AR: Love Is..#5 [Link to Ricochet Pg 151] - Page 21

Part 30

"Did you know, Neil Patrick Harris is gay?" she asked absently, looking for her cell phone in her purse. They were on the flight back home, after having shopped the entire day for their friends. They'd got something for everyone at the office too and by the end of it, they were thoroughly tired. She looked for her cell phone to switch it into flight mode and he was already watching tv. How I Met Your Mother, to be specific and that's how she remembered Neil.

He removed his headphones, "Did you say something?"

"Yeah, I just asked if you knew Neil Patrick Harris was gay."

He scoffed and raised one sardonic eye brow. "Oh yeah. And so us Charlie Harper," he said, shaking his head.

She laughed at his reaction, his disbelief was understandable. Barney Stinson was a man-wh**e for lack of better words. "It's true Armaan."

"He's a bloody good actor then!"

"I know." She sighed dreamily. He smirked in hilarity; his girlfriend had a crush on the celebrity. For some reason it amused him to no end that his usually mature girlfriend had a celebrity crush. It sounded so trivial.

"You like him."

She smiled sheepishly and wished to wipe that damned smirk off from his face. "Yes, just like you like Megan Fox...although I have no idea why you do. Fake nose, fake boobs, I don't think she has any real parts left, really."

"Baby, that's just your jealousy talking."

"Oh please. Like I need to be jealous of her. I just appreciate natural beauty more than the artificial shit!"

"Sure you do."

"Don't patronize me!"

He looked at her in mock horror, "As if I'd dare!"

"Idiot."

"Your idiot." He suppressed his laugh and counted to three, any moment now her irritation would surface. She hated it when he was annoyingly cheesy. He loved irritating her.

"Armaaan! Chhi! Agli baar I'll break up with you on the spot, I swear!"

"Phir toh I should say it more often."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."

He watched her put her own headphones on and switch on the television, and blissfully ignore him. He scooted closer and kissed one disgruntled cheek and watched the smile make its way up her face. Smiling he threaded their fingers together and continued watching.

An hour later he turned to her but found her sleeping, the television still on. He switched it off and took out the headphones plugged in her ears. After doing the same for him he brought her closer, slowly, seeing the awkward angle at which her head lay. She adjusted herself and burrowed her face in the crook of his neck. He pushed her hair aside; it tickled him. He rested his face on her head and looked out the window, seeing nothing but the inky blackness of the night. He'd let her sit on the window willingly this time, smiling as he remembered their silly argument the first time round. So much had changed between that flight and this.

He wondered how it would be between them when they returned to the office. Should they tell everyone? Or shouldn't they? He wondered if they'd see each other that often when work started to swamp them. He'd gotten used to spending the day with her, doing nothing but sightseeing, and having fun, but he'd pushed aside work for too long, it was time he got back. He mused about what she would do. She still had one project left with him as a part of her contract. That gave her six months more with him unless she decided to extend her contract or better still, join the office as a permanent employee. But she valued her independence, he knew that. It wasn't very likely that she'd join as a permanent employee. The quiet calm he'd been feeling disappeared and he grew anxious. He didn't want them to drift apart, not when they had something so amazing.

He took out his cellphone and read the text again. The text she was supposed to send to Muskaan. She loved him. He smiled a little; they loved each other, they'd work it out. Putting his mind at rest, he shut his eyes and let sleep overtake him.

He frowned at the sudden light in the airplane and squeezed his eyes shut against the increasing brightness. A few moments later he sat up and looked around; it was time for breakfast. He'd slept for more than 5 hours. Blinking, he focused his vision and looked beside him to see the empty seat. That startled him and he got up, looking around. He found her then, walking towards him with a bright smile, carrying the bag of toiletries in her hand.

"Goodmorning, sleepyhead." She dropped a kiss on his cheek and sat down. Still a little fuzzy in the head from all that sleeping, he sat down too, mumbling a goodmorning caught in between a yawn.

"Go freshen up, we're having breakfast soon."

"Hmm. I'll be back."

She smiled; she'd need to see him wake up more often if he was this cute everytime. Smiling to herself, she asked the stewardess for a glass of orange juice and some toast and went back to reading her book.

"I don't want to go home."

He cracked a smile at her petulance and kissed the tip of her nose.

"Too late now, baby. We're twenty minutes from landing."

"I know."

It was her morose tone that got his attention and he looked at her worryingly, she sounded serious.

"Riddhima, are you okay?"

"Forget I said anything...I'm fine."

"You're clearly not. Talk to me, please."

"I'm, I'm scared okay? Terrified, actually. What if things change when we go back to New York?"

He took in a relieved breath; she was just having the same thoughts he'd had last night. He could deal with this.

"Things wil definitely change, baby. We've both got a shitload of work to do when we get back to New York," he grinned when she smiled and shook her head at his use of "shitload". Continuing, he said, "Obviously, we'll be busy. But we'll figure it out, okay? I promise."

