Chapter 11

Chapter 8
Part B

Arnav stood with his back to the world at the edge of the terrace, his hands clamped tight on the railing in front of him as his dress shirt billowed slightly behind him, the open terrace club party he had entered with his girlfriend of 2 months still raging as gleeful sounds rose all around him but none of them managed to permeate through to him as he stood there with his back to it all - stiff and tall.

His mind was abuzz with the talk he had just had with Varun or rather one a disgruntled him had been dragged into by a stubborn yet strangely mature Varun not heeding to any of his threats - funny and serious - as Arnav protested being taken away from Lavanya.

And now his threats - funny, serious or otherwise - had fallen silent as he tried to process all that he had been told by Varun in the last 15 minutes.

15 minutes.

That's all it had taken for his life like he knew it to completely tumble over itself, for the relations he had been so comfortable for almost his whole life to turn over their head, for friends to turn into something else without his knowledge, his consent...Arnav ran a frustrated hand through his now messed up hair, abusing silently into the high strung night...what was he supposed to do now?! What was he supposed to say, how was he supposed to act, just what the hell was expected of him now?!

What did Varun expect him to do when he told him the truth?!

And what the hell did Khushi expect him to do when didn't have the faintest idea of the truth?!

"Damn it!" he cursed out loud just when a hand landed on his shoulder.

And he instantly calmed down. He knew the touch, he knew who it belonged to.

Lavanya.

His girlfriend.

The girl he had hankered after for months before she had consented to give them a try.

And he had been so happy when she had yes to accompanying him to that party that night..oh she had looked stellar and it had been an amazing night! He had gotten together with Lavanya and it seemed like finally Varun would speak to Khushi regarding his little crush on her...

And Arnav sighed before he felt Lavanya loop her arm around his, rubbing his back with sure hands but with a light touch resting her head on his shoulder, her soft hair tickling his jaw as he leaned his head just out of a habit that had been created in the little time they had been together but which felt like a companionship of years.

"You okay?'" she asked in that husky voice of hers and Arnav couldn't help but sigh again, this time for all the different reasons.

Her voice had been the first thing that had attracted him to her. He still remembered that exact moment when he had entered the music room with the idea of bunking Economics but had instead stopped short right at the door as a beautiful voice filled the room accompanied by the gentle rhythmic strumming of a guitar.

"Once in every life
Someone comes along
And you came to me
It was almost like a song..."

He had never heard the song for the first time in his life and he wasn't really much into the Country stuff either but he stood there transfixed as the girl in front of him, who he vaguely knew as Something Kashyap, sat on the high stool, her dark brown hair falling over the guitar she was bent over - catching the rays of the sun and the brown shone through and Arnav felt something pierce right across his heart and he did not even need to name the feeling.

He knew it all along.

His first crush.

And just like that her name came to him and his lips curved into a smile as he mouthed it to himself, tasting it for the first time.

Lavanya Kashyap.

"Arnav...you okay?"

He came out of his stupor as Lavanya gently nudged his shoulder with her head and looking down at her upturned face, those beautiful green eyes he felt a small sad smile break out on his face, immediately alarming her by the look of it as she detangled herself from him and steered him to his side so that they now faced each other, fixing him with a worried but stern stare which spoke in its silence a single word - EXPLAIN.

And he felt himself falter at her single demand - the first she had ever made of him. How was he to explain to her that Khushi, his Khushi, his best friend Khushi liked him?! How was he to explain to his girlfriend that another girl liked her boyfriend and the said girl and her boyfriend were not even strangers, that they were in fact best friends?! That if she demanded that he leave Khushi, he wouldn't be able to do that but it was also true conversely that if Khushi demanded he leave Lavanya, he wasn't sure about it either...how was he to explain anything to this beautiful girl in front of him who looked at him with eyes full of care and concern...how was he to explain anything to her?

And so instead he drew her closer, his arms pulling her gently by her shoulders before sliding down to her waist, his eyes gazing down at her own till they closed shut and a blush crept up her cheeks and he could do nothing but give in to the pull bending down to capture her pink lips with his own, their feet moving slightly to the music playing - her arms cradling him close as his held her near him.

The music made his feet move, his body swaying rhythmically, his lips still roving over hers tasting her sweetness and relishing it as he willed himself to enjoy this one moment with Lavanya before he knew not what would happen, before he went out to Khushi to talk about something he knew not how to broach, he let himself drown in Lavanya's sweet fragrance for just this one moment before he recollected his thoughts and talked to his best friend, his Khushi...hoping, fervently hoping that things would work out.

Stupid naive boy.

Rarely did things ever work out in a love of this kind.

And he would have agreed, wholeheartedly agreed, had he only known that witnessing this one moment he so craved stood his best friend, his Khushi.

And for her it was not just a moment he carved out of time for himself to relish maybe one last time...

For her, it was the moment he chose.

Over a moment with her.

Next chapter - Page 66

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*Not proof read
Credit - Song lyrics belong to Ronie Milsap ('It was almost like a song')

And here you have it. Arnav's POV, not completely I know but a hint maybe? Do tell me how you found it... :)

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