A GIRL LIKE YOU

7

After dinner, the guest began leaving. I said my goodbyes as I stood beside Aaliyah. Ansh came a few minutes later.
"I'm gonna head out now. See you at the wedding, Kiara."He said.
Its sweet he came to say bye.
The wedding. There's time for it. So I savoured him in my eyes. I click a mental picture of him.
"Intoduce me!" Aaliyah's squeaky voice startled me.
"My god, Aaliyah." I said as I put my hand on my chest. I looked back at Ansh, who is looking at my chest now. Oh god, Aaliyah will notice. So I broke the silence.
"Ansh this is my best friend, Aaliyah." Ansh immediately smiled at Aaliyah.
"I figured as much. I am Ansh." He said and they shook hands.
"You are so handsome." Aaliyah cooed staring at him unabashedly whilst shaking his hand.
Oh my god. She can be real flirty sometimes. I hope she doesn't start to drool.
Ansh chuckled. I swatted their still joined hands. Aaliyah flushed. She realised what she said.
"Let me introduce again. Ansh, meet my married and pregnant best friend Aaliyah." I said and Aaliyah gasped.
Ansh now laughed. I love his laugh.
"How dare you?" Aaliyah said.
I stuck my tongue out at her. She glared at me and then I noticed Ansh has gone visibly silent. I looked back at him, ignoring Aaliyah's glare, he is staring at my lips.
You are attracted to me. Ansh likes me. Oh god. Aaliyah can't see this.
"Bye Ansh." I said with my aching heart. He looked in my eyes and gave me a ghost of a smile.
"Bye Kiara." He said and turned on his heels. I sighed deeply.
Aaliyah pinched me on the arm.
"Ouch!" I yelped and rubbed the spot. God, she didn't notice? Did she?
"Why did you say that to him?!" Aaliyah said.
Oh. Thank god. She is still stuck on that.
"So that you don't end up cheating on Vivaan."
And our bickering started. We only stopped it when Aarav and his family came to say their goodbyes. Aarav said he'll call me and then they all left.

I couldn't have been more faster. As soon as guests left, I went back to my hotel room. Changed into casuals. Removed the makeup. Packed the stuff. Told my mom. And left the hotel with Aaliyah. I shed all the clothes in my bathroom. Took a shower. Crawled back in my covers and closed my eyes.
The first thing I saw are Ansh's eyes.

***

"Come on, Kiara! This is your wedding. This is your only chance when you can buy as many clothes as you want and no one is going to stop you. Not even your bank balance. Why aren't you more excited?!" Aaliyah said enunciating each and every word as she pulled me deeper in the women lingerie section of the shopping complex we've been in for 2 hours straight now.
"Because, its been four agonizing weeks of shopping with my mom and you. And I'm tired, okay. You gotta give me a break. All of my free time and days are spent in these complexes and shops and literally, I might never do shopping again."
I stopped in my tracks as my best friend stared at me.
"I'm sorry Kiara. But you know that, I won't be able to do all this in a month or two. I'll get fat and I'll have to stay home. I might not look the hottest at your wedding but I certainly wanna enjoy it. And this is enjoyment. All this time we're spending together. Because next year we're both gonna have other priorities. We might not get as much time with each other. And I'll miss you." She said.
"Aww...My honey bun. Come here." I said and gave her hug.
People stared at us, but who cares. I want to show my best friend affection. I might be frustrated with the wedding preparations but I'm definitely not gonna make a pregnant women upset.
"Who said you're not gonna look the hottest at my wedding?" I said as I released her.
"The baby in my tummy." She said giving me her goofy grin.
I grinned back, pushed my hand around her shoulder, pushed the frustration and exhaustion back in a box with a strong lock, and pulled Aaliyah as I led her to the other section of the complex.
"Lets enjoy this shit." I said and Aaliyah giggled as she pushed our cart in front of us.
So we did just that. Selecting, changing, rejecting for another hour. And I'm not gonna lie I do enjoy this. Its just that part of me, who is not excited about the wedding. Because I know after that, I'll be married which still seems like a foreign concept to me. Its scary, and even more so because I don't know Aarav.
After the engagement, we talked almost twice a week and he texted me back and forth about random stuff, and I even met him once -Yes! Only once!- for half an hour at my home. But there's still this nagging feeling at the back of my mind, that keeps telling me that this is a mistake. Giving in to my parents, settling for a guy that I still don't feel a connection with on any level. I try really hard to focus on the good in him, because there is good in him, but at the end of every day when I go to bed, he doesn't occupy my thoughts, Ansh does. I know it's sick. I just hope I get rid of this feeling.
I don't know why I'm hung up on him. It can't be just about his looks because Aarav is just as handsome. Maybe its because of his loyalty to his best friend that he showed me on his birthday. Maybe it's his confidence. Maybe its his very evident attraction towards me. Maybe it's the way he looks at me and the way he laughs. Or maybe I'm just insane to even have these feelings because I know Ansh just as much as I know Aarav. Which is not enough.
Yet here I am all fucked up in the head. And I realise how fucked up I am, everytime whenever Aarav mentions Ansh. Whenever his name comes up, I am suddenly on alert mode. I'll be lying if I say that I haven't tried to dig deep in Ansh's life but so far I've come up with nothing but his random funny moments and events with Aarav.
Sometimes I even wonder, that I'm going back to my old self. The girl I was 6 years ago. Who always wanted to wreak havocs, who liked chaos, who liked scenes, fights, and drama. Maybe it's just that old habit of mine where I always end up in self -destruction whenever things are going so normal for me. I guess I just don't like normal. Normal is good. Aarav is normal. Normal is boring.
"Earth to Kiara!" Aaliyah's voice shook me out of my head. I was staring at myself in the mirror for god know how long.
"Sorry." I mumbled and went back inside the changing room.
"What were you thinking so hard about? I called your name like 5 times." Aaliyah said just outside my door as I changed the dress. Its nice, I'm gonna buy it.
"Nothing. I guess I just really liked the dress." I said and opened the door. I know Aaliyah doesn't really believe me but she doesn't push me either. Instead she led me to the men's department.
"What are we doing here?" I asked her as we walked inside.
"I'm going to buy your future husband the best shirt, with the softest and thinest material, so that you could wear it after you guys had sex." She said like its the best idea of the century.
"Are you kidding me?" I groaned.
"Come on! Don't be a party pooper." She said and pulled me inside.
"I hate men's department."I said looking all over the place.
"Okay fine. Then lets do this fast. You go this way-" she said pointing to her left, "-and I'll go this. It's gonna be fast this way." She said and before I could protest she left me standing as she sprinted to the right side of the huge place.
I groaned again but pushed myself to do it anyway because after all it will make her happy. I selected a few shirts and was just about to leave to find Aaliyah when I looked at the person in front of me. He is busy in looking at different shirts as I just stood there staring at him.

...