Five More Minutes

25 | choosing to leave

"I'M fine, Rae! Yeah...yeah...I'm so—" Aahana is roaming in their room, trying to talk to Rae who seemed to cut her in every sentence. Everett's eyes followed her because it was distracting him from writing his blog. Aahana sighed and her shoulders fell. "No. Oh, my God, Rae! Shut it. It's not what you think." Everett smirked, assuming that somehow he was brought up since she had mentioned him before as E. She was smart not to reveal his name to her aai and Rae in case any of them slipped the name to her parents.

He plugged headphones in his ears and played a random song before beginning to type on his laptop. He has to get the blog ready before Sunday otherwise it wouldn't be possible for him to publish it on Monday (like he does, every week).

Someone knocked on the door. Absent-mindedly, she walked to the door and opened it. The waiter walked in with their orders and served them on the desk since there was no other table. She thanked him as he exited their room.

They had ordered from room service today because they had no special plan today since Everett had to finish the blog. He was rooting to finish it before lunch, so that they go to the Ferriss wheel as she wanted. His fingers kept typing words but his mind flashed back to all the places they had been.

"Okay, fine. Yeah. Bye." Aahana hung up and sighed, a small (almost invisible) smile plastered on her face. This what it felt like—talking to your best friend and telling them everything? He wouldn't know. He didn't have many friends. The only best friend he had was his brother.

And what did he do? He chose to leave.

"Eat breakfast. You can take a break." Aahana's soft voice interrupted his train of thoughts. He nodded and extended his hand, asking her to hand him his burrito. Aahana clicked her tongue and tossed him a burrito after pulling the foil out.

Everett didn't look up from the screen and took a bite.

"Where are we going?" Aahana asked as he guided her to the destination which was in his mind. He grinned at her. They strutted down the pathway. Everett halted and leapt in front of her. She paused and puckered her eyebrows. It seemed as if she had never been here before.

"Remember you wanted to go to the Ferriss wheel but we couldn't?"

She nodded.

"I present to you." He swung his hand while turning around, showing her a board she had never seen before. "The Forest Wheel." Aahana blankly stared at the sight in front of them. They were standing in front of a forest. There were trees in front of them but no Ferriss wheel.

"It's just...a forest."

"Ah." He chuckled. "I was too excited to tell you. The wheel is in the middle of the woods near a river. They say you can see the entire Peakview from there."

"What?" She yelled. "What are we waiting for?" Without thinking, they interlaced their hands in each other and ran into the woods. She was faster than him. He wanted to pause half-way through but she kept him going. She seemed too excited to care about the oxygen in her lungs. They halted when their eyes fell on a ticket counter. They looked up to see a Ferriss wheel in front of them but there was one problem—there was a huge line. It had more than fifteen people. This faltered the smile on her face. He noticed her expression.

"Hey, hey, hey." He squeezed her hand gently. "I got us VIP tickets online. We'll go up next." She peered at him and smiled again.

"How did I not know about this?"

"It opened just a month ago."

And they ran towards the Ferriss wheel. They sat close to one another. There was a lot of space but she decided to stick to him. Once the Ferriss wheel was about to get started, Aahana scooted even closer. She hooked her arm around his shoulder. He tried to stifle his smile. He eyed their arms and peered at her.

"Is the Aahana Mehta afraid of heights?"

She stuck her tongue out. "Don't tease me. It's just a...small phobia. Almost nonexistent."

"Sure," He replied sarcastically before the Ferriss wheel jerked and it began to move. Aahana's grip tightened but he didn't mind. He liked it when she touched her like that. Platonic intimacies are not appreciated enough.

She squealed with joy as they reached the top. Their eyes were fixed on the view in front of them. Peakview was visible beyond the woods. She even thought that Oakside could be seen which he didn't agree to but didn't object either.

A few minutes later, they jumped out. He was charged with energy but he was starving. They had planned to visit the Farmer's market before lunch but he pleaded her to do that after lunch. She agreed and they made their way to the restaurant nearby.

After having lunch, they were back on the pathway; making their way through the Farmer's market when they saw a big crowd circling something. Everett and Aahana exchanged looks before making their way to the crowd. He tapped on the shoulder of the person in front of him.

"What's going on here?" Everett questioned after the man turned around. He was short and trying his best to stand up on his toes and peep in.

"Some movie is being shot. The actress, they say, is quite famous." Aahana smiled. She pushed their way through the crowd along with Everett by her side.

A movie was being shot but he couldn't see the face of the actress. She had long black hair cascading down her shoulders. She was wearing a black tight dress and talking to a bald old man. He assumed that they were acting. A moment later, the director yelled, 'cut' and the cameras stopped moving. The scene was shot. The actress turned around and waved at everyone.

"Of course, it is her," Aahana muttered. He pinched his eyebrows and peered at Aahana whose expressions were unreadable. Does she know who the actress is?

"Aren't you a little occupied with your fame, you selfish bitch!" Aahana yelled loudly, "To let your family know?"