AR:'IF YOU'RE NOT THE ONE''(VERY imp. note:pg 56) - Page 26

PART 7

Armaan leaned against the railing of the balcony and closed his eyes as he felt the cool wind on his face...it was 3 in the morning and yet, he was not feeling sleepy at all!! it wasn't as though he'd slept all day today or something...infact, he SHOULD have been exhausted after spending an entire day at the beach...however, so much had happened today that he just couldn't fall asleep...!! Today had been the beginning of a new friendship for him...Riddhima...why had he never approached her before?? he had lost count of the number of times that quetion came back to nag him....it was so easy to talk to her...so easy to relate to her...why had he ever thought it would be any different?? why had he judged her before giving her a chance??

Probably because she's Muskaan's best friend and without even realizing it, he had formulated his own opinion on her without even getting to know her...yes, he'd thought she would probably be like Muskaan...after all they were best friends!! no, it wasn't like he didn't like Muskaan...she was a sweet girl and he was happy for her and Rahul, but if he was honest with himself, he had to admit that he'd never have been friends with her if she hadn't happened to be Rahul's girlfriend...she was so blunt and loud mouthed...it was embarassing sometimes!! he'd thought Riddhima would probably be the same but she had surprised him...she was nothing like Muskaan!! ofcourse, there were certain similarities, the biggest one being their conservative nature...however, on the whole, he had to admit that she was very different from Muskaan and that he'd been wrong to judge her just by her appearence and friends...she had been so earnest and animated in her conversation when she had been trying to make him see his bad habit of judging people before getting to know them!! it had definitely struck a chord within him...a slight smile tugged at his lips at her thought...what he loved about her was her absolute fearlesness when it came to speaking what she felt...she just didn't give a damn and spoke what was in her heart...what she truly felt and that was such a rare quality in a person, that he had to appreciate her for her honestly...she was straighforward and honest and he liked that about her...

'Armaan?'

Armaan turned around and saw Adi, with a mug of coffee in his hands, looking quizically at him...

'You're awake?' Adi questioned again...Armaan almost never had late nights...he usually slept of compartively early and hence, it was a surprise to see him awake at 3 in the morning, hanging around in the balcony alone...

'Yeah...wasn't getting sleep. How come you're awake at this time?' Armaan asked and Adi joined him and stood next to him, leaning againt the railing...

'Yeah, I couldn't get sleep either,' Adi admitted.

'So you're drinking coffee?' Armaan asked, grinning, 'that's definitely not going to put you to sleep anytime soon,'

Adi shrugged, 'Just felt like it,'

Armaan nodded....for a while they both stood in silence, just looking into the night sky...finally, Armaan spoke up, 'What's up with you and Riddhima?'

'What??' Adi spluttered, nearly choking on his coffee...the question had been so blunt and direct that it had caught him offgaurd...

'Oh c'mon! I'm not blind, you know...' Armaan smirked, enjoying Adi's discomfort....it was so rare to catch Adi in an awkward situation!! he was usually the calm, chilled out guy....

'I don't know what you're talking about man...' Adi said quickly trying to brush off the topic...he didn't think he was ready to talk about this to anyone...he wasn't even sure of his own feelings!!

'Really?' Armaan questioned sarcastically...

Adi rolled his eyes...why bother?? he thought....Armaan was one of his closest friends and he knew he could never lie to him...moreover, he felt the one person who could probably really understand him was Armaan...he knew he could trust Armaan to not blab about his feelings and emotions to their other friends...Armaan was definitely a loyal guy in that sense...

'I don't know dude...I...I think I kinda like her...' Adi said uncertainly...

'Wow...I would never have figured that out!' Armaan teased him while Adi punched him playfully on his arm...

'I'm not sure as to WHAT I feel for her....but I think it's worth giving it a shot...I mean, she's pretty and sweet and intelligent...' Adi explained and then looked at Armaan to try and figure out his reaction to this little confession of his...

Armaan smiled encouragingly at him, 'She's definitely worth it. She's a really nice girl,'

'Since when did you become one of her fans?' Adi was amused to see Armaan taking up for Riddhima...he usually kept a one-arms distance between them and usually avoided talking about her...and hence, he was genuinely surprised to see Armaan sincerely taking up for Riddhima...he never thought they were more than just 'hi-bye' friends...

'Why does everyone find it so wierd if I say anything about or to her?' Armaan asked irritably...it was annoying!! it really was!! even at the beach today, he hadn't missed Anjali's smirks and sarcastic remarks and looks when he'd spoken about or to Riddhima...however, he hadn't paid too much attention to it at that point, however, now that Adi had brought up the topic again, he was once again reminded of that fact...and it did nothing to improve his mood!!

'Probably because before this you took extra efforts to mantain your distance with her,' Adi explain with a sarcastic edge to his voice.

Armaan remained silent...what was he supposed to say?? Adi was absolutely right!! he himself had created this situation...god!! he had been so dumb in the past...well, he couldn't do anything about that now, could he?? all he could do was to change everyones opinion about them now...

'Yeah, that was stupid of me...I didn't realize I was doing that. Anyways, that was in the past...it's OK between us now,' Armaan admitted, honestly.

'That's good,' Adi smiled, 'hey, you think I should ask her out for dinner or something sometime?'

Armaan raised an eyebrow, 'Someone's really eager here,' he commented, smiling at Adi's almost childlike enthusiasm, 'tell you what...why don't you invite her for the game tomorrow? you know.. the one we are playing against Exel University..maybe after the game you guys could go grab a bite or something...'

