Mᴀɴᴍᴀʀᴢɪʏᴀᴀɴ | #RoadTripSeries ✓

c h a p t e r - t h i r t e e n

Day - 7

There was a silence in the car and the only thing that was breaking it was the volume of the FM blasting. Shivansh took the driving seat today with Aayrah to his side as she made it clear she didn't want to seat beside Ahana and hear her lecturing or nagging again. So Ahana had no option but to get settled in the backseat beside Chirag who was on his laptop and over the calls as the road was pretty long and they needed to conquer this 8-hour distance. Though they started around nine in the morning which was late according to Ahana and the reason for the lateness was Aayrah and Chirag, whose lazy asses didn't wake up till their roommates had to take the matter into their own hands. Aayrah's mood was pretty gloomy today for two reasons, the first being she had to wake up with Ahana's lectures, and then she had to settle her guitar quite messily along with the other luggage which she didn't like. She offered to get a few bags on the top of the car which was a feasible option but they had no rope nor do they had time so they settled for this with Chirag promising her to find one on the way and throw the luggage on the top.

Aayrah took her legs up and stretched them in front gaining a look from Shivansh which she ignored of course and put her head on the window. There was no need for AC with the temperature so low so they thought of putting the windows down instead and taking the fresh air. Aayrah's black and blue locks moved with the wind as she closed her eyes. Shivansh moved his gaze briefly to Aayrah and back on the road. He knew she was in a bad mood and that troubled him for some reasons. He was getting so used to her continuous bickering that this silence felt haunting to him. Something was changing with him as he felt a certain connection with Aayrah even though he couldn't tell what exactly but he knew he liked her company and considered her as his friend now and it was the first time in months that the thoughts about Aditi rarely peeked into his mind. He was liking this change and hoped it to remain the same.

"Umm... I guess we might find the rope in this village," he said looking carefully out of the window at the stores which came along in their way to Manali. Aayrah opened her eyes involuntarily and sat straight in her seat as she looked around and pointed at one general store looking at Shivansh and back at Chirag. The rest of the three looked at it carefully as Chirag volunteered to go and bring one. Shivansh was asked to stay seated in the car as the road was narrow and there was too much rush with no defined parking around.

Aayrah's face lit up when with some great efforts from all of them, they were able to settle some of the luggage on the top. She got settled beside Shivansh again giving him her widest smile. He narrowed down his eyes on her and raised the eyebrows in questioning.

"Thanks for finding out the store," Aayrah said facing Shivansh who awkwardly was putting the seatbelt on without meeting her gaze.

"I guess we were looking for one?" he asked and checked the gear and steering for no specific reason. Aayrah frowned looking at him.

"Yes but no one else bothered to point out and you did," she said.

"They might have skipped it," Shivansh said getting embarrassed. Aayrah was making him nervous. He shifted in his seat slightly looking out of the window when Aayrah rolled her eyes at him and sat straight in her seat.

"Whatever, nerd. You don't need to be awkward as I am not going to kiss you with excitement," she said with a smirk. Shivansh moved his neck rapidly as his eyes got widened. Aayrah started laughing looking at his shocked expressions.

"What?" Shivansh asked with a frown.

"Look at your face, dude," She said and continued with her laughter. Shivansh sighed when Chirag and Ahana got seated into the backseat again after they were done making sure the arrangements they made on the top were perfect.