Two Tickets, Please

22: distractions

NILA'S POV

The pictures that Nila captured on their first date were once again a hit with the viewers. Despite feeling a little guilty of using her new-found love as a promotional technique, the numbers on her profile doubling made her feel happy.

Her sister had called and teased her about her 'crush' and how none of the pictures were suggestive of that but only more. She had dismissed it, lying that they had hung out with friends. Kayal had responded with that signature Hmm of hers and before she decided to probe more, Nila had changed the topic. It was something she liked about her relationship with her sister --- both respected each other's boundaries. They were tight knit but never at the expense of getting involved in everything in their lives.

"Are we there yet?" Anamika asked, scrolling through her phone with boredom.

"I still can't believe you've never visited this library. I was raving about it two months back. Didn't you even consider checking it out?" Nila asked.

"Too busy."

"Too lazy, you mean."

Her friend shrugged.

The app in her phone showed they were three minutes away from the library. Their decision to visit the library to study was influenced by weird circumstances, one she never imagined happening. Most of the colleges had their finals approaching in a few days and usually during this exam season, their flat was eerily quiet. All three of them took their studies seriously.

But this time, however, Anamika and Nila hadn't gotten any studying done. Nila was addicted to texting her boyfriend and since he slacked in the studies department, he was online all the fucking time. She couldn't resist texting him. As for Anamika, someone in her class had introduced her to the world of anime and people would think she got married to it overnight. In a span of four days, she had binged nine anime shows.

Only when they had seen Priya preparing large containers of coffee decoction and yet falling asleep with her book on the couch, the fact that they'd wasted most of their study holidays slapped them across their faces.

She refused to let her new-found happiness intervene in her academic performance, so she'd manipulated Anamika into accompanying her to the library. The change in setting always helped Nila focus.

And coincidentally, when she'd mentioned it to Vijay, he told her that Krish was holed up there every day and was trying to coax him into joining him. An idea lit up in Nila's mind, adding onto her desire to study in the library. Nila needed motivation and doing study sprints with Krish was the perfect solution. She texted Krish and he was so open to the idea that one might think he had been desperate for it.

"Here we are," Nila said, paying the driver and hopping out of the auto.

She carried all her books and her laptop, making her way to the fifth floor where Krish had supposedly saved seats for them. Seeing the people mill around, each of them holding books and highlighters and laptops, some of them buried deep in their books pumped up her spirits already.

She was so behind on her study schedule but she would catch up.

She had to.

Unlike her sister, her performance depended on the time and effort and vigorous preparation she dedicated herself to. Without it, her scores would never be at par with her sister's in college and create an opportunity for her parents to be incredibly disappointed with her.

"Wow, this is... decent," her friend said, seeing the buttons on the elevator going as far as 11.

Nila smiled. Anamika had a problem admitting others were right. It had been frustrating in the beginning but Nila had gotten used to working with it.