(AR) When I'm With You - Part 5 (Page 6) - Page 2

Originally posted by: cute.arsh

nice start

do pm me

is rhis ff about AR or ARSH because u wrote ARSH i ur title and the concept is AR

well its up to u

edited

love the first part

i want armaans entry in next part😛

do pm me

"Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time."

*RINNGGGGGGGG*

I looked up and there was the red bell which just went off and I still didn't know where room No.G23 is! Great, just great! As I stood there helpless, I didn't know who to ask. They all seemed elderly and mean!

"You've been roaming around that same pier for the last 5 minutes. You lost new girl?" a deep voice from behind questioned.

I turned around and there this tall student, built not to mention handsome guy stood in front of me. "Well, I can't find room No.G23. Do you know where it is?"

He laughed, "You remind me of my first day here, it's down that hall and then to your right." With that he turned around and started to walk away but then suddenly stopped and turned back around. "Next time, don't be afraid. Just ask. No one's going to bite you. They've got better things to do."

"Whaat? Is that what –" he cut me off.

"Yeah now you're going to ask me if that's what I think of you, well guess what, it's true." He squealed.

"What's your problem? You know, maybe you shouldn't have bothered." I said and walked towards class.

"Yeah whatever new girl. By the way, you're welcome!" He screamed

Wow, that went well. What did I do I thought. The poor guy just wanted to help. But then again, he was the one being rude. Guess I should leave it, don't have time for all of this. I literally ran to the class and luckily the professor wasn't there. I walked into the class and noticed Anjali waving at me. "Riddhimaa, over here. Saved you a seat!"

I raced to seat, "Thanks Anjali!"

"No problem darling. Just one question, where the hell were you?"

"Oh I couldn't find the class and then I ran into this guy and he was just being rude so yeah."

"Ooo who was the guy?" Sapna said excitingly.

"Well how am I supposed to know?"

"Was he a freshman?" Anjali said, as if she were pulling my leg.

"Guys, I have no idea who he was, he was just ignorant!"

"Sure sure Riddhima." Anjali giggled.

Suddenly the professor stepped in and my first class began. He practically talked about his life and how he decided to opt for commerce. As usual he was as any other professor would, a shirt, tie and a vest on top. He pretty much looked like Einstein!

"All our professors look the same! Haven't they heard of oh, a so called makeover?" Anjali said loudly as we ate lunch on one of the benches outside.

"Well technically we're here to make our careers, not stalk our professors, Ms.Anjali." Sapna said.

"Sooo Ridz, yeah you guessed it, your new nickname, have you seen the guy you 'argued' with this morning?"

"No, it wouldn't make a difference to me if I saw him or not."

"You seem to hate everyone on this earth!" Anjali squealed.

"You're right and luckily you top my list." I said sarcastically.

Sapna giggled, "You two are hilarious."

You must be thinking I don't like this Anjali girl but in fact I do. She's a great person and a great friend. I've just been the 'sarcastic-in-my-own-world-type' ever since I was a kid. Not that I'm anti-social, I just like the way I am.

"Hey Anjali, there's that guy you've been hitting on for the past week." Sapna said pointing over our backs.

I turned around to see who he was, "Who is that?"

"He's a freshman, Atul. Hunk eh? I've fallen in love with him, love at first sight as they say. You know…"

"Anjali, you've just known him for a week. Wait, do you even know him? Have you talked to him or have you just been staring at him?" I questioned.

"That's what love at first sight is, duh Riddhima!"

I couldn't help laughing at her statement!

"Anjali, you're such a character!"

"Haha I know, I love it."

For some reason three of us continued staring at Atul and his friends. We passed comments about each and every guy until I noticed that guy I bumped into this morning.

"Do you guys see that guy wearing the black polo shirt? I'm so sure that's the guy I met this morning."

"Crap Riddhima, he's HOT!" Sapna yelled.

"Shhhhh." I put a finger on her lips. This girl was loud!

"Sorry!"

"Sapna's right, this guy is hot."

"You guys are impossible." I picked up my bag and my food wrappers. "Guys I'll see you later, going to check out the library before class starts." I said as I walked away.

