My Love Life

Chapter 3: And I said "yes"......

"Aryan.....yeah he's a good friend of mine....", those words said by Ali yesterday kept me awake last night and are still "on repeat" in my mind. I mean like, I barely talked to the guy & I'm already his friend? That simple? Nope I will test him, I will see if he's good enough.....or wait should I? You need to accept ur loved one as it is right? Wait again, what was I thinking about....he's not my loved one, I disike so many things about him......especially the joined brows. No offense but I don't like them. Simple as that. But I didn't discourage him for it. I kept it to myself. Like people should keep their homophobia to themselves. All drowned in my thoughts I entered the class. Went straight to my seat opened my notes and took my pen just getting ready for the first lecture. Ali was there already, talking to those 'backbencher' friends. I had to test him. He thinks he's my friend yeah... let's see...I waited for him to come back to his seat. The biology sir entered the class & I began the game. The game of tests. Took my ballpoint. And landed a straight shot on the floor with it just to break the nib. Rest in peace ball point. Turned to Ali & said, "Do you have a spare? Mine fell & broke". He scanned my face for a second a split second & instantly replied, "You can take mine I'll just copy from you later". Oh not so selfish I see. He placed the pen on my chair handle and just smiled & turned to face the sir who was delivering the lecture. Biology was my favourite. Also Chemistry. Well I like every subject except history. History is quite useless. The little details of how many people WERE in each department in a PAST year is totally useless. Then Pakistan's history was mostly like "we took this much loan from this country. And this much from that country" .....quite painful to read. Then I was brought back to the ground from my thoughts again when the lecture ended. I had taken notes without even realizing. And I met Ali's eyes fixed on my face then they went to my register then back to me. "You wrote all that without even looking at the register. Your eyes were fixed on the board...you didn't even blinked", he said. I was at a lack of words. "Oh it's just....I'm used to it", I said. "Nice habits...",he said raising a brow while turning the other side to talk to someone. A few lectures passed. Then he nudged me. I turned to look at him. He was so close. Talking during the lecture, that was new to me. "I was just curious, are you.....are you really a Syed? I mean that's quite a rare family", he whispered in a low deep voice. So close.....he was so close, his breath was brushing my forehead. Mint toothpaste he used I could tell that. My heart skipped a beat. "Yeah, I am a Syed, nothing special about it. I'm just a normal guy like everyone else",I said. Though the last part was a lie. I didn't had the common guy traits like others. I couldn't ride a bike I was unable to balance. Not that I had time to learn all that. From childhood my so called 'dad' kept me at home. He was running 2 steel mills with his brother in the past. He had faced many assassination attempts. So he kept me at home. I NEVER played outside or had some nice group of friends. After my uncle was shot by someone & passed away 3 years ago, my dad went to Dubai to start a new job. Though in the past & even now, whatever he earned, he earned for himself. Me, my mum& my sisters were not financially supported by my father. Every thing we had came from the money my mum earned. She was a high post Govt. school teacher. Thoughts aside, my heart was getting out of my chest. I don't know how much I was blushing. Continued thoughts brought me home. As I lied on my bed & stared at the cieling. Month of May, nice weather. Tomorrow was Sunday. Took my mobile and logged in an online game (toram online mmorpg). I had been playing it for long. Like 3 years at that time. What else can you expect from an almost 14 y/o kid? Though in toram I was totally different. No the weakling incapable shit I was in real life. There I was strong, I was capable to do whatever I wanted, I was respected cause of my ability as a  top player not 'cause of my family name. That's why I called it "my 2nd life". I was tensed up & confused over what was happening. He was nice. Not like the rest of the back benchers. Though he did come from a rich family, he had that will to study. Guess he was really affected by his company. Now what? Was he my friend? Should I talk to him? Should I distance myself from him? I do like him but what's the point of liking him if he doesn't like me back? I knew he was straight......even if he wasn't, in the islamic community of Pakistan coming out as gay would've costed him his life if anything went wrong. That's the no.1 reason I haven't came out yet.
