Tara is looking for love but refuses to let anyone close. When a certain charming hunk from a dating app weasels his way in, will Tara resort to her old ways or actually open up?
Armaan has never been taken seriously, so he has stopped taking himsel...
Author's Note: The header is perhaps the most popular image from the 1989 movie Say Anything, which is a favorite of our female lead and gets mentioned in this chapter. Author would recommend it to all.
A/N continues after the chapter. Do read!
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"I'm sorry, I should have been clearer. I'm not into hookups," said Tara looking up from her cup of coffee at her date, Armaan Malhotra.
These words had been circling up her throat for the past 10 minutes, ever since she realized that the swoon worthy Armaan Malhotra--who seemed like her perfect man in the chats--was treating their first date at a coffee shop as the prelude to a hook up in a hotel.
"I don't have anything against the people who enjoy hookups but I'm more of what you'd say old-school when it comes to romance," Tara continued as it seemed Armaan was grappling for what to say.
Tara hated how small her voice sounded like she had committed a mistake asking for proper courtship and dating out of a dating app match. Was she this oblivious though? Tara usually spotted the "here for hookups only" crowd from a mile away. How was she so heedless that she led things go to a face-to-face meeting?
Tara's thoughts were interrupted by something her date had said. She didn't register what he said though.
"Sorry?"
"Uh, I just said, I wasn't envisioning a hookup either. Uh, actually, that'd be a lie. I did have a room booked for us as I mentioned, and I would not have minded us sleeping together but it wasn't my goal...I was simply acting out of my presumption. You did nothing to lead me there. I just presumed, I'm sorry."
"Why would you presume that though? Do all your first dates in Delhi lead to sex? Or do you come on dates with the sole purpose of having sex?" Tara was spiraling, suddenly furious. Did she really anticipate this date for the last five days and did she really waste her precious weekend on this?
Deciding the date was over, she began packing it up. Motioning for the waiter to come with the bill, she started gathering her sunglasses and mobile phone from the table, indicating she was ready to leave.
"Wait, Tara. Just hear me out before making any judgement," Armaan placed his arm on the table, pushing his torso over it, desperation visible on his face and body.
"What I meant earlier was that yes, I would not have not enjoyed the possibility of hooking up with you but that was not the point behind me booking the room. I remembered you talking about John Cusack's Say Anything and so thought it would be a nice surprise if we had a classic movie session after our coffee date. And so, I got a room with a projector and downloaded a line of classics."
"And you want me to believe that the movie was not a lead on to sex?" Tara asked. She did not know what she wanted to hear anymore.
Armaan now bent even forward, his fingers turning pale from clinging to the table.
"Um, again, to be perfectly candid, I would not have said no to it leading to anything. But that was not my intention, watching the movies was and I totally would have been fine with us not doing anything physical and spending the night talking away."
Armaan subconsciously extended his arm farther, but Tara's arms were still crossed across her chest, her back firmly stuck to the back of her chair.
Armaan sighed. "And, hookup or not. Nothing involving you would have been casual, Tara. I genuinely like you and this was not my attempt at just having a one-night stand."
"Right," Tara said as the waiter came back with the check. She had stopped thinking; it was decided now. She would do what she does best--escape this mess.
Words were coming out of Tara's mouth on auto mode now, "I'm sure you think I'm being orthodox by making a big deal out of this when you apparently just wanted to surprise me with an effort, but I can't do this. We both should have been clearer about what we wanted."
Tara took a pause to look at Armaan's face, sighed and continued, "I should have told you about my equation with physical intimacy, I just...thought we had time, time before we had to discuss all that."
Tara scanned the bill on her online payment app and went for the payment.
"No, please, let me. And please just hear me out..." Armaan began.
"I've got it. I'm sorry this was not what you expected," Tara cut him off, getting up.
Slinging her handbag over her shoulder, she looked up at the face she thought had become her favorite in the past month. Now, the sweet face looked torn, twisted in visible pain. She was ruining it, again.
"Bye, Armaan."
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A/N: A short chapter to start things off!
Doesn't it suck super hard when you have this image of someone in your head and it just comes gatecrashing one day. I wanted to lean on that emotion for this one. But don't worry, sun will smile soon on Tara and Armaan, and all of us, too!
Chapter 2 will follow behind shortly and I think I'll stick with the weekends to upload. Since I work full-time, it'd be too ambitious to assume I'd have enough energy to open Wattpad after office.