Pink Or Black

chapter 7

     It was true. Since her friends had started dating, they hardly even hung out together as they used to. Something had changed. During the holidays, they spent most of their time with their boyfriends. At school, the only time Tiana saw them all together was in the dormitories at night..... and that too because the dorms were locked at night. Otherwise, she was pretty sure that they would have dated during the night too. She missed her friends.

     Now that Tiana was in the 'finding it' mode, she didn't care much if they thought that she was different. Here she was, putting in her heart and soul in trying to 'find it', and her friends? Just look at them. They had changed themselves according to their boyfriends' whims and fancies.

     Leila started speaking slowly, 'Tiana, how can we get bored with guys? They are not a punishment for us. We like them. They have became a very important part of our lives.' It was as if Tiana was suddenly growing deaf and she needed to be explained things carefully.

     Tiana mentally pursed her lips. There you go again! It was as if she had been banging her head against a wall. Now what could she say to make them understand her point?

     'And that is why I think you should start dating', said Leila pouncing on Tiana.

     'Not again! Don't start that again Leila', moaned Tiana.

     For as long as Tiana could remember, Leila had been trying to set up with a guy without success. Just because she is happy with her boyfriend, she thought that having one is the best thing that can happen to a girl. Leila's boyfriend was perfect in every way. He was always there to help her. He gave her lovely gifts. He never said rude things to her or argued with her. He was very good-looking too. In fact, there was nothing that could rift between them, and that was exactly what caused Tiana to fume. It wasn't as if she was jealous. Oh no! Absolutely not! It angered her because Leila's boyfriend happened to be Tiana's elder brother, Siddharth. Talk about invasion of privacy! Her PRIVACY!

     Which normal girl would want her best friend to date her elder brother? This meant that she had to watch her very irritating and nosy brother join the gang whenever they got together. It also meant that she had to watch him sit there, holding Leila's hand or hugging her and whispering and giggling away or ewwww! Whatever! Who wants an extra and irritating family member around.

     Family and friends were different parts of her life and now, thanks to her brother they were getting merged together to make a dangerous and unwanted alloy for Tiana. The worst part of all this was that her brother had been sharing everything the gang did with her father and cousin brothers.... which meant that they had a fabulous time teasing her about the doing of the gang. Those were the times when she wanted to know about what kind of sin she had committed in her past life to be given the gift of so many irritating brothers in this one.

     But in a way, she was the cause of her own embarrassment. Almost a year ago, she had made the mistake of giving a dare to Leila. Leila loved to play Truth and Dare, and she enjoyed giving everybody around her amazingly wacky dares. Tiana had received a significant amount of tiresome dares from her and this time, she got  a chance of giving Leila a dose of her own medicine. She dared Leila to make her brother Sid date some cool girl within ten days

     Tiana knew that her brother was not interested in dating and was busy with his first love - music. According to her, she was giving Leila a dare that would be synonymous with 'impossible'. She spent quiet a few moments basking in the glory of her anticipated victory. Unfortunately for her, she had to swallow the bitter pill of realising how wrong she was! Trust Leila to do anything. Within a week, Sid and Leila were not only dating but were really falling head over heels for each other. On the one hand, it was amazing, and on the other hand, it was so ewww!