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Keep it coming
Four
Decelerate
Wisdom can be learnt from anyone, even your blue haired friend who is going through a meltdown. Even from your humble driver. I keep ignoring these warning signs, I need to be more considerate of other people my god!
Now all I could hear in my head was T’s “Amy maybe you should listen to who it is first”
Ugh. Both of them can die, for all I care.
“Amy” T skids to a stop beside me. I slow my pace and spare her a glance. T stops, trying to catch her breath, then pushing her hair away from her face speaks, her eyes pleading me.
“He kept calling me, he wanted to talk. I told him I was here, I asked him to come”. She was explaining trying to keep up the pace with me.
I keep my exhaustion and anger down, and turn to her. She is biting her lip, her expression a cross between scared and sorry.
“T I need more time” my voice comes deflated and monotonous.
“I know I know, but maybe we can finally do something about the tension between you two”
I give her a horrified look, hoping it was enough to get the message into her head.
“Amy!” It apparently did not.
“Come on” she gets in my way and stops me.
“Let’s at least listen to what he has to say”
I press my lips and look back over my shoulder, he immediately turns his head away pretending to look elsewhere.
I think about it and weigh my options. Then reluctantly nod my head. T whoops and runs to get him.
“Come in!” she exclaims and closes the door behind him. I turn my attention to them, he rubs his palms together and gives me a sheepish smile.
I just nod a greeting to him.
He smiles in return and looks down at the tiled floor stretched in front of him and at his shoes. That’s when I notice the dark brown mud on them. I give him a once over.
His hood is darker around his shoulders, and over the hood. Under the hood, his dark hair, is sticking to his forehead.
“Was it raining?” I ask no one in particular.
He nods, “Yeah not much, still is, I was on my bike so” he shrugs and gestures to himself.
I blow out some air and look at T who nods at me encouragingly.
“You can use the shower in the guestroom. You will find some of your clothes there” I answer him in a neutral voice.
He nods as T obviously trying to lighten the mood exclaims “Amy is making Chinese!”
I look at him, as he mouths ‘wow’ and follows her to the guest room.
I am not a very forgiving person. I have certain perspectives on how I view people.
Few months ago, my friends were my everything. They were my band, my family, my music, my entertainment, my escape and my reality.
All it took was one interview. One Saturday night, which turned everything topsy turvy.
And though everyone has their reasons, and explanations. It still hurts.
I ponder over the complexities of the world in the presence of the aromatic smell of the ‘Chinese’ I made.
The smell surrounds me, overwhelming my senses, giving a sort of numb feeling.
I stare at nothing my arms crossed, my future blank and scary.
Flashes of my past catch up to me, our first performance as a band, our record signing, the debut album and his music they all envelop me like the spicy aroma of the dishes laid out in front of me.
I hug myself holding onto them, for a little while more. Letting them fill my empty heart with some kind of hope.
“Amy!” I take a deep breath and force my eyes open to reality.
He stands in front of me, fresh and relieved. Although, there is awkward written all over him.
I notice his changed clothes, a maroon sweatshirt and some washed down jeans. His hair, still wet no doubt form the shower, wild untamed and sticking out in every direction.
He shuffles on his feet, his jaw tight, and his eyes searching mine.
Just then T walks on us “Amy we wanna help set the table” she says and I nod giving her a warm smile.
I watch as they both smile and carry the food to the table. I follow them bringing the rest of the carriage.
We sit and help each other with the hot food, I am only halfway through my second spring roll, when T clears her throat.
“So, I heard you went all Gangsta on someone?”
I bite my tongue, surprised, and glance at him, expecting some outburst. But he simply cuts his roll and pokes a part of it. Lifting it up, he inspects it from different angles. Most probably stalling to find a suitable answer.
“It was” he looks at her and then me “not intentional” he adds and swallows the piece.
“Besides I heard I am not the only one who went ‘gangsta on people’” he turns to T, who like him starts playing with her food.
He turns to me, but I nod my head sideways. He knows us enough to not press the matter more and nods understanding.
“It was intentional” she says, so sudden that she surprises me.
She drops the silver ware and it clatters on the plate. She crosses her arms and sniffs.
Oh boy! Uh oh!
I glare at him. ‘Look at what you have done’ I whisper-scream at him.
He hangs his jaw, ‘What me?’ ‘How me?’ he rounds up on me, whispering in the same tone as me.
I look at T who still has her eyes closed ‘I have been trying to distract her and now you just ruined it all’.
This time he glares at me. ‘Oh come on!’
“He just stood there!”
We both exchange scared looks and turn our attention to her.
“Who?” I question, my voice soft and barely audible.
“Robbie” T sniffs.
“Rob?” I ask in disbelief, well this is interesting.
“You fought with Rob?” he mimics my confusion.
T looks at us both and whispers ‘no’.
I move my chair closer to her and gaze at her softly.