He squeezed her hand in reassurance and tried to ignore the voice in his head. You're afraid Armaan. You're scared she won't work with you anymore after this project. And then you're terrified that things won't be the same. That she'll leave...just like- He shook his head to clear it and quelled the voice. He really didn't want to deal with that right now.

She pecked him on the cheek in gratitude; she was glad he'd listened to her. Riddhima leaned her head back on the seat and closed her eyes, mirroring his position. She was still scared, still worried. But she could see that he felt the same and even then he'd tried to reassure her. They'd find a way to make it, they would. Maybe life wouldn't be a holiday, like the last few days but they'd find a way. She wasn't going to let this go without a fight and from what he'd told her earlier, neither was he.

She clasped on her seatbelt for the landing and closed the window. Closing her eyes, she smiled. She was scared, yes, but strangely excited too. For starters, she couldn't wait to see Muskaan and Rahul, she knew a movie night with Muskaan was due. She also knew that they'd hardly watch the movie; Muskaan would be too busy bombarding her with questions. The thought made her giggle softly and he looked at her questioningly. She shook her head.

"Just thinking."

"Just fcuking move, already!"

He chuckled at her flustered state, the queue for baggage claim was horribly long and she'd been complaining about how late it was going to make them.

"You should be happy...a while ago you didn't want to go home." He reminded her, winking playfully.

"I changed my mind, okay? I wanna go home!"

"Ouch. You should be happy, tumhe apne boyfriend ke saath zyaada time mil raha hai. Tch, Riddhima. If this is the kind of behavior I'm going to see from you, we won't last at all." He finished dramatically, his nose upturned.

"Oh shut up."

He grinned at her, "Smile kardo."

She couldn't help but smile at that. He laughed to himself when he heard her smile and mumble "Stop being cute."

"Muskaaann!"

Before he knew what had happened she'd left the trolley to him and run towards her friends. He smiled affectionately when he saw her hug Rahul and Muskaan. He weaved the trolley through the masses and approached somewhat nervously towards her friends. He wondered why he felt like he was meeting her parents. Probably because they were so important to Riddhima.

She hugged the two of them squeezing them to death. Oh it was fantastic to be back.

"Ridzy! Oh my God I missed you so much! Tu ghar chal, we have so much to talk about!"

Muskaan's suggestive wink towards Armaan had her turning pink. Trust Muskaan to embarrass her within a second of meeting her boyfriend.

She watched her friend give a hug to Armaan as well and chuckled at the surprised look on his face.

"Raaoool meri jaan, kaisa hai tu?"

She joined Rahul in his laughter and proceeded to hug the living daylights out of him while he mock-choked.

A moment later they all stood separately. She felt the awkwardness around her and smiled nervously. She watched Armaan put on a smile and put his hand out to Rahul. Breathing a sigh of relief, she relaxed her posture.

But then it'd seemed like she'd relaxed too soon, because all Rahul did was clasp Armaan's hand in a firm shake and greet him with a steely "Armaan."

She was momentarily surprised at her sudden anger at Rahul and was torn between giving Rahul a piece of her mind or kissing away that flash of hurt in Armaan's eyes. Giving Rahul her best you're-in-deep-shit look, she grabbed Armaan's hand and led him to the side.

"I'm sorry." She murmured, wrapping her arms around him.

She bristled with anger on hearing his falsely cheerful "What for?"

"Don't pretend Armaan. I apologize for Rahul's behavior, I don't know what he was thinking, talking to you like that! He is going to be in so much trouble at home."

He smiled ruefully; she was reacting just like he'd thought she would. But she shouldn't. Kissing her forehead, he cupped her face.

"Listen to me, Riddhima. Don't fight with your friends on my account, okay? They've been here for longer-"

"Don't you dare give me that crap! What Rahul did was wrong and he has to know that. I don't need him to act like an over protective father, I can take care of myself! And its not about who came first, Armaan. Get that bullshit out of your head. I wasn't going to fight with him anyway. But he's definitely hearing from me."

"Okay, okay. No more bullshit, bas? Now calm down." He hugged her, burying his face in her hair and smiled when he felt her lips curve against his neck.

They broke apart after a soft kiss.

"Bye. Love you."

"Love you too."

She walked towards Rahul and Muskaan and she could hear Muskaan berating Rahul even as "Khottay", "Kameene" and "Kaan-khajure" flew past her ears. She laughed. Some things never changed. She glanced back and saw him putting on his headphones. Smiling once, she looked ahead as they made their way to the car.

That's it! Done with the update :)

A massive thank you to everyone who voted for my stories at the second round of the Fan Fiction awards 2012 <3 :)

As always, thank you for being patient with me and add Aanya_PMaccount for PMs regarding updates!

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