"Ok, make sure you don't ahem ahem." Anjali screamed while pointing at that guy.

I nodded my head, smiled at her and left.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey, can you check if you have a book called 'How To Measure Anything'?" I asked the librarian softly.

"Sure." She said cheerfully.

After a minute of fiddling with the books on her desk, "Just your luck, we have one copy left. You'll find it here." She said as she wrote the shelf number I'd find the book on.

"Thank you." I said.

The library comprised of two floors and the book I was looking for was on the second floor. I climbed up the stairs and I noticed Mr. Arrogant walking in. Not my problem I thought. At first I couldn't find the book but then I noticed it was thrown carelessly behind the shelf. I took it out and dusted it off. Looked like no one had read this book for ages.

"Ohw, you."

I turned to my right and say Mr. Arrogant standing there.

"What do you want?" I sighed.

"The book you're holding."

"Well you're not getting this book because I got it first."

"But you don't understand, I really need that book."

"Oh really, for what?"

"A project."

"Look, I'm not stupid. We don't get a project on the first day." I said blankly.

"Well, you wouldn't. Not everyone's you! Look you don't know me and ---."

"And I'm not interested in knowing you either." I said rudely.

"Stop being so arrogant!" he said softly, trying not to create a scene, even though there was anyone around.

"Arrogant? So I'm the one being arrogant huh?" I said looking away angrily.

Suddenly he quickly came towards me, placed his muscular hands on my fragile shoulders and pushed me against the bookshelf. "What do you think you're doing? Let go of me!" He placed his hand on my mouth so that I would stop screaming. Despite that I continued talking but whatever I said came out as murmurs.

"Would you just keep quiet for a minute? Look I'm sorry about this morning, I was just having a hard time and then I have to face people like you. I want you to understand I really need that book. Half my life depends on it so please? What are you going to do, just read the book which will take you 3-4 days? I'll give this book back to you as soon as I finish, just stop being so stubborn!" he said softly, looking deeply into my eyes.

I tried talking but I just couldn't, whatever I said wasn't understandable. I placed my hand on his arm indicating me to let go but he still wouldn't. I finally decided to kick his leg and he let go.

I breathed heavily and he moved away.

"You do have something wrong with you! You know you could've said all that without doing what you did!" I said.

"Well you wouldn't have listened because all you do is talk talk talk without understanding the situation!"

Unfortuneatley, he was right.

"Ugghh fine take the book!" I handed over the book to him and stood their staring at him.

"What?" he asked rudely.

"Nothing. Look I'm sorry I shouldn't have acted the way I did." I apologized.

"Yeah it's ok. I'm sorry too." He said while flipping the pages through the book. He looked up and said, "By the way, I'm Armaan."

"I'm Riddhima." I said. I looked at the watch on my wrist and suddenly realized I was getting late. "I better go, have stuff to do."

"Yeah sure, see you around Riddhima. By the way I'm my 3rd year in." he called.

"Sure, you too."

As I walked towards the quarters I couldn't stop thinking about what happened back in the library. That guy was different. He seemed so into his books and himself. But then again we did see him with Atul back at lunch. Wonder what his story was. I couldn't believe hI e was doing his 3^rd year! He seemed like a freshman! If he was his 3^rd year in, why was he hanging out with that Atul guy? My thoughts were broken off by a faint voice heading towards me. It was Sapna. She was practically out of breath by the time she got to me.

"Hey, I've been looking all over for you."

"I told you guys I would be in the library."

"Yeah you weren't there! Anyways look at this." She handed over a flyer to me.

It was a flyer saying that there would be a party tonight for all the students attending the university to welcome the freshman. Great I thought. I've never attended such a party in my life! The only parties I've attended where the ones kids would play 'pin the tail on the donkey' or 'musical chairs'.

"Look Sapna it's sounds fun but I don't think I'm interested."

"No, everyone's going! You have to come too! Why wouldn't you want to go anyways?"

"Cause it sounds boring and plus I've never been to such a party."

"You just said it sounds fun and you wouldn't know how it would be because like you said, you haven't been to one so you're coming!" she argued.

"Okay, okay I'll come."

"Good." She said and gave me a hug.

