Chapter 13
"Because Last Time I Checked, Rumours Aren't Always True."
I've never fallen in love. It's true that a year ago I had almost ALMOST fallen in love. Let's just say heartbreaks are like house mites. Heartbreaks eat your heart slowly...slowly...slowly...slowly.. well you get the point. I've been avoiding love ever since then. The love chapter was closed a long time back and frankly, I wasn't going to open it any time soon.
He was in the football team of our school. Let's call him 'heartbreaker'. So as I was saying, 'Heartbreaker' was in the football team and during the games, I used to watch him like a hawk. Heck, I even forgot to watch my brother play. After that I promised myself that my only attention would be towards my brother. But today, I broke the promise because I was watching Virat like a hawk. His every move, every goal... everything. The way he ran, the way he played as if it was the only thing which gave him peace... as if it was his last game. I had never noticed him play before. Of course, I knew he was one of the star players of the team and I even believed it because I had seen him goal. But I had never paid him any attention. I followed his each movement and even though I was too far away to notice his expression, I knew he was determined. Determined to win.
Just then I knew 'he' was going to win.
* * * *
I had hoped that our team would win and now that they did, realization hit me. I couldn't make up any excuses to miss the party. Mum always allows us to go even though she knows how wild they are. So, I couldn't make up the excuse of Mum not allowing me to go. Now, that's why I was lying on my bed while Sophie was rummaging through my closet for an appropriate outfit. According to her I should look 'drop dead gorgeous'. Her words not mine. She had already brought her clothes in a big bag along with every other thing she needed to stay over at my house.
"Now this is going to look perfect," she said, taking out a short sleeveless black dress. Looking at it, I remembered Mum had taken out the same dress for me to wear when the Vadheras had come over for dinner. I immediately scrunched my nose in disgust. Don't get me wrong; the dress was extremely beautiful. It's just that I was positive it wouldn't suit me. But the problem here was.. you can never argue with Sophie in such matters. So, I quietly took the dress from her, not bothering to argue. I made it a point to draw the curtains of my window because I knew Virat would get a clear view if I didn't. "Would you stop making that face, Maanvi? I'm telling you, you'll look beautiful," Soph said, taking out her own outfit from the bag. She put in her skinny jeans and a black tank top to go with it. Great, she gets to wear jeans while I had to wear the dress. Just amazing.
Without any comment, I quietly put on my dress which reached just above my knees. Thank god it wasn't shorter than that. "Now let me do the make-up." Sophie was smirking evilly at me. That devil! But before I could complain she pushed me on a chair and started applying some eye liner.
I tried to get away from her numerous times but let me tell you that girl has a lot of strength. So naturally I had to stay still till the time she finished. "Ah now you can look." A victorious smile graced her lips as she looked at me. "As I said, you look 'drop-dead gorgeous." And for those times, I couldn't help but love my best friend even more. She looked past all my flaws and only saw the good in me. Heck, she brought out the good in me. Even now when I could care less about my appearance, she was the one who made me look presentable rather than focusing on herself. She didn't need to do much about her appearance though. She was always beautiful with her long brown wavy hair and beautiful sea-green eyes. She's my best friend and I love her for being there with me. I gave her a tight hug which surprised her. "Woah woah! You've not even seen yourself yet and you go on hugging me? Gosh, you must really love me," she said, pulling apart with a slightly amused smile.
"You're the best, Soph! I don't even need to look at myself to know that I look presentable. You always make me look good. Love you best-friend," I said with a grin.
"Did you say 'presentable'? Girl, you look B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!! And I love you too."
Rolling my eyes, I turned to look at the mirror. What I saw, made my jaw drop! Was this me? No... definitely not. This has got to be a dream. I pinched myself but winced. It wasn't a dream. Gosh... I look... beautiful. And I don't even compliment myself. Woah, this is a first.
