What If Our Life Threads Bind?

Chapter 14.

I tipped my head up watching the night, savoring the thunderstorm and the heavy rain through the glassy window on the ceiling that Dad had fixed so that I could fall asleep watching the stars twinkle.

It was paranoid, absurd- but there it was, and suddenly my thoughts were spiraling past all the conversations- personally and over text, I ever had with Austin. He never seemed so violent. But then there is a reason behind the saying, never judge a book by its cover.

Robbie Reynolds. Actually, he is my flatmate and sort of my best friend. He's just like me.

You know, the kind who breaks your heart and forces you to believe that love doesn't exist. The playboy types.

They bully people. They're players. They're not the right people you should be around with.

You're not understanding. They're not the kind of people you should mess around. If you do, they'll ruin you.

My eyes squeeze shut as I try to surface myself from everything. I reached for my i-pod and connected it with the speaker, increasing the volume of the music as much as its required to keep the voices in my head at bay. The latter, however, never silenced.

A ping from my phone got me a mere distraction of two minutes. Samuel, the other guy who was contesting for the elections had sent me a video. I hit play and reckoned what I am going to see in the video withing a few seconds when I spot the garden I just walked out from, Austin and Robbie. I deleted the video and kept my phone aside, increasing the volume of my i-pod to its fullest.

Samuel is another foolish. Who actually has time to take a video of people fighting with one another? What sort of a person is he? Boy version of plastics in Mean girls. I wonder if he has his own burn book.

I stand on top of my bed and look up at the ceiling, lightening visible through the glassy window. Pillow in my hand as a man I met in a ball, I start to dance and sing to the songs that played on my i-pod. The song ended but the next came and I danced to that. Then the next.

And the next.

Next.

And again.

I heard the door creak and spun around to see Lila entering the room. "What's up?"

"Nothing." I said.

"You're listening to all sad songs by One Direction. You're dancing with the pillow in your hand. You're standing on the bed which means either you're anxious, angry, troubled or sad. Now tell me. Which one?"

"None of the above." I said trying not to sound mad and continued swaying.

"Okay." She sighed. "But are you hungry? You didn't even eat anything during dinner." She said and I shook my head in a 'no'. I heard the door creak and I was left alone, again with music, my dance moves and my own thoughts.

Another ping came from my phone. There was a message from Austin.

Austin: Hey.

Questions swam through my mind, each one trying to surface but I held them tight. I hesitated for a minute then typed.

Me: Hi. I am so sorry I couldn't come to your friend's party. I had to go somewhere. Wish him from my behalf. Thanks.

There was a pause and then he replied.

Austin: Its okay. I wasn't going to talk about that. Did you get any video?

My hands trembled. I don't know what to say. Should I tell him? Or should I act innocent and tell him, I didn't? I rubbed my temples and took a deep breath as I typed in yes.