The Way You Smile

chapter twenty one

Featured song
Maniac
(Conan Gray)

Author's POV:

Aditi let herself loosen from the hug, which Ved has also been enjoying. Her scent, her aura and her presence was everything to Vedant. It was as if God had given him a second chance to unite with Aditya. Vedant started to gather himself up, this feeling was new. He was sure of it.  He had never felt this attracted to a boy before…

Attracted? Vedant thought to himself looking at the very excited male in front of him as he chatted away with his friends. 

You mean attached, Ved. Get your shit together. He scolds himself mentally.

Accepting new changes is hard, and for Vedant It took the whole summer to figure out that he  liked Boys, particularly Aditya. He was everything he had wanted,  charming, caring and calm. He had found it very hard to come in terms with the fact that he might, very possibly, be gay. But somewhere, he was ready to accept it and it was because of Aditya. 

And the hug they just shared, intensified his feelings about Aditya. Vedant knew he shouldn't feel like this about a committed guy. But Vedant somehow knew that Aditya and Anu were off well just as friends. It just had to be clicked by someone. And that someone was going to be him.

He felt so low for doing this, but, again, to love is to be at war, and all is fair in love and poetry. He had decided to let himself be gawked at by Aditya that evening. He was tired to hold himself from doing what his heart had been telling him to do, to be free. He has suffered a lot in high school, working his ass off to get him to where he is right now. He deserved a little break and it was going to be Aditya.

It was strange when he took the gaydar test, he wasn't gay at all. He was a genius when he realized that what he had felt was only towards Aditya Varma. The boy was going to be the death of him…

And maybe sadistically, the idea of Aditya being the death of him… was very much liked by him.

“Ved!!” Aditya shouted, trying to grab his attention.
“Huh?” He responded, immediately feeling stupid.

 ‘Huh’? What kind of response is ‘huh’ Ved?!

“I was saying let's go! Also, I'm hungry. Anu and Aryan are gone to get drinks, lets go find a table or something.” His voice was getting louder as the music volume raised. But once again, losing track of what Aditya was saying. 

Vedant felt isolated all of a sudden. Sure, he had many people surrounding him, talking or doing beer pongs. But it still haunted him, the loneliness. It was like you are the only shell in an ass wide ocean and you are constantly pushed away from the place you call “home”. 

“Heya, Count us in. Me and Vedant Velan,” Aditya’s voice Echoed all of a sudden, brimming like a voice of wisdom. Then, Vedant wasn't the only shell in the ocean, he had Aditya. He would always have Aditya. His hope of everything. The cure to his aloneness. The Bread to his jam. The cement to his bricks. The matter that connects him to the world. 

As if the whole universe was conspiring to unite Both the boys, Vedant felt a sudden surgery of pull to tell Aditya how he felt. He was tired of holding back, even if he was with Anu, he didn't care. All he knew was he wouldn't be able to see or touch Aditya normally anymore. He also knew that Aditya felt the same about him. He just knew.

“Actually, Can I talk to you about something, Adi?” Ved held his gaze towards Aditya for a brief while, sterning up with his gaze of confidence. 

He remembered everything about him, the first time they met, the color of his shirt, the messy hair of Aditya, the way he just lit up the area around him, the way he looks when he is mad, the cute pout on his face that he doesn't know  about, etc.