'That's a good idea,' Adi admitted, 'hey, will you and Anji join us?? I mean, I don't want it to look like a date...that might freak her out...you know how she is..I want it to be more like a friendly outing...just so that she's at ease,'

'I doubt Anji will come. She's going to meet her folks tomorrow. As for me...well, I don't want to be the kabab mein haddi here,' Armaan smiled.

'Oh c'mon dude...if I thought you were the kabab mein haddi, I would've never asked you to join us...I just want her to be comfortable...she might be more at ease knowing it's just friends hanging out together rather than a date,' Adi explained.

Armaan looked at him thoughtfully...well, he knew Adi was right...Riddhima might just get freaked out with the whole idea of one her friends hitting on her...hadn't he reacted the same way when he figured out Riddhima's feelings for him?? and moreover, she was a little conservative in nature...it would be better to take it slow in the beginning....and plus, he would also get a chance to hang out with her...he wouldn't admit it aloud but he kind of wanted to spend more time with her...he wanted to get to know her better...she was just so different from all the other girls...

'Alright,' he agreed thinking that in a way it was helping him out also...not that he was interested in her in that way!! it was strictly just a friend-thing between them...

'Ok...then can u call her asking her to come?? I already called her for the beach thing...' Adi asked.

Armaan rolled his eyes...Adi was behaving like such a wuss!! well...alright...he'd call her...or actually, he'd message her...

**************************************************************************************************************

Riddhima smiled into her pillow...it was practically dawn and she had not slept a wink the previous night....she felt like a silly sixth grader who had just had her first kiss or something!! only it was worse....she couldn't understand why she was smiling so much at the thought of Armaan coming up to her and extending his hand in friendship...or the fact that he'd given her his shirt to wear...it had all been in a friendly gesture...and yet, she couldn't help but blush deeply as she thought about it all...STOP IT RIDZ!! she mentally scolded herself...you guys are friends!! that's all!! don't go getting ideas now...but she couldn't help it!! it was all his fault!! he had only triggered all these emotions in her which she'd managed to supress all along...

She was startled out of her thoughts as she saw her cell phone vibrating indicating that she'd just recieved a message...Riddhima looked surprised for a moment...who the hell was messaging her at this time of the night??!! She grabbed her cell and checked the message

"Hey Ridz...itz Armaan here...i wz wondern if u wna go 2 d bball game 2mrw wid me n Adi..it wud b nice if u came 2 watch us n den v wer think mayb v cud go 4 dinner or smtn..."

Riddhima smiled deeply as she read the message...well, ofcourse she would go!! she wasn't doing anything tomorrow anyways...and since ARMAAN had called, she would definitely go...and moreover, Adi was also coming...she liked Adi...he was a nice guy..she had doubts wether his feelings towards her were entirely friendly...but she knew she was definitely not interested so she didn't think it would be a problem...he would get the message..he wasn't one to pester anyway...

Smiling deeply, she re-read the message...wow!! so much had changed in just one day...suddenly Armaan was messaging her in the middle of the night asking her to go out with him...CORRECTION!! she thought, it wasn't a date!! Adi was also coming!! but still...it was SOMETHING!! before this, he had hardly even acknowledged her presence...she just hoped everything would be fine tomorrow...that THEY would be fine tomorrow....

She typed back ,"Sure...temme wat tym 2 b ready"

She read the message again...it seemed OK..it didn't make her sound too desperate nor did it make her sound too indifferent...atleast that's what she hoped...

She waited anxiously after sending the message for his reply...maybe she shouldn't have sent it right away and instead waited for the morning?? what if he was asleep?? but hey!! he was the one who had asked her at 3 in the morning...

She was once again startled by the sudden vibration of her cell...HE HAD REPLIED!!!

She quickly checked the message: "Hey...lolz..didn't think u wud b awake at dis tym..i wz xpectn ur ans. in d morning...neways..v'll pick u up at 11 in d morn. Dat ok??"

Riddhima quickly replied, "OK...i'll c u at 11...:):)...wat u doin up at dis tym?? not sleepy??"

She sent it b4 she could erase it...she knew if she kept re-reading her messages, she would just keep finding some fault or the other in it and end up erasing it...it was better to just go along with her gut instinct at the moment...and anyways, it was 3 in the morning for heavensake!! her brain usually stopped functioning after 12...

He replied immediately, "Nah..nt gettn sleep...btw, ur awake 2!!"

Riddhima smiled as she read his message.

"yea...i wsnt gettn sleep either...hey, i almost 4got...i still hv ur shirt!"

'Lolz...itz cul...u cn keep it...nyways, i g2g nw...gotta get sum sleep or i'll sleep off at d game 2mrw!...good nite...sweet dreams.."

Riddhima glanced over at his shirt...she had put it over one of her teddy bears...it was one of those times when you end up doing crazy things like this...

She frowned slightly at his last msg...he had abruptly cut off their text conversation...she had wanted to chat longer...but then again, he needed his sleep...he was playing a game tomorrow after all!! atleast now she knew she could message him and it wouldn't be wierd...well, it was time she got some sleep too..she highly doubted she would get any sleep but still....she didn't want to fall asleep at his game!!

Hugging her pillow, she glanced at her teddy bear which had Armaan's shirt on...grinning slightly, she closed her eyes and was asleep within minutes...

heyyy guyz...k part 7....i knw itz turning out 2 b crappy...m jes ritn whtever cums in2 my mind...temme if itz turning out 2 b reli crappy...lolz...n yea, dont wry...armaan n ridz r gna b 2gether in my fan-fic....itz jes gna take sum time 4 them 2 figure it out:)