"Maan-" Neil entered the room but never finished what he was about to saw. I glanced at his dumbstruck expression. He was standing like a statue. It wasn't until I cleared my throat that he composed himself. "You look beautiful, sis," he said. Now, this was ... surprising? Neil hardly ever complimented me. So, I said a quick thank you to him. He didn't look bad himself. Of course that is an understatement because as soon as we enter the party, girls are going to throw themselves at him. At saw him looking at Sophie with the same expression. "Sophie, you look gorgeous too. Now you girls don't make me throw compliments at you otherwise it's going to become a habit."
I always thought that Neil had a little bit of crush on Sophie and I thought she felt the same way. But I couldn't have been more wrong. I soon realized that Neil saw Sophie as a sister and she too thought of him as an elder brother. I guess that makes sense since we practically grew up together. "I'm having second thoughts about taking you to the party now," he said. I looked at him with a puzzled look.
"Why?"
"What kind of a brother likes to have guys check his sister out?"
I rolled my eyes but a smile crept on my lips eventually. "Overprotective much?"
* * * *
Mum was astonished when she saw me like that. She had probably never dreamt of seeing me like this. I mean when do I ever wear dresses? Walking into the house of Jared (another football player) I realized that I was right in saying that parties are wild. The music was blaring so loudly that I wondered how the neighbours felt. But then again, there weren't many people in the neighbourhood. Jared's family was pretty rich and you could just see that because of their huge mansion. It was a beautiful mansion and the thought of it getting destroyed by the party was too much for me to handle. I made my way with Sophie by my side. Neil had already walked away giving me 'strict' orders not to drink or let any guy touched me. Not that I was going to let that happen anyway. I could see the people getting drunk till they were practically senseless. Did they want to get arrested or something? Nevertheless, I walked inside, avoiding contact with the people. Yuck, I don't want someone else's sweat on myself!
"Em, is that you?" I looked around to find Josh coming towards us, a grin plastered on his face. "I just met Neil who gave me orders to beat up the guys who try to check you both out. He was right I guess."
See how much of an overprotected git my brother is? You could count Josh in that list too. Or all my guy friends! Because in the next one hour I was surrounded by Travis and Tyler (the mischievous twins, if you don't remember), Matt, Jayden, Josh and Neil (he thinks it's rather embarrassing to be standing next to your sister and that's why he seemed quite grumpy). I was happy to see everyone around but I couldn't find HIM anywhere. And by him, I really mean Virat. Yes, yes, I know I'm supposed to dislike him but hey! we are friends right now.
"Looking for someone, Em?" Travis asked, with a mischievous grin. "I'm sure we can bring the person you're looking for now," said his brother, Tyler. I just rolled my eyes in response to which they chuckled.
"Aw, if it isn't Little Em all dressed up into a gorgeous lady." Oh I couldn't miss that voice anywhere. As if on cue, Jason walked over to our little group with an amused smile. I returned his smile, not bothering to tell him to change my nickname. I was a bit disappointed when I didn't see Virat with him. I guess everyone got the hint because they all had smirks on their faces except Neil who looked quite angry. "Virat's somewhere around, sweety," Jayson said, his smirk still there. A blush crept on my cheeks and I was glad for the dark because they couldn't see me.
"Who said I was looking for him, Jasy?" I teased him by using the nickname he hated so much. Serves him right for calling me 'Little Em'. Like, is that even a name?
"Your eyes say it all," Tyler said while his twin snickered along. "I'm getting bored here but I guess you're quite entertaining so I shall stay here and suffer your what-you-call-humour," Travis said as if he was some royal highness and pointed at me. Rolling my eyes, I punched him on his shoulder earning a wince from him. He rubbed the spot, now glaring at me. "Why are you so violent?"
"Why are you such an idiot?" I replied, mimicking his tone. Everyone was looking at us with an amused expression. Well this was our daily routine. No surprise there. I loved to bicker with the twins but if they ever argued with someone else, I never hesitated to side with them. They were like brothers to me. It was also a surprising fact that I was the only one who could differentiate between the twins and others would always ask me how I did it. But I never gave the secret away since the brothers had asked me to. Considering my unobservant nature, the twins found it highly surprising that I could point out who was who. It was easy really. Tyler had a dimple on his left cheek while Travis had one on his right. It was not only the dimple. Travis had a small (really small) mole on his neck and Tyler had none. So, I could always make out even if they weren't smiling.
