closely. Is that Vivan? What the fuck is he doing out here, this late? That's a frizzy haired girl there! Birdy!

Get out of here already, my subconscious butts in.

I say a brief sorry to the cab driver and pay him. I remove the backpack and make my way towards them. As I walk closer, I notice that Alisha is weeping silently on Myra's shoulder, while Myra is trying to comfort her and Vivan looks pretty concerned.

"Why in the hell are you crying," is the first thing I say after dropping down my backpack. After meeting Alisha after over a year, this is not how I want to see her.

"Vicky?!" they both say in unison. They should be startled, which they are.

"OMG! Vicky," Alisha says and hugs me tightly. "Oh my God! YOU CAME! YOU'RE HERE!"

"I wouldn't miss my girl's engagement for the world."

Her tears have been wiped away and she is no more crying. Her face is all brightened up. This girl and her mood swings. You'd never know how she'll feel after another few minutes.

"By the way, why were you crying," I inquired.

"She was kind of nostalgic. Remember how much time we have spent walking up and down this road, troubling the couples wanting some privacy, and acting like complete maniacs," Myra asked. I went back in the past. Oh, those good old days! "And she just realized how soon it was happening. I mean, the engagement is literally tomorrow since it's past midnight."

"Aw, girl! It's gonna be okay. When I left Bangalore, I had mentally prepared myself for this. I knew that you would freak out. And if you think that the guy is right, and this is it, and you still can't do it, I will make you do it. I wouldn't mind kicking your ass while I drag you down to where your groom is standing. But. If you know that he is not the one, and you don't want to do it. If you have even the slightest doubt and you want to run away; you can count on me for that too," I said as the three of us stepped in for a group hug. It would have been complete only if Zara were here. I hope she drops in by morning.

"And why are you out here so late? I mean, you can be nostalgic at home too," I said.

"Right now, we need to get her to her house. There's no more time left to be nostalgic. She still needs to apply those henna design shit on her hand," Vivan says making a face. He hates the smell of henna. "And I also think that we should hurry up since you guys can't sleep until that thing dries, otherwise, I hope you all remember Vicky's face in 9th grade."

"Omigosh," I say. How does this guy remembers so much! He comes closer and gives me a half hug.

"It's okay, Vicky. We all remember," Myra winks. I was kinda stupid to fall asleep when the henna applied on my hand was half dry. And I move a lot in my sleep hence my hand fell over my nose. By morning it had turn into shades of coffee brown to orange and in spite of me looking like a chimpanzee, my parents had to send me to school to make a complete fool out of myself.

But the best part of that was that my besties here made sure that nobody laughed at me, or made fun of me except for themselves, of course.

"So, shall we go home? I am damn hungry. I hope mom has cooked something delicious," I say.