Another City Of Lights.

Chapter 4.

Aaron's POV:

Work was slow today. There were only two cars that needed a paint job, and nobody needed me around. They mostly just gave the dumbest little things to me, thinking I wasn't capable to doing anything more than cleaning wind shields and fixing busted tyres.
So when I got to know that I could go home early today, I immediately texted Dash to meet me out front in fifteen minutes.
I didn't check for his reply, I knew he'd be there.

I ignored the looks I got from people once I stepped outside. I knew how I looked, greasy hair, ripped clothes. But why would I wear my good clothes to work when I knew they'd get ruined?
My dad was a doctor. ENT surgeon in many of the hospitals here, and I shouldn't be working, but I was.
And surprisingly, I didn't hate this job now. Atleast I was getting some money for myself.

When Dash arrived, we took a bus to the mall. There was literally a mall on every street in Karachi, but not nice ones though. If you wanted something nice, then you had to know the right place.

The bus was too crowded, especially the men's side, which was at the back of the overly colored bus. There weren't any seats available, so Dash and I stood by the door, waiting impatiently for our stop, with our shirts sticking to our backs. Damn. This heat was bound to kill us all one day, I was sure of it. It just got worse every single summer. It was probably 40 degrees today, the sun roasting everything, making it hard to walk normally without your clothes not sticking to you. The humidity added to that too, making it all just unbearable.

We got off the bus after reaching our stop, nearly half an hour later.
"Man", Dash sighed, "I can't wait to get my own car next year".
"Yeah, me too", I mumbled.
We were both hopeful that after we pass our o'levels, we might just get our own cars. Probably not new ones, but who cared about that.

I was sure my dad wouldn't let me apply for any good a'level college. Here in Karachi, people had this belief that if you wanted to get in to engineering, you had to pass the intermediate exams. I knew that Dash would follow me whereever I went, but Sam and Hailey were going for a'levels for sure. And with Sam's grades, she would definitely get accepted in to some fancy school.
We were bound to get separated some day, but it was happening too soon, and we almost never talked about it. Maybe we should sometimes.

We spent an hour at the mall, looking at various shops. We didn't know what to get for Sam, because we sucked at shopping and gifts. We couldn't decide, and we had no idea what she would like, even though we knew everything about her.
Dash was getting impatient, and I was getting pissed off.
"How about this?", He held up some bracelet or necklace, I couldn't tell what it was. But it looked decent enough.
"Yeah okay, let's get that", I said, and dragged him to the payment counter.
When we had handed our money to the immensely rude man behind the counter, I noticed that the piece of jewellery we bought had a tiny dog pendant hanging from it.
"Dash! What the hell is that?", I yelled at him.
"What? She likes dogs doesn't she?", He replied casually, shrugging.
"But who wears a dog necklace, Dash?", I said to him, trying to the anger that was starting to build up inside.
"She's not going to wear anything we buy anyway, we suck at this", He explained, and he was right.
Our gifts sucked, and Hailey always got the right ones that Sam adored. And Dash and I lamely watched the exchange of polite thank-you's each year.

We shared a taxi back home, splitting the fare. None of us wanted another bus ride, even though they were cheaper than this.
When I asked the taxi driver to stop a street away from my house, Dash gave me a confused look.
And when I got out, he followed me, although he was supposed to ride the taxi all the way to his house after dropping me off.
"Why are you standing here like a damn robot?", He asked, giving me a stern look.
"It's almost 7, Sam should be getting home now", I mumbled.
So what if I still looked out for Sam until she got home? What was the big deal?
Dash's look softened, and then he laughed.
"You don't need to stand here everyday you know, it's creepy as hell and people notice", He said.
"So?", I didn't care.
"Do you follow her around all day?", He asked, hinting at something.
"What? No", What's he aiming at?
"Then what's the point of standing and staring at her now? She's fine all day, and she can walk home by herself", He shrugged, still looking at me.
"I guess it's a habit", I said, not looking back at him at all.
"Okay", He said, raising his hands up dramatically, "I'm heading home, don't be late tomorrow, you creepy-ass weirdo", He mumbled before walking back to the taxi.
"I won't be", I called back loudly at him.

I had already set my alarm so, I'd definitely get up.
Tomorrow was Sam's birthday. And tomorrow was when we were going to that stupid school fair. None of us wanted to go, I knew Sam didn't either, but it was the only way we could all spend time together for almost a whole day, so that's why we were going.
Might turn out okay though, I thought to myself, and watched Sam hurriedly walk towards her house, her keychains making a loud noise, that even I could hear from this far away, and her messy hair flying behind her.