SwaRon FF: Misfits [Chp 8 Pg 16 8th Jan'14] - Page 10

Thanks for all the comments. And I have sent PMs to only those who have liked my previous post.

Chapter 6

It irked Sharon to dwell on matters. But somehow, she couldn't let the whole thing go. Idly, she pushed her food around the plate, casting a half-hearted glance around the table. On her right, Rey had completely immersed himself into wiping his plate clean, occasionally raising his head to compliment Simmi on her cooking skills with a mouthful of pumpkin pie. Next to him, sat Nilesh, desperately trying to get the conversation going, touching all topics short of spear fishing (Nilesh hated spear fishing. Something about accidentally stabbing his foot with the spear), for by this point neither she nor Swayam had volunteered a single word to the conversation. Simmi, next to him, was trying to do everything at once, which only managed to give her a wild, unfocused look. And next to her, sat the bane of her existence. Swayam was focused entirely on his food. His serenity and lack of empathy irked her further so she resolutely averted her eyes. Sharon, could very well sense her anger and a little bit of frustration, but she couldn't understand why she felt that way. Sharon didn't like being angry anymore than she liked squishing ladybirds. But the fact was; she couldn't let it go.

She let her annoyance boil for about 39 seconds more, before she got up, yelled something in Swayam's face and stormed out of the Mascarenas' house, leaving four shocked faces in her wake.

Outside, in the hallway, Sharon stopped for a second, as her head pounded fiercely.

"What's not?" asked a voice from behind her.

Sharon turned around and was fairly surprised to see Swayam standing there. She hadn't expected him to follow her.

"What?" she asked.

"You just shouted It's not alright' at me and then walked off. What's not alright?" said Swayam, folding his arms.

Sharon stared at him curiously, looking for any indication of what he was thinking. But for all intents and purposes, he looked rigidly nonchalant. Sharon felt the pounding in her head grow more painful.

"It's not ok." She muttered to herself.

When he didn't say anything, she felt compelled to continue.

"You can't expect me to accept some straight-laced apology and pretend that not 24 hours ago you tried to kiss me." Said Sharon, her voice rising a little. "That's not how it works!"

"Then, how does it work Sharon?" said Swayam. His entire demeanour appeared surprisingly heated. "You want to talk about it? Have me explain what happened? Because I don't know! I don't know what happened. All I can come up with is that I was very high and very drunk."

"So that's it? That's all it was. A drunken mistake?" asked Sharon, uncertainly.

"Yes!" said Swayam, much too quickly.

"Fine. Then that's that, I guess." Said Sharon, unable to shake off that tiny bit of disappointment.

"Yeah." Said Swayam, once again appearing distant.

For a minute, they just looked at each other, trying to decide where it left them.

"Now can we go in and have some dinner?" asked Swayam, in what he hoped was an appeasing tone.

"I have some work. Tell Simmi I'm sorry." Said Sharon.

And with that she walked off, leaving a very forlorn looking Swayam behind.

*******

Swayam looked up to see a figure sitting on a sturdy looking branch, about halfway up the oak tree. The oak tree had stood in the Raiprakash's yard for years, even before Sharon had been born. Swayam knew just how much the tree meant to Sharon. Which was perhaps the only reason he was standing out here.

It had been two weeks since Thanksgiving and Swayam hadn't talked to Sharon once since then. Admittedly, he had been actively ignoring her and he had a feeling she wasn't too keen on meeting him either. But then Rey had called and Swayam knew that he had to come. Sharon needed him; and that was that.

He ran a hand through his hair and started climbing the tree.

*******

Everything looked tiny from up here. Here, Sharon felt invincible. Why, if she wanted to she could reach out and scoop up a handful of people and use them as dolls, tiny as they were. Or else she could just stomp on Louise's house, the mean girl from across the street, who used to kick dogs and pick on little children. She could even take all those miniature cars and run them across the branches, having an indefinite race. And if she could stretch her arms just far enough, she could touch those fluffy bags of clouds, hindering their peaceful journey across the sky.

Sharon knew those things to be impossible. But somehow the word impossible' held a lot less meaning up here than it did down there.

Whenever Sharon thought of home, she would think of this tree. The pure solidarity that it exuded was enough for Sharon to deem it to be one of her favourite places in the world. For someone who lacked permanence in her life, this tree had proved to be her saving grace.

And now all this tree had stood for was going to be destroyed.

She couldn't help but feel a piercing anger whenever she thought of it. She had pleaded and shouted but her father had remained adamant. He was going to cut down the tree, no matter what. He wanted to extend the house and that tree stood in the way. Sharon could care less about the house and she didn't understand why he wanted to extend it. But Sharon couldn't change his mind. So she had resigned herself to spend whatever time she had left, sulking on the tree.

Sharon heard a scratching sound and looked down to see a figure climbing the tree. On closer inspection, she was surprised to see that it was Swayam. A surge of pure gratefulness swept through Sharon, followed by a tinge of guilt. She had avoided him for two weeks and here he was, showing up when she needed him most. Their silly fight didn't matter anymore. For the first time, Sharon realized just how much she needed Swayam.

"I came to join the pity party." Declared Swayam, finally reaching the branch she was sitting on.

Sharon shuffled away from the trunk to make space for him. Swayam, pushed himself up and sat down next to her. Absently, he began to swing his legs in sync with hers.

"Well just grab a tissue and a bowl of insecurity and you