Finding Him and Me

Chapter 11 - Dilemma

"What's the matter?" Shona's voice pulls me into the reality whose existence I momentarily forgot. Hell. "Why are you both frowning at each other?"

"Shona is she Cinderella?" Arjun asks scanning me from head to toe with pinched eyes.

"Yes she is" Shona replies slowly looking unsettled. Poor thing, if only she knew what the real matter was. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything is fine" I instantly fire and let out a rather cringe-worthy laugh. Ground! Swallow me this second. NOW!

Simultaneous to my response Arjun mutters "everything" under his breath. Ass. Once I get my hands on his neck........

I fix him a nasty glare and he counters with an icy-stony look.

" I know kids find this weird- " Did Shona just call us 'kids'? We ( Arjun and I) both shoot her an "are you actually serious" looks and roll our eyes. Not because of what she said, but because we reacted similarly. It's pissing off. "- but it's a professional show, it will be fine."

My, My how absolutely reassuring does that sound???

"Alia, Arjun," she addresses us, " have you met before?"

My heart immediately drops and I gasp softly. The fuck!

"No" I state breathless.

Arjun looks right into my eyes, deep and brown, scary and promising, warm and uncertain. Abruptly breaks contact..... Jesus. Will he tell her?

"Of course" Yeah. I stopped breathing, yeah I'm dead.

Shona jerks and looks at him, and he looks at me before finishing, " We have not".

**********

As I drift into the world of the living very begrudgingly, Shona presses her fingers to the bridge of her nose. I put on a slightly pleasant expression to avoid rightful suspicion .If we don't stop misbehaving, someone's peeing in their pants today. Arjun looks annoyed and fidgety. Oh... Welcome to the club - Prince of Scowls !

"Nonetheless something definitely seems to be matter" Shona, please let it go, I silently and earnestly beg. " Maybe you ought to get to know each other for a while before dancing, that will do the trick surely."

Never in a million fucking years! My heart rate increases to an abnormally rapid pace, her words affecting me like a kick in the gut. Arjun's face is priceless. Unfathomable, but priceless. Like between a frown, choke, unhumorous laugh and pure disinterest.

Shruthi, who's standing nearby also furiously nods, agreeing with Shona's sinister plan. I want to cry, but I try to remain stoic. Calm down. Be normal. Breathe in deep and long. That's it. That's good. Good girl.

"Alia, Arjun, out! Go talk for a while. No time to waste. We won't learn anything today. " She directs.

"Ms Shona, but I need to practice the dance, its still quite messy, not perfect at all." I can not be alone with this guy.

"Which dance? Tanya said the rehearsal was impeccable. I'm sure you're being modest and overthinking." Wait! What? Ugh. fuckkkk. She laughs and shakes her head.

"The jazz? I must practice that. Its completely out of shape!" I give her my big doe eyes and beg like a desperate damsel.

"Alia! Relax." She admonishes on the brink of blasting. "Both of you, OUT!" And obviously no sooner are the words out of her mouth than our asses out of the big glass doors.

I don't want to do this. I can't do this. Just give me a ticket to hell instead.

***************

I quietly stalk up the stairs so that Shona won't notice anything. I wouldn't dream of ever direspecting her and not obeying what she says, but not in this case. I'm still going ballistic that Arjun, (whatever) the infamous attitude freak, is Prince Charming, let alone absorbing the unthinkable fact. Its scary and embarrassing to the core and I can't begin to fathom how this would work out. The program is in two weeks and the main characters hate each other. How will, we dance? Touch???? What if he back downs and leaves? How will Shona react? How the heck will I LIVE?

This is shit situation is straight out of those spineless teenage movies on Netflix. Fate brings two haters together for a cheesy plot line and then they act weird, oh damn. And then they get over it, the fuck? and then the inevitable - they fall in....... No! I'd never complete that sentence. Ewww. Freaking dramatic. Humph! But Alia..... Don't you like those? Romantic books, Lapse of judgement, strong feelings changing to something else....I slap my inner beings' mouth shut. Bloody traitorous bitch.

It's essential, I sort out a way to fix this shit. 'But I don't want to.' frowns my subconscious lady. 'Duh! neither do I' backs my inner glory. I can't even control my own senses. Lord! My brain thankfully and fortunately much, realises the importance of making certain the concert doesn't get jeopardised due to one horrible encounter we had a few nights ago.

Fuck it. We will have to talk. I clench my eyes in defeat and exhale.

As if on queue, I hear him climb upstairs behind me.

Well, well. Time to face the music Malhotra . Stay alive.

*************

Dear readers!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter.. There is so much more "talking", "meeting", "chemistry" etc that is yet to come, and I promise its gonna be super freaking exciting. As mentioned before, I have never ending exams that keep me from writing, but I'll try to update super soon. Please stick around.

Also, wishing you an incredible and spiffing new year. May 2020 bring you immense happiness.

Love always, Chhavi :)