Finding Him and Me

Chapter 51 - Flashes Of The Past & Learning The Waltz

Arjun's POV

Shakespeare said that , 'Hell is empty and all the devils are here'. I'm compelled to think I'm one of those devils wrongly inhabiting earth.

The worst part though, is that I wasn't always a devil.

I wrap my arm around Alia trying to keep her warm so she can rest peacefully. Her soft hair tickled my neck and her head weighed down on my shoulder minutes after settling down to watch the movie. I thought it was a voluntary action, but when I looked down to see her closed eyes I realized otherwise. I would be lying if I said I wasn't hoping that she'd put her head on my shoulder because she wanted to, rather than having exhaustion take over. But I'm glad to be there either way. Today was extremely hectic and no doubt she passed out like light.

Her hair smells like a bouquet of exotic flowers and I sigh sadly, spiraling down towards my haunted and disgusting past.

Tenth grade fucks up life and that's an actual fact. Pretty obviously, I was no exception, I just had it the worst. That year was a toxic cocktail of tuition, studies, peer pressure, getting shit faced occasionally, getting past the drift between my parents and dating. And I drank it all up like a thirsty piece of shit.

I was a part of the most popular group in high school that everyone begged to earn a ticket into. The list of corrupted ways were endless. Right from free alcohol and narcotics to fake ID's and girls. We were eight best friends. Four boys and four girls, all single.

Well that was until, Naila Kapoor. It was the second week of the new academic year, she was auditing Elective English and that's when she fell into my life. Naila had the lightest brown eyes I'd ever laid eyes on. Ridiculously long soft hair always left open. She was just a couple inches shorter than me with a willowy structure and milky white soft skin. We began dating after the first term in tenth grade.

It was probably love at first sight. She steered the train of my life from its rails and set it to hers. I remember the memories of preparing a speech. For a week, I stood in front of the mirror every night and rehearsed my lines. I smile. I told my mom about this wonderful girl I met outside the teacher's staff room after getting into trouble for not paying attention in class (because I was staring at her) . She was funny and smart and beautiful. God, was she beautiful. I prided myself for being quite the romantic then. I went down on one knee in the middle of the corrider and asked her to be my girlfriend while everyone stopped and stared. She was a vision of beauty, shyly hiding her flushed face behind her hand with slender fingers. She smiled so hard I was afraid her face would break. It was impossible for me to believe that I, I had caused her so much happiness. She said yes and I hugged her tight.

With multiple ice cream, backyard movie, shopping and dinner dates I started to learn every little thing about her. About my girl. We did all the things a couple does and I think, as the year passed and tenth grade came to its close, I fell for her.

One of the of the deepest memories I have is of her singing Naked by James Arthur to me every time we kissed because she called me the bad boy who wasn't naked with his emotions and held back. If only I'd known that in the end of it all, I'd be the one crying myself to sleep listening to it on repeat, because that song was never truly meant for me. It was meant for her.

I'm not going to wait until you're done
Pretending you don't need anyone
I'm standing here naked (naked, naked)

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Alia's POV

Arjun gently wakes me up by running his fingers through my hair when the credits of the movie roll down the screen. I mutter a quick apology for falling asleep on him, which he brushes away modestly and I head home after returning his jacket and collecting my things.