Take Me Away

Chapter 8

Heer landed in the city of Chandigarh in a rather uneventful fashion. They had decided that they would all meet in the airport and their driver for the trip would take them from there.
She dragged her suitcase and looked around for Rina. She then spotted her waving madly at her. She chuckled and sped towards her as fast as possible. The minute they reached each other, they dropped everything else and hugged tightly! It had been so long since they had seen each other. But it was one of those kind of friendships. Even if it had been long, they could just pick up right where they left off.
Rina pulled back and clutched Heer’s face.
“OMG you’re finally here! I got you!”
Heer laughed and said, “I was always yours.”
Rina looped her arm into Heer’s and pulled her towards the cab waiting for them. She said, “Gah you’re such a flirt! If Maddy wasn’t my first love, I’d marry you only.”
“Is he in the car? I haven’t seen him in so long!”
Rina’s confident stride suddenly slowed down. She then quietly said, “Yeah about that…”
“What is it?”
Rina’s expression looked kinda forlorn. Heer felt a stab of pain as she saw her friend look upset. She asked, “What happened? Is everything alright?”
Rina looked up and said, “No, yeah, of course! Don’t worry, everything’s fine. It’s just Maddy couldn’t make it. He actually had to fly to Boston for a couple of weeks.”
“What??”
“Yeah. It’s the project he was working on. He was there just last month. It was an urgent requirement and he really couldn’t say no. He was the only resource who could take on that load. We feel awful.”
Heer asked, “But why didn’t you tell me? We could have cancelled the trip!”
Rina rolled her eyes and replied, “Yeah no way were we gonna do that! It took the collective strength of 3 people to get you out of Kerala. There was no way we were going to cancel this trip.”
Heer shook her head and said, “But Rina…So it’s just the two of us?”
Rina shrugged and said, “Well…”
“Oh my God!”
Rina clutched Heer by the arms and said, “Now calm down! It’s not a stranger. It’s Maddy’s friend. My friend.”
Heer frowned and replied, “Still a stranger to me!”
“So? The whole point of this trip is to get out there and meet new people. That’s one of the things about travelling. Now relax! He’s a nice guy.”
Heer looked heavenward and sighed. She then looked around and asked, “So where is he? In the cab?”
Rina shook her head and said, “Oh his flight is another 2 hours away. We wait for him. Come now. I got some snacks.” With that, she dragged Heer to the cab.
They ended up waiting for two hours in the cab. Rina and Heer.
Heer was not used to doing nothing. She sat and bugged Rina. She asked her about Maddy. Amongst all her friends, Maddy was one of her favourites. Rina and Maddy were school sweethearts and got married after college. Every time she looked at them, her faith in love would get renewed. And Maddy was someone you had to love. A million-dollar smile, a heart of gold and razor-sharp wit, Heer joined the Maddy Fan Club on day one itself. A little while later, she casually asked Rina, “So what is this person like? This Maddy replacer!”
Rina laughed and said, “Stop calling him that!”
She then paused and said, “So he’s very nice. He is Maddy’s friend. They were together in college. But I should warn you…He’s charming.”
Heer frowned and asked, “Why would you have to warn me about that?”
“I don’t know.” She then said, “Okay let me put it like this. He just…makes you feel like he has all the time in the world for you. Like…you’re the centre of his universe.”
Heer nodded and asked shrewdly, “And how long does that feeling last?”
Rina burst out laughing at that. They then heard the luggage door opening. Heer turned around and saw a bent head trying to stuff a suitcase in. The driver stepped out of the car and rushed to him.
“Nahi bhaiyya. Peeche nahi, we have to put it on top of the car.”
That’s when the head popped out of the luggage compartment and he looked up directly at Heer. Before Heer could realize anything, he smiled at her. 
Heer had met a lot of charming people at the resort. It was literally teeming with them. Tourists tended to be charming more often than not. But there was something different about this one. The smile itself was a sign. It was the kind of smile that could get him out of trouble very easily. 
He walked up to her car window and looked inside at her.
“Hi...”

Author's Note: That's the last one of this set. But yay, we're here and we're pumped! How do you guys like it so far? Sound off in the comments!
How are you guys doing? I hope everyone's safe and praying that everyone is healthy!
Much love,
S.