He walked quickly along the narrow path, not paying attention to his surroundings, which for her was surprising. Shiva always knew what was happening even though he never looked.
She hadn't meant to follow him, after all her main goal was to find Dev and spend time with him, but watching Shiva sneak out when he was meant to be doing his homework, was a temptation akin to sin if she didn't get some blackmail material. So she had tiptoed behind him, keeping five paced between them.
He stopped suddenly and she ducked behind the bin at the side of the road so he wouldn't see her, but as she peeked over the bin, she noticed he was opening a wired gate to go in.
She hadn't been to this part of Somnath since masi was overly protective; rolling her eyes she thought of the arguments they had, about Raavi being almost sixteen and able to take care of herself. Yet, without fail, everytime she got home even five minutes past curfew, her masi would lecture her about the importance of keeping time.
Raavi dusted herself off, straightened her hair and once assured she looked presentable, she walked towards the gate. There were trees that bordered the inside of the fence, blocking her view. Wondering what Shiva was doing at a place like this, she sent a quick prayer for protection to Bholenath and then walked through it.
Reaching the edge of the trees, she noticed that it was actually a field and to one end was a football pitch, with what looked like all the boys of Somnath that were in her school. She kept to the shadows of the tree and walked round till she was parallel to the length of the pitch a couple of metres away, then settled down where no one would notice her.
Huh. Who knew Shiva was into football. She'd never seen him kicking a ball around with all the other boys on the street and not even during PE where he preferred running to football.
***
When anyone thought of her, they always thought airhead and self obsessed but she loved watching sports and not just cricket which was her mausapa's favourite. She was a trove of data when it came to player statistics and it was her guilty pleasure, so she sat back and watched. After they finished she got up lightly making her way to the gate so she could escape before anyone saw her.
***
It had been two years since she had first followed him out to the field and every week without fail, she'd make her way there and settle down to watch, usually before the players turned up. Sometimes she would watch despite Shiva not being there and those were the times when she actually paid attention to the game. It had been raining earlier in the day, but the summer rain had left the air stagnant and muggy leading to an internal debate whether to go or not to. Taking a raincoat in case it did rain again, she sat down at her spot, waiting for the players to come.
They had a predictable pattern, Rohan, Raj and Jigar usually came together with a few different friends always tagging along, then came Aarav and Mihir, after which came the random players who weren't regulars and seemed to fit it a game whenever they could; she knew them by sight but hadn't as yet found out their names. Soham, Anuj, Milind and Rakesh would walk towards the pitch in a slow pace which belied their agility on the field next, with Shiva and Gaurav arriving last, Shiva usually because he would finish work at the store.
They would form teams depending on how many players there were, do a few warm up laps and then they would start playing. The game was always an interesting watch, they followed all the rules of the game, called out whoever was in the wrong no matter which side they played on since they never had a referee. She had also picked up some of the very colourful vocabulary they used in the two years as none of them had filters when they were arguing.
The first half passed uneventfully and once the second was under way, she leant forward to see who would win. The score today was stuck at a draw, one all and she hoped they wouldn't go into penalties. The last time that had happened, she had to leave halfway since it was getting late and masi would have thrown a fit if she wasn't home before sunset. It still bothered her that she didn't know the outcome of that match.
The heavens opened up and looking on as she put her raincoat on, she saw Shiva move the hair off his forehead, shirt already sticking to his form, even as he ran to intercept the ball and suddenly for the first time, Raavi's attention was not on the game; instead she watched him with an intensity that would burn her alive. She had never looked at Shiva that way and all of a sudden she wondered why? Hadn't she watched him for the past two years playing the game? And most of the other guys in the team were good looking, then why did she only think of him that way? His team scored and they decided to forgo the last fifteen minutes of the match since it continued raining heavily.
As they walked off, Raavi sat for a bit longer sifting through her thoughts about him. This was physical attraction at its finest and she so wanted to act on it.
Edited by Miss.M - 4 years ago
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