Beyond the Beats

Chapter 35. Matches perfectly

Wow, Akshay is looking so good and unrecognisable! Did he go to a beauty parlour? And what's with all these branded clothes? I am sure these must be the good quality copies of those brands, but it doesn't look so. And just look at his hairstyle!

"Will you stop staring at me, Boom Boom Boomer?" Akshay asked.

"No, I won't until you tell me the truth," I said.

I had already asked him about my doubts regarding his appearance, and he had denied every claim of visiting any kind of parlour to groom himself. I did not believe him at all.

His already six-feet height was elevated with his another new pair of sneakers, and his face was shining like a pearl. He looked younger too - did he do some dark magic?

"Stop troubling him, Bhoomi," Jiya told me. "I am sure it is not dark magic, but something else."

She winked at Akshay, and he rolled his eyes. He told me that I had also come prepared and done makeup too; but my situation was different. Nothing I was wearing belonged to me. And if Jiya wasn't there, I wouldn't have been able to walk properly in the short heels too.

While walking, I kept stumbling, and Shlok and Jiya kept catching me before I broke my nose. I again asked Akshay if he got a bonus at his work, and he punched me on the back a little harder to shut me up. We had a party to attend, so I let him go for the time being.

As we moved towards Hriaan's home, the music started getting louder, and similar huge bungalows along both sides of the road made us look like Lilliput. The lines of very shiny cars kept increasing, and humans my age kept swarming through the entry gates.

To avoid getting swept up by the crowd, Akshay held my wrist, while Shlok guarded Jiya or it could have been seen the other way too. I held my breath as a huge cloud of perfume entered my nostrils.

Akshay glanced at me when I made a vomiting expression. He chuckled as I kept feeling like my food would come out as the path towards the entrance seemed to be increasing.

Finally, what seemed like an eternity, we reached the entrance, and I exhaled deeply. My friends let me catch my breath before we continued. While I took my time to inhale oxygen, I saw that almost every inch of Hriaan's house's premises was occupied by people. Some were drinking, some were chatting, while some were dancing. The scene was the same inside too.

Jiya excused herself and went to meet her other friends. As we hardly knew any one else, Shlok, Akshay, and I decided to stand in a less crowded spot.

I roamed my eyes around, watching young adults like me. While boys were decked in jeans and jackets, girls were flaunting all kinds of dresses. I felt happy as I didn't look out of the place.

"You wanna drink anything?" Shlok asked.

Akshay and I refused, and he left to get himself a drink. So now we two socially awkward potatoes were stuck by ourselves. Since we knew none of us was going to make any talks with strangers, Akshay and I began discussing about our training and other stuff.

"I heard you submitted sketches for demo?" Akki said and began laughing before I could explain.

"I wouldn't have had such a hard time if my friends weren't so useless," I grumbled.

"I have zero knowledge about Robotics, Boomer. And you should have tried harder to convince Ritvik Bhaiyya to teach you."

"He is already so busy training our crew, and nowadays he looks so on edge that I don't want to get under his firing range. You know anything that upset him?"

Akshay shook his head. "Apart from the guys giving him troubles sometimes, I have no clue why he is so short tempered these days."

"Well, he won't be the only one to worry us. You know I almost got killed today while getting permission from Mom, and the one who allowed me was Dhara Di. They fought over such a small thing. Can you believe it?"