You , Me and Our Dreams ( On Hold )

Chapter 3

" Hey Aarav ! "
Mohak called a boy , who was leaning against a wall in front of us , with his left knee flexed and left foot supported on the wall , engrossed in the i- phone in his hands.
Me , Mohak and my new friend Soniya - who I happened to meet in the first period - were currently standing in front of the college canteen .
That boy with bushy eyebrows and oval face looked up from his i-phone after hearing Mohak's voice.
I recognised him as the one standing with the Mohak in the parking lot.
But the girl with them was not seen anywhere.
Putting his phone in his jeans pocket , He replied , " Hey man!"
Then he looked at me and said " Nice to see you again , beautiful !"
And he winked...
Wait a second...what did he do?
He winked ?! At me?!
Confused, I turned my head backwards to see if he was talking to somebody behind me.
" I am talking to you only, dear !" He said with a smile playing on his lips.
I blushed profusely and looked away.
How dare he do such an action to me!!
I was feeling very very embarrassed now!
" and you have beautiful hair and lovely eyes , gorgeous lady !"
I looked at him to see him , now , smiling at Soniya.
Soniya touched her cute black curls reaching below her shoulder and gave him an awkward smile and then turned to look at me - widening her already big eyes and gave me a questioning look.
I glanced at Mohak.
He was now looking down, shaking his head sideways and smiling .
When he saw that I am looking at him with a hand gesture -what is this?
, he assured us , " Aarav is a bit flirty. But don't mind him . He may be weird but he is not a bad guy. "
Hearing this , Aarav rolled his eyes and said ,"there is nothing weird in giving genuine compliments to beautiful ladies!"
"Yeah , totally." Mohak replied suppressing a grin.
" By the way , this is Meera.." he gestured at me with his hand and "and Soniya.." He gestured at Soniya. " My new friends and classmates ." He added cheerfully.
That boy , Aarav, nodded at us , smiling. " And Girls , meet Aarav Mehta. He is a first year BA economics student here and my best friend since childhood."
"And you forgot to mention Mohak ...the most handsome boy in this college." Aarav said , smirking slightly.
Cocky much! I thought.
He is nothing like Mohak... in fact , they seem to be exact opposite.
How could they even be friends ? That too best friends?
Wondering this , I greeted him, "Hello.." "Hi " , Soniya said , playing with her green dupatta . She was clearly feeling uncomfortable, just like me...
" Why are you standing outside here ? And where is Ria ? I thought she would be coming with you here ." Mohak asked him.
" Yeah , waiting for her only... she told me to wait here. I guess she went to touch up her makeup ." He answered chuckling slightly.
So I guess Ria is the name of girl I saw them with today morning.
"So, you three are childhood friends, huh?"I asked Mohak.
"Actually me and Aarav are childhood friends. We only met Ria today..."
"Are you guys talking about me ?" The said girl came to us and put her right hand around Aarav's shoulders , pulling him close to her.
For meeting today only , they sure quickly became close friends.
She was definitely a pretty girl with her silky, brown hair reaching below her waist . She had a figure and height of a model.
But her face was heavily caked with makeup, I wondered why... She totally didn't need it.
" Yeah , dear ! We were wondering when would you come." Aarav said looking at her , smiling and putting a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Oh, my poor baby...Did I made you wait long ? I am so sorry! " she widened her eyes and put her well manicured hand , showing her shiny red nail paint , on her mouth.
This girl talks so dramatically...
" no problem ,dear ! You are worth the wait..."Aarav replied, looking dreamily at her.
Me and Soniya looked at each other suppressing our laughter at this couple's cheesiness.
Thank God , somebody sensible is present with me!
With some people , you just naturally bond in no time.
Just like me and Soniya...
It may have to do with the fact that both of us are scholarship students and more or less have same interests.
She is a cute girl from a conservative marathi family.
She has a little sister in third grade , who looked really adorable in the photo which Soniya showed me on her phone. She also had curly hair like Soniya.
Talking to her made me somewhat relaxed in this new place with rich brats everywhere.
" Oh, hello Mohak! " Ria now turned her head to Mohak and smiled cheerfully, showing her pearly whites.
Why so cheeriness? doesn't she have a boyfriend ?
"Hi Ria! " Mohak replied, smiling to her. "Meet Meera and Soniya , my new
friends who happen to be my classmates."
She scrutinised me and Soniya each , from head to toe.
That was uncomfortable to say the least.
She briefly said ," Hi " and turned to go inside the canteen , " Lets go guys . I am starving."
We all followed her inside.

