TR SS: CONVOLUTED (Completed) - Page 42

"Confessions"

"Rey! Hold up man!" I hear Sharon yell and tiredly approach me. Until she stopped me I didn't realize how far from the college corridor I had gotten. We were standing in a lone parking lot where the pavement was moist from the rain and the rain was cool and fresh. I was glad that it wasn't humid, at least not with the clouds formed in my head.

"Rey...you need to give her a chance," Sharon said.

"Give her a chance?! Sharon I genuinely thought we had sparks between us, sorry to sound cheesy but I honestly thought she was the one. I feel comfortable with her and there is something about our personalities that just make us fit. It's the clich story of the bubbly lively girl meeting the serious intense boy, yet we never got it together."

"But I don't get what the problem is Rey...if it's about Armaan then," I stopped Sharon as soon as she mentioned his name.

"Armaan...Hmph...I...I kissed her Shar...and it felt so right. I was going to ask her right then and there to go out with me, be my girlfriend. But then she confesses that she liked Armaan...Armaan! Still, I didn't force her because that's not her fault and try my best to cope with my broken heart. Sure I did avoid her but still I found out everything going on in her life from Swayam and Shilpa. Both of them never told me anything about Armaan so I thought I still had a chance and today, I finally talked to her."

"After she talked to the gang?" Sharon asks softly and I nod.

"I really wanted her to be there, I knew if she was there I would be more focused. When she said she would come to watch us perform I was so happy! I was really thinking that I might still have a chance with her...the way she hugged me and looked at me gave me hope. But I'm such an idiot Sharon...her number one priority is always Armaan. She left me so she could go see Armaan." I turn towards Sharon and let out a big sigh.

"It's not that I'm mad that she likes someone else but I'm mad that she leads me on and gives me hope and then shatters it all. Why couldn't she have just said she didn't want to be there and wanted to be with Armaan instead?" I leave the rhetorical question with Sharon and lean against the metal pole.

"You saw that she was with Armaan but you didn't see that she was there during the performance?" Sharon accused me with her eyes and there was anger evident in her voice.

"What are you talking about?" I ask puzzled a little.

"You're such an idiot Rey!" She yells loudly and starts hitting me on my arms.

"WHAT THE HELL MAN!" I yell out petrified and wincing in pain.

"Tumhe toh mein..." she was about to punch me and I hid behind the pole in an attempt to dodge the punch.

"Hey! Sharon..Sharon!" I heard Swayam grab the feisty kitten and signal me to come out. As I came out I saw Swayam calming Sharon down and telling her to stop being so hyper.

"Thank god tu aagya warna teri billi," I hear a "grrr" sound coming from Sharon, "I mean girlfriend mera raita bana deti."

"Shut up!" Sharon yells and I put a finger on my lip scared.

"Swayam...stop smiling!" Swayam instantly stops smiling, "Give me the car keys..." Swayam throws the car keys at her and she walks off to the car.

As she walks away we both release the breath we were holding and thank the lord.

"Accha hua chali gayi warna teri wajese mera bhi raita bana deti," Swayam said and I let out a smile.

We stay in silence for a couple of minutes before I ask Swayam, "before Sharon went all jungle billi on me, she told me Taani was there during our performance...how?"

"Yeah...she was there for most of it...but the end part she had to leave out on because Armaan had an emergency."

I feel my jaw harden at the mention of his name and I remember the way she hugged him. We had finished the performance and announced the winners. I saw Taani wasn't nearby so I went to search her with happiness fluttering inside me. I looked everywhere and then came to a stop when I saw Armaan and Taani hugging. He whispered something into her ear and she just chuckled at him.

"Rey...Taani doesn't like Armaan."

"WHAT?!"

Swayam looked on to me calmly while I was shocked, "She thought you and Shilpa were going out so she said she liked Armaan. You know, so she didn't break your and Shilpa's so-called-relationship. Anyway, then you told her that Shilpa was like your sister...and she just didn't have the guts to say clarify things to you."

"WHaaa...wait...I...I..." I pause and think back to the time Taani had avoided me and then it clicked that at that time I was close to Shipu. Then to the time when we had kissed and she asked me if I was cheating on Shipu. After that though, Taani was normal...it's just me who wasn't because I was heartbroken knowing she liked Armaan.