“What happened T?” he asks. I give her hand a soft squeeze encouraging her to speak up.
“Remember the like VIP section for people over eighteen?” she looks at me I nod, stopping myself from reminding her that it is over eighteen only for a reason.
“I snuck in there” she goes on. “I know I shouldn’t have. I was just so confused that day. And I thought not much people would be there to bother me”
“And then I overheard Matthew of ‘Hell-Oh!’ saying something about Robbie” she says and then sniffs harder.
“You know right Amy? How they call him names, and bully him. I just couldn’t take it” she wipes her face on her sleeve.
“I didn’t care about the fight then. I didn’t care about the hiatus, the betrayal they have done. I just kept remembering all those times he stood up for me. So I told Matthew to shut up”
T dropped her arms now and looked at the both of us, a slow sad smile spreading over her lips as she gulped hard and fought more tears.
“Things got out of control, Matthew was drunk, he threw some punches” I noticed her clenched fists and sucked in a breath. There was an eerie silence for a couple seconds after which she added “And he just stood there watching”.
A feeling of disgust crept over me and I had the sudden urge to feed Rob to the sharks. I looked at T and her black eye, the bruises she kept trying to hide.
How inhumane could a person be to see something so horrible and just let it happen?
How could Rob of all people watch and stand as a drunk skank beat his best friend.
Forget Rob, what were the others doing? Anger consumed me and I tried hard to compose myself for T’s sake.
What could I say to her broken heart?
Would mere, half honest words answer her doubts? Would they assure her and mend her heart?
I highly doubt that.
The realization made me sick to the stomach and I clenched it hard.
“T, I am so sorry. I am gonna call him right now” I hear him from across me and see him pulling out his phone.
“You will do no such thing” I say each word, dripping with unintentional venom.
He looks at me in shock.
“Of course I will, I have to know. WE have to know why?” he looks at T.
“I am sure there must be a reason” he says and squeezes her hand. I look at T and then him.
“Of course” I mutter.
“What?” he looks at me puzzled.
“Of course you would take their side” I say and cross my arms.
He gives me a strange look “I am not taking anybody’s side” he says as he wipes his fingers on the hand towel.
I see that he turns on his phone.
“You have no right!” I snap.
“You can’t just waltz into our lives, and make decisions for us. You don’t know what we had to go through. You don’t know what we are going through. You didn’t care and you still don’t. Imagine a person who you thought your best friend saw you getting beat up by a drunk a-hole. What would you say to him? Hey bro! What’s the score on Speed Racing with Betty Sue?”
“Amy” T mutters, I nod my head sideways.
“If you were so noble you would be here by our side as they ruined our lives and split us apart. Instead you turn off your phone and ghost us! You can’t just come back smiling into our lives and assume you are all caught up on ‘heartbroken and weeping’. Where were you huh?”
My voice feels weird as I finish screaming.
An awkward silence settles over us, and when the tears empty from my eyes, I see that his eyes are not so far off.
His eyes hurt and angry, he takes a couple breaths and then throws the towel in anger.
I wince in alarm, and see that T has receded into her chair.
I turn to him just as he gets up and tugs on his shirt.
“I thought you knew Amy” he says and his voice alone is enough to convey how much I have hurt him. I bite my lip, shaking with guilt but with too much pride to say something.
“I was with my family celebrating my father’s death anniversary” he snaps sarcastically.
With one last look he leaves.
“No wait!” I get up, feeling like the worst person on the planet. Which I am pretty sure I am.
He walks angrily to the door, grabs his shoes and opens the door.
I catch up to him and pull his arm back.
“No I am sorry. I just” I try but he pulls his arm back and leaves.
The rain hasn’t stopped, but that doesn’t stop him. I shield my eyes and run after him.
“RISHI!” I scream.
He doesn’t stop.
“Rishi stop please. I am sorry. I am sorry” I plead.
“Rishi” I scream again.
He stops and turns back.
The rain hits my face. And I can’t distinguish between the tears from the rain.
“I don’t know. I am sorry. I am such a mess. I don’t know what I am doing” I mutter, the rain soaking my shirt and dripping through my hair.
“I am so confused, and alone. I just. I am so sorry” I rub my face on my sleeve and add “I am so sorry”.
The rain increases, and I shiver. I open my eyes but quickly close them, under the weight of the rain and all the things I have been holding back.
“I missed you so much” I say defeated.
I gulp and take deep breaths.
“I just miss you” I repeat silently.
I hear sudden splashes and feel him around me.
His rain soaked clothes still feel warm somehow.
I gather his sweatshirt in my fist and cry in his arms.
“I am so sorry” my apology comes out as a muffled croak.
“It’s ok” I hear him say.
“I missed you so much” I whisper.
“I know I missed you too” he whispers back.
Thanks everyone for reading this. Like I said the coming chapters would be longer and serious. Criticism welcome. Will add TLDR if you guys want!
Have a nice day ahead.
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