"Let's play a game," Ty suddenly sang, breaking us out of our argument. I glanced at him.
"What exactly? I'm pretty sure we're not kids," I said with a grunt, "And this is a freaking loud party. No place to play. I would really appreciate it if you for once use your brain Ty."
"Why must you always be a killjoy? This is a bloody mansion. It has rooms. Rooms which are now vacant. Do. You. Understand. Em?" Tyler replied, "Or do I need to explain further?"
I waved my hand dismissively. "Whatever."
* * * *
Apparently, the twins actually never intended to play a game; they just wanted to lock me in a room. After years of hanging out with them, I should've known something like this would happen. But then again, Tyler and Travis underestimated me and my kicking skills because the next minute, they were sprawled on the floor in front of me and failed to lock me in.
So here I was, outside the noisy mansion, walking down the road for some peace. I came to an abrupt halt when I saw a silhouette in front on me. Who could be out at this time of night?
Being the curious person I was, I walked towards it only to come face to face with a person I would never have thought of seeing here. And he surprised me yet again. People like Virat hardly ever left parties. Scratch that, they never left parties to be alone in a secluded area. Like me, he too was surprised. It was those rare times when his eyes actually held some emotion in them. Other times, they would be just emotionless. He could hide his emotions very well and had this blank expression which truly annoyed me. Why does a person need to hide his feelings? Everyone had something to hide. Everyone had that one little thing which they would never tell anyone except someone really close to them. Something about Virat made me feel that he had some of his own little secrets, unknown to the world outside. Maybe there was a reason that he was such a jerk, such a player.
I realized I had been staring for too long when he cleared his throat. He was looking at me as if he had never seen me before. Rubbing the back of his neck, he said, "You look... different."
I quirked an eyebrow. "Is that supposed to be an insult or a compliment?"
"Compliment," he mumbled quietly. I smirked, knowing that he wasn't much of a giving-people-compliments type of a guy. "Sorry? I couldn't hear you. Could you please say it again?" I teased him.
He scowled at me. "Compliment. Happy? You look beautiful."
Now I wish I hadn't asked him to repeat himself because as soon as he said beautiful, I blushed profusely. I thanked the dark for hiding my blush. I couldn't embarrass myself further. "Since you are here, do you want to sit over there?" He asked, breaking the silence and pointed towards a park which had several benches. I hadn't noticed the park before so I was a bit taken aback. What was the use of a park in such a secluded area? Hardly anybody stayed nearby. Even Jared's house wasn't that near.
Shrugging, I followed him to the bench and sat down, trying to keep a distance between us. "So... aren't you in the party?" I asked.
"Nah! Didn't feel like it," he said with the simple shrug. "What about you?"
"Not much of a party person and well... let's just say my past experiences aren't too ... pleasant." I secretly hoped he wouldn't ask me about it and was thankful when he didn't. "Why are you called a 'Bad Boy'?" I suddenly blurted out. He looked surprised by my question. "What?"
"Er.. I mean people call you a 'Bad Boy' but well I haven't seen you act as one. Aren't Bad Boys supposed to smoke or drink or get arrested? You look everything but a bad boy to me. No offense, but yes, you are a player but I'm just not sure that players are bad boys." After finishing, I glanced at him. His emotionless eyes held some anger in them now. Did I say something wrong? God, why did I have to rant about bad boys and players?
"What makes you think I'm a player?" He asked, icily. His voice was calm yet it held so much anger that I felt like hiding somewhere right then and there. But it angered me. He was asking me why I thought he was a player? He had broken millions of hearts. I know how it's like to get your heartbroken. What must have happened to those millions of girls who gave in to his charm just be thrown away like a piece of dirt?
"Are you even asking me that?" I asked, putting all the venom in my voice, making him flinch. At least better than sitting like a stone, devoid of any emotion. "Have you ever counted how many heart you have ever broken? How many girls you have taken advantage of?"