I woke up, with a headache. Breakfast I took, then took some pain relievers. 8am. This was the time to show my 'gamer self'. I logged in just strolling around. The game had multiple classes and the new class "katana" was released only a year back. I was a "grand master" in there. I was amongst the only few who mastered all classes. Was struggling with the use of katana though. I was strong in there. And that strength I used well I guess. In there I trained new players in the use of their chosen class. Nice right? so well after a 3 hours gaming session, I was finally tired. 11am. went upstairs to my mother's room. She was watching some drama serial number while pressing the clothes that had just dried. Sat there. "So, have you made any friends yet?", she asked. Well she was always concerned that I'll end up alone, without any friends. And I said something even I couldn't realize until much much later. No use now, the words had left my mouth. "Yes....", I replied."Oh what's his name?",she asked, without looking at me sitting beside the press stand. "Ali",I replied. Somehow it felt like she was that mom from movies who always asks her son if he had gotten a girlfriend or not. But no, as said I wasn't out yet. Then came the next question,"So how is he? Is he good at studies, he doesn't have a girlfriend right?",my mum asked. She had a fact fixed in her mind, 'all boys who have gf's are feral'. Like all Muslims have homophobia fixed in their minds. They use religion to justify their homophobia. "No he don't have one", I replied. I had no idea if he had one or not. He was my friend he would tell me. I  had this thought & it consoled me a bit that he'll tell me. "Good", mum replied. I went back to my room sometime later. Life was boring without friends. Guess that's why I played online so much. The rest of the day passed without anything special happening.
Next day I went to academy as usual, test was in the first lecture.  In tests the seats were shuffled. Not that they asked me to get up they changed everyone's seats except me. Y'know special treatment. Then when Ali came back I made my shot. "Hey",I said. "Hey", he replied while setting down his stuff. "How are you?",I asked. He say down & replied "I'm handsome what 'bout you?". Shit, never saw that coming. "I'm fine, how's your future wife?",I replied. A moment of silence. He was looking at me wide-eyed. Must've not imagined something like this coming from me. "No, I don't have a gf yet",he replied. 'Yet', I repeated in my mind.
Time passed,2nd of June. We had both talked a bit more, had a lot in common such as our comarable creativity, he couldn't cram but he had the knowledge & clear concepts. Then was our same choice of music. Some common movie genres we liked, common fav sports & so on.
It was 8:40pm, the last lecture ended. I was packing my things up. People had started leaving the classroom already. As Ali asked me something. "Hey give me your register for a sec". Well I decided to repay him for the ball point. Gave him the register. He took a ball point opened my latest notes I took today. Wrote something, closed it, & gave it to me. Then asked me a question,"Will you do something if I ask you?". I couldn't even think as quick as my tongue acted,"Yes", I spoke without giving it a second thought. "Great, open it when u get home",he said smiling. Took his bag, wore it on both shoulders. Then he waved and exited. I packed up and soon followed. Went straight to the van. Sat in the front beside the driver. Opened my book and started reading. Soon realized, I wasn't looking at the book at all but at the road. The window was open , I had my elbow placed on the window boundary, and my head placed on it. The cold wind constantly blowing my hair. The van was speeding on the empty road beside the canal. And I was thinking about him, all about him. How he smiled, how he respected me, he was used abuses a lot also cursed a lot. But not when he was around me. While talking to me he always used a clean language. I hadn't realized until now, he left his old friends. He started studying a lot.  He was affected by me. Like I contaminated him. I liked that, I liked that a lot. He changed just for me. If only he could be mine........
"Is something the matter Aryan? You haven't even looked at the book once until now", the driver spoke. He was a middle-aged man with a wife and had no kids, he was unable to have kids, low sc (sperm count). Cared a lot for me. "No uncle, nothing much. Just stressed out a bit",I said. I closed the book put it back in the bag. The rest of the ride was calm. The guys in the back were making a noise. Though I was too focused on Ali that I barely noticed. I was picked up the first & dropped the last. 10am I was at home. Went straight upto my room. My stomach was growling. Dropped my bag in my room and   went back down to have dinner. About 11 when I had taken dinner & talked to mum n my sisters a bit, I came back up to my room on the 1st floor. Lied on the bed as my eyes fell on the black bag on my study table. Got back up. Opened the bag, took out the register, flipped some pages. And found what he had written. 'Meet me at the crossover infront of the academy after class tomorrow'. He invited me to the meet him which I do everyday in academy? And I said yes......

{Thanks again for reading.... so now I have made a rough chart of each chapter & what I'll be covering in each one. So the point where I started to screw things up will be in about ch 5 or so.....The upcoming ch4 will contain the overly detailed story of only 1 day of my life. A ch is dedicated to 1 day only so yea it was an important day. Stay tuned to read further. Next chapter coming out on 31 August. cya stay safe bye ^^)/}