"I'll see you tonight then." She said as she walked off hurryingly.

Now, all I had to was to look for something to wear. This is definitely going to be a long night!

*RING RING RING RING* as I got ready my phone started ringing. I quickly ran towards the bed and the screen read 'Aunt Sarah'. I pressed the green button and placed the phone by my ear.

"Hey, Aunt Sarah, how are you?"

"How many times am I going to have to tell you to stop calling me that?" she squealed.

"I know, I know, you are my aunt anyways."

"Yeah but just don't call me that, makes me sound old! Anyways what you doing tonight?"

"Actually we have this party to welcome the first years, going for that. Why?"

"I was just checking on you, hoping you'd want to go out for dinner or something."

"Oh, I'm not going to be able to make it today."

"I guessed, everything ok?"

"Perfect, thanks for calling."

"No problem, call me if you need anything! Have fun. Don't get drunk!" she giggled and hung up the phone.

Ugghh, why do these two take so long to get ready? I've been waiting outside their room for the past 10 minutes and all I've been getting was '1 minute'. As I waited for them, all the people living in these quarters passed by all dressed up and excited for the party. They were people of all sorts here. Some would be the 'miniskirt' skirt types, some would have maximum make up on their faces which made them look like they had a plastic face, some were just simple, some were elegant and some were just dressed up with a lot of eyeliner, black lipstick and black nail polish. Since I'm not much of a party girl I didn't have many dresses though I picked out this black knee length halter dress. I wore a simple, tiny heart pendant, studs and I outlined my eye with black eyeliner. It was simple but enough for me. Didn't really care how I looked. Finally, after what seemed eternity, the two princesses came out.

"Gee, I love waiting for people for what, 1 minute?" I said sarcastically.

"Shut up Ridzy, anyways how do I look?" Anjali asked and at the same time twirling around in her dress.

"You both look great now can we please just go?" I pleaded.

"Yeah we better get going, we're pretty late!" Sapna exclaimed.

"I wonder why!" I squealed.

As we entered the hall everyone was partying hard. Loud music echoed through the hall, students dancing on the dance floor in the middle of the hall, people standing in groups chatting away and waiters going around serving everyone.

"Now where are we going to sit? All the tables are occupied!" Sapna pointed out.

"Hey look, Atul's table has some empty seats! That too three! Come on!" Anjali exclaimed.

"You had to notice." I said.

"Be a sport Ridzy, come." She grabbed mine and Sapna's hand and led the way to the table.

As we walked over I noticed Armaan their talking to Atul.

"Riddhima, isn't that guy --?" Sapna asked.

"Yeah it's him, his name is Armaan. He's doing his 3^rd year! Can you believe that?"

"How do you know all this?" Sapna asked.

"I bumped into him in the library."

"Interesting." Sapna laughed.

"Hey guys, can we sit here? There are no other places and we wanted to sit so can we?" Anjali stammered.

Sapna and I couldn't help but laugh, this girl was something!

"Yeah sure, go ahead." Atul replied.

The seat next to Atul was empty so unsurprisingly Anjali sat down beside him. Sapna sat beside her and I ended up sitting next to Armaan.

"Well, well, if it isn't Riddhima, again." Armaan commented.

"Yeah, well, well if it isn't me again." I copied.

Everyone started conversing among themselves on the table and Armaan and I were the only ones who were just staring and listening to the conversations.

"So, I didn't expect to see you here." Armaan said.

"Why, am I not allowed to come?"

"No no, you just don't seem like someone who would attend these parties."

"Well, neither do you."

"In fact, I didn't want to come. I was dragged here by them." Pointing at his friends.

"Yeah same here. So if you're doing your third year, how do you know Atul?" I asked.

"Here's the thing, I lied to you when I told you I was doing my third year."

"You lied to me?" I asked.

"Didn't really have a choice. It was for my cousin. See the one over there?" he pointed. "He's doing his third year and well he's the one who had a project. He just asked me to get the book and I could see how desperate he was. I'm sorry."

"Oh really, how do I know you're not lying to me again huh?"

"Well you can go over to him and ask him."