"I thought you were smarter than this," he replied calmly, taking me by surprise.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I mean do you believe everything you hear?" He said. "Because last time I checked rumours aren't always true."
"You mean to say those are rumours? What about all the different girls by your side?"
"Not my fault girls throw themselves at me. You see when you have charms, such as mine, you tend to attract thousands of people."
I rolled my eyes at his comment. "Rumours don't start just like that. Surely, you have done a lot of those things."
"I have," he admitted. "Those rumours are just exaggerated."
"Care to elaborate?" I asked. He heaved a sigh, running his fingers through his soft black hair. During those times, I had to resist touching his hair. It shined under the moonlight and looked extremely soft. Okay, Maanvi. You have to stop admiring him.
"There was one time when rumours spread that a naked girl was running towards me, crying, asking me not to dump her when in actual, she was fully clothed who was running after me to get a kiss," he said, nonchalantly. I frowned at that. Didn't he care that such rumours were going on about him? I would have killed the person who was spreading the rumours.
"Doesn't it bother you?" I asked, softly. He shrugged, looking at me straight in the eyes. I could see that they weren't blank of any emotion now. His eyes had softened.
"I don't give a damn about it. It's not going to help me anyway."
Just then, I decided to let the topic go and remembered the question which he never answered. "So, why do they call you Bad Boy again?"
"You got it wrong when you said I don't drink. I do."
My frown deepened. "Well obviously everyone inside the party does. My own brother does. That still doesn't explain."
"Well I may or may not have been arrested before," he muttered. I didn't know if I was supposed to be shocked or not. But frankly, I wasn't.
"For what?"
"Graffiti or you can say 'vandalizing other's property' as the stupid cops put it and for some fights I get into."
"Definitely a Bad Boy," I muttered, loud enough for him to hear. He gave me his signature smirk. "And this bad boy is very much capable of making girls fall for him," he put in, earning a smack on the shoulder from me. He feigned hurt, rubbing the spot. "God, you're violent, Peaches!"
"I'm not."
"You are."
"Nope, definitely not."
"Yep, definitely are," he said mimicking me. I curled my hand into a fist and was just about to punch him lightly but he caught my hand. Raising he eyebrows, he displayed his smirk again though I noticed the beginning of a small smile on his lips. "See what I told you about being violent?"
"Ugh, whatever," I mumbled, huffing.
That moment, sitting on the bench under the moonlight, I realized that Virat truly wasn't a jerk. Okay maybe yeah he was a jerk at times but I couldn't help thinking if there was a story behind it. Every person, like me, carries a baggage and has a story to tell.
I wondered what his story was.
* * * *
Author's Note
Hey lovely people!
I honestly don't know how to thank you guys for all the support you guys have given me. I truly truly truly appreciate it. And, I know I suck for always updating so late and making up excuses but this time I have a valid reason. So, I'm down with flu which really sucks because my holidays just started today. I hate it. If I would have fallen ill during school days, then I would have been sooo glad. Now though, it's just sad.
Oh and I finally got glasses! I've always wanted to wear glasses (I think I've mentioned that before) and I love my specs. Although, my dad is really adamant on spoiling it all for me, saying that I will start hating it after a few days. I don't know what's wrong with him :P Weeell, what can I do? He's my dad and I love him. Cue the 'AWWW' thingy :P
Anywho, I just realized I'm wasting your precious time. Tell me what you think about the chapter? Oh and I would love to know what you think about Virat's past. Come up with something of your own, maybe? And who knows, maybe you come up with the same thing I've planned? Or maybe I like yours better and use that idea instead? Don't worry, I'll give you the full credit :P
Whatever it is, Virat's past will not be revealed till at least Chapter 20-23 or something. Maanvi's is gonna be revealed soon. Like, really soon.
Wait for it :D
Love you guys so so so much!
Take care!
Stella x
P.S. Give me sometime to post The Beauty of Life. I'm still not done with the first chapter. Nothing seems to satisfy me :/
Edited by Stella_8D - 10 years ago
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