"This is such a mess!" I yell out, "Why couldn't she just tell me?!"

"Rey...look at yourself. You have been misunderstanding her and giving her a hard time since day one. Do you think the poor girl would want to face your wrath again?"

I think on to what Swayam had said, I had been harsh on her for sure but that was because she held an important place in my heart. Her avoiding me, liking someone else, rejecting me, hugging Armaan...it all affected me to the level where I would just get jealous and possessive.

"Go talk to her Rey," Swayam pleads and I nod.

As I walk away I hear Swayam's faint yell, "She's in the basketball court!"

I enter the basketball court silently and see her tiny figure hugging her sweater tightly. I heard her sniffing and sobbing quietly to herself. I wanted to go and hug her but before I could do anything I remembered a moment a few months back.

That one moment which changed my life.

I looked around for a basketball and grabbing one I bounced it hard and let go.

THAP!

I saw as the ball slammed onto her back and she tumbled a little forward before yelling out curses.

"UGH! Freaking idiots! Ankhein hai ya button?! Khelna nahi aata toh khelte kyun ho!?" She turned while finishing the sentence and stopped.

Her eyes were blood shot red along with her nose which was contrasting with her pale skin. I could see how tired she was because of the dark circles under her eyes.

She looked down like she was embarrassed for something, perhaps she didn't want me to see her crying and in a vulnerable state.

I march up to her expecting her to turn around or run away but she stays rooted. I smirk a little realizing that this was Taani, the rebel who never followed the norms.

I stood a few inches away from her as I breathed out the first words she had said to me, "I'm sorry..."

She looked at me and water flowed down her eyes.

"YOU IDIOT! Why couldn't you just listen to me!? Do you know how much I cried!?" She yelled out and I smiled.

"I am an idiot..." I say but she cuts me off.

"An idiot? You're a Bandar...oola ka patha...a gadha...bloody buffoon!"

I stay silent and then she goes quiet. "I'm sorry Rey. It was all my fault."

More tears spill out and I wipe them, "Hey...no it wasn't. It was all just a misunderstanding."

"No... I was a scaredy cat. I should have just told you everything before and not let Sharon and Swayam do it for me today. I shouldn't have assumed you and Shilpa were together and lied about liking Armaan. But...today...I was there Rey...I..."

"I know you were," I say before apologizing, "I'm sorry for assuming that you were with Armaan and that he was more important to you. I was just..."

"Jealous?" She said and I nodded before realizing that she was pulling my legs.

"No way! I wasn't jealous!" I say crossing my arms and denying her.

"Oh really," she says and then wraps her arms around my neck, "So if I come this close with another guy you would be completely fine with it."

No I would want to smack him out of her arms, but of course I don't say anything and stay silent.

"What if I kissed him on the cheeks?" Before I could tell her she was being crazy she pecked me on the cheeks and I felt the warmth and sparkles which I had missed since this afternoon.

"What if I kissed him...on the lips?" She asked with naughtiness evident in her eyes. Before she could do something I smirked and uncrossed my arms. I quickly grabbed her waist and crushed her into my body. I pecked her soft lips and she immediately responded by sucking on to my top lip. I smiled between the kiss as I realized how amazing this felt.

Rey relished my mouth inside out and I felt my knees go weak. We broke out to catch some air and I couldn't stop a grin from forming on my lips.

"So..." Rey began but I cut him off.

"So...Mr. Reyansh Singhania do you want to be my boyfriend?" I ask.

He makes a puppy dog sad face and whines, "It's not fair Taani! I wanted to ask you out! Why do you have to be so abnormal...I'm the guy here not you...who does this!?"

I laugh, "I do!"

"Promise me if we get married you aren't going to propose!" He says in a childish tone.

"REEEY! Abhi yeh toh batao if you want to be my boyfriend or not!" I yell.

"Yeh bhi koi puchne ki baat...of course YES!" I hug him as he says yes to me.

"I love you my Khadoos Singhania," I mumble through his chest and he kisses my head.

"I love you too Tsunami," I giggle as he says that.

Ah...this day couldn't have been better!