" Madhura dear, go and bring me a low fat corn pizza ."Ria asked me, eating her low fat pav bhaji .
I assumed she was asking me because no other person was present at our table.
Thirty minutes after the lunch break had started , Mohak and Aarav had excused themselves to see the drama committee of college after they finished eating and some seniors informed them that it was excellent . Mohak was looking very excited even more than his usual , about it. He said he couldn't resist to wait till the college ends for today. So they decided to go with the seniors to check it out.
"We will be right back baby..." Aarav had assured Ria when she looked shocked that he was leaving her with two strangers , more specifically ,two poor strangers aka -me and Soniya - who had now finished their tiffins waiting for Ria to finish her food.
Mohak had looked apologetically to us but went anyways.
I was not comfortable in Ria's company.Whole lunch , she behaved as if me and Soniya didn't even exist there, talking only to Aarav and Mohak.When I tried to talk to her , she behaved as if she didn't hear me.
So no wonder , I was not very keen to spend time with her.
But atleast I had Soniya with me. thinking this , I did not bother much.
Soniya was now telling me about one of her idols- Oprah Winfrey.
I knew that this lady had hosted a very famous talk show and was one of the richest black women in US , but other than that , I was oblivious about her.
Soniya told me her struggle story and man , I was impressed!
I have always admired self made and strong women. They give me hope that I could too , achieve success like them .
Midway between the story , Soniya had to attend a call from her home , so she went outside.
Now me and Ria were the only people at the table and she was now behaving as if I was her servant.
Annoyance surged through me. Balling my fists under the table , I told her, " First of all , my name is Meera , not Madhura! And secondly , you can go and get your food by yourself. "
At this , she gasped.
" Can't you see I am eating already?"
This girl sure knows how to annoy others.
"Please...?" Seeing that her orders were not obeyed , she now resorted to pleading.
"Okay fine! Did you say low fat corn pizza?"
She nodded ,smiling.
Giving me money , she again smiled at me.
And this is how I ended up in a long que for food...
I glanced at my watch.
Only five minutes were remaining for start of my next lecture.
Tapping my right foot on the spotless floor below me , I waited for my turn. Finally , after some excruciatingly long minutes of waiting , I managed to get the pizza .
I looked at my watch again to see that it was almost the time for lecture.
Panicking , I hurriedly passed some leisurely talking people around me.
Don't they too have to go to their classes? I hate being late to class. When it happens the whole class looks at you ,which is really awkward ...and more importantly , you may miss the important points in the lecture ,which is very annoying.
I now started to run seeing that I had no other choice.
Ugh...Why does this canteen have to be so large ? I thought frustrated.
When our table came in my sight , I saw that Ria was nowhere to be seen !
Only Soniya was there.
What ? I felt very angry .Where did this girl go ? Does she have any sense ?
I tried to scan the crowd for any sign of Ria..to no avail!
She was nowhere to be seen.
Excellent! So I was going to be late without any reason.
I felt very irritated.
While I was sulking and running simultaneously, I failed too see a foot suddenly coming in my way and I stumbled forwards on it...
Before I knew, the pizza flew from my hands and landed on a white shirt of a guy in front of me..
Shit!
I felt my balance go away..
Reflexly I gripped that person's shoulders to prevent my fall and looked up...
to see furious black eyes glaring at me...

Author's note -
Hello my dear friends , how are you all?
I hope you are enjoying this story:)
Don't forget to vote and share if you like the story.
I would love to hear your thoughts
and suggestions on this story .
And would really appreciate your support in the form of votes and comments.
Love you all :)
Yours truly,
Shykajukatli