Crossroads | ✓

e i g h t e e n

Song attached: Let Go by Andrew Allen (thanks i-love-books01 for suggesting this song to me. This is so warm and makes my stomach crawl with worms! Kudos to people who understood this reference :P)

<unedited>

e i g h t e e n

[ u n b r e a k a b l e ]

She's going to be there soon. Don't mess up, Varun. And when it's over, TELL ME ALL THE DETAILS - B

                                                  Sent: 5:14 PM

Even though I swallowed and rubbed my face with my disgustingly sweaty hands, nothing seemed to cool my nerves. I felt a smack on my shoulders and turned to find Yuvan standing behind me.

"Just pull that rope as inconspicuous as possible, you hear me?" he all but yelled at me.

"Yessir," I muttered sarcastically and earned a slap on my arm.

"So manly," I said rubbing my arm. "You hit like a sick hundred and two years old grandma."

"Then stop frigging rubbing the sore spot, hotshot," he replied with venom before walking over to his motorbike.

"I changed my mind," he said from the distance. "I won't be your ride home. Beg Kiranya."

"I will learn to ride it one day."

"Some day," he corrected with an eye roll.

And the best I could come up with was to show him the unspoken finger. He laughed before slipping his helmet on. "On second thoughts," his muffled voice came from behind the helmet, "you can always beg me."

"Hope a bus hits you on your way back," I shouted as he started his bike. He drove away not before shooting a thumbs up. In a way, it really felt good to have a friend who you know will always have your back. A friend who would help his friend give a birthday gift to his former crush. Wow, I really am cruel, aren't I?

Like five minutes after Yuvan left, I heard a distant roar of a bike. My heart picked up and my already sweaty hands decided to begin Niagara Falls' salty sister.

The motorbike parked and even from the distance, I could see the pretended stony glare. Sometimes it was funny how within a few months, I could know when that girl pretended emotions - or lack of emotions. It depends on how you've decided to see it - but also scary because I knew her so much and could read her so well, and maybe, just maybe, I was the moronic one who read too much through tiny slips and assumed that she liked me back too. Even for the tiniest bit.

Kiranya started walking towards me, the twigs and dried leaves breaking beneath her sneakers and I swallowed.

You're okay. You're okay. You're totally okay. Take a deep breath. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Don't pass out. Yeah, breathe like that. And swallow and lubricate that dry throat of yours. You don't want to sound like a dying frog on her birthday, right?

Kiranya stopped in front me, helmet tugged beneath her arm and a mild scowl on her face.

"Not everyone is as jobless as you, you know," she said icily and like all the other worst moments, my facial muscles decide to contort on their own. They decided to quirk my lips up. Her eyes narrowed infinitesimally.

"You still came."

Thank god I didn't sound like a dying frog.

I turned around and started walking. "Follow me clos- oomph!"