"Whatever." I said looking away. At this point I was angry. Sure it wasn't a big thing but in spite of his attitude this morning and the fact that he lied to me really pissed me off. I mean who was this guy to me? I didn't even know him and in fact I had no interest in know such a liar like him.

"Guys, I'll be back soon." I stood up and started walking out of the hall.

"Riddhima." Armaan called. He followed me and grabbed my hand to stop me.

"Don't touch me! Why do you keep doing this! I know I don't know you but back in the library I actually thought you were better than what you were this morning."

"Stop over reacting ok! I was just trying to help someone!"

"Then maybe it wouldn't have hurt you to say just that in the library. Just leave me alone." I screamed and stomped out.

It had been almost 2 hours since I was here. No matter how hard I tried, my mind always drifted off to 'the angry young man'. I think it's time I get going. I turned around but I didn't know which way I should go. I couldn't remember which way I came from. It was almost midnight and here I was standing in an unknown city not knowing where the campus was. Most of those who were walking down here were gone and the only people I could see were hooligans in the alleys between the buildings. From a distance I saw a lady walking in my direction and I quickly ran to her.

"Excuse me, do you know where the London University campus is?" I asked breathlessly.

"My dear, it's an hour walk from here. How'd you get here?"

"I walked…."

"Well then walk up this road ---" she continued telling me the directions but I wasn't listening. I was so scared and the only thing running through my mind was how I would get back. I didn't have a phone or money. After thanking the lady she left. I didn't want to ask her for her phone because I didn't know who she was. That was a major mistake!

"Looks like someone is lost. Want me to call your mom for you babes?" a guy said as he passed me by with his friends. I quickly moved away from them because they seemed like they were up to no good. They had bottles of beer in their hands and were pretty much drunk. When I turned around to see if they were there, they were! They were following me. I was out of breath and I was terrified. I didn't know where I was, I didn't know who to ask for help and more importantly I didn't know where the campus was. The number one thing right now was to outrun these guys. Even though I didn't know where I was going I just kept walking as fast as I could. Running was out of the question knowing I was wearing freaking heels! I knew I should've opted for something more comfortable. I tried getting out of their sight but they were just coming closer and closer to me and I just kept looking back at them. Suddenly I heard car tires screech in front of me. I turned around, I realized I was on a main road and I almost got hit by a black Mercedes-Benz. Crap. What did I just do? I just broke down on the road, in front of the car and cried my heart out not knowing what was going to happen next. Normally I was stronger than this but today, today was different. Much more different. What was going to happen to me? What would my parents think?

"Riddhima, get in the car." I looked up but my sight was blurry. I just saw there, in front of me, a silhouette figure standing. When I saw clearly who it was, I gasped.

"Arma-a-a-n." I whispered. I stood up and immediately hugged him as tight as I could. I cried on his chest making his shirt wet. After a while I felt his arms around me. We just stood there not knowing what was happen. Knowing what Armaan did it didn't matter right now. It just felt so protective and reassuring like this.

"Riddhima, we better go." Armaan whispered, moving away, confusingly.

I just looked at him, "We better go back, it's late." He whispered. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, it was just these guys were following me and I got scared, I didn't know the way back…" I said looking away, still sobbing.

"Ok, just get in the car." He held my hand, opened the door and indicated me to get in.

He quickly came around to the driver's side and started the car. Neither of us said a thing, the only thing you could hear was me sobbing.

Finally Armaan broke the silence.

"What were you thinking Riddhima?" he exclaimed.

I just stayed quiet, what would I say?

"What if something happened to you huh? Then what? You just went running out of that hall, you didn't give me a chance to say much and you ended up an hour away from campus."

"Why do you care?" I said through my tears.

"Because this is all my fault." He said softly.

"Then you should've thought about it before!"

Once again, all was quiet.

"Did you get hurt?"

"You mean physically or emotionally? Like I said before, why would you care?" I said sarcastically.

"I'm just trying to make things better for you, stop behaving like this!" he said in higher tone.

"You mean making things better for yourself!"

"You know what, I tried. Once we get back, I don't know you, you don't know me. Is that ok with you?" he asked.

"More than ok."

He parked the car in the basement provided for the students. I got out of the car and walked away, leaving him behind. I don't know why but I stopped and turned around. Armaan was locking the car.

"Armaan." I said softly.

"What?"

"Thanks for everything."

"Yeah, whatever." With that he passed by me and disappeared.

"Hey Atul, I'm not going to come to the party, I just want to be in the room."

"Yeah , sure. Do you know by any chance where Riddhima is? Anjali and Sapna are pretty worried."

"Yeah, erm I saw her going into her room a while ago."

"Ok thanks man."

"Sure."

I took out a pair of clean clothes to wear and hit the shower. As the water hit my face all I could think about was Riddhima. I regretted what I said tonight about not knowing each other from today onwards. I did want to get to know her but she didn't. I've already left a bad impression on her but maybe things will change after what happened tonight. I felt connected with her, like something was pulling me towards her. Though she was arrogant and stubborn she was different than most of the other girls, especially Atul's friends. Maybe I should just say sorry to her but then again, what if she just walks away or says something that's hurt you more?

As I finished the shower I came out and heard someone knocking on the door. I figured it was Atul so I didn't bother putting a shirt on so I just wrapped a towel around my waist.

I opened the door halfway. "Hey Atul ---."

"Oh, Riddhima."

"I'm sorry if it's late but I just wanted to apologize. Uhm, can I come in?" I asked, looking down.

"Yeah, sure." He stammered.

I stepped into the room and it was pretty neat, especially if you compare it to a junkie's room like me. I look at him only to realize the guy was shirtless.

""Ohw is this a bad time? Cause I can come back –."

"No sit, I'll put a shirt on." He said, with a blush creeping up on his cheeks.

He was adorable!

After a few minutes he came out in a shirt and shorts.

"So you wanted to talk?"

"Yeah, well I was thinking."

"Riddhima was thinking? That's a first."

"Look, if you are going to continue interrupting me then maybe this was a bad idea."

He snickered, "Sorry, continue."

"I know we've had a rough start. I also know you made it pretty clear you didn't want anything to do with in the car today but I just think we need time to get to know each other. Do you understand what I'm saying? You can be completely honest if you don't want to." I said, looking at him.

"I know what you mean, I've been thinking about it too and I've pretty much come to the same conclusion as you. So friends?" he asked with his hand out for a handshake.

"Yeah, that'd be great." We both did the 'friends' shake. "I didn't thank you properly before, so thanks. You practically saved my life."

"No problem." He said with a smug expression.

"Just one more thing, how did you know where I was?"

"I know I might sound like a stalker or something but I followed you. When you left you were pretty angry and I knew you would do something you'd regret so the least I could do is follow you."

I smiled. "Thanks."

"Where are you from?"

"Well I've been living in London all my life, I just wanted to live on campus to see how it feels to live away from home. You know…"

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

"You don't seem like you're from around here, especially after tonight."

"I've come from India."

"Great."

We continued talking, more like the getting to know each other talk. We didn't care what the time was since tomorrow was a Saturday and we didn't have to wake up early.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

We both jerked and Armaan went to open the door.

"Armaaan, we missed you man. Where did you go?" Atul asked as he stepped into the room and his eyes fell on me. "Hi, Riddhima." He said, smiling.

"Hey..." I waved sarcastically.

It was a pretty awkward moment, no one said a single thing.

"Ok, this is weird, I better get going. Are Anjali and Sapna in their rooms?" I asked.

"Yeah, just dropped them off."

"Ok thanks. Bye guys."

"Bye." Armaan called.

"Stop it, you don't know what happened!"

"Yeah, sure, Armaan told us everything." Sapna commented.

"He did?"

"Yeah, he felt so bad about it! That's why he followed you!" Sapna said softly.

"Well anyways, forget what happened. Things between us are cool now."

"Hope it is! You should've stayed in the hall! We had so much fun!" Anjali said excitingly.

"You mean you had fun! You practically ditched me for Atul. Anything happen between you two?" Sapna asked.

"She just came here to thank me for tonight, you know…"

"Hmmm, anything going on I should know?"

"No, nothing like that. We're just getting to know each other." Armaan said looking down.

"Whatever you say man. I better go, I'm really tired. Don't think too much!" Atul said patting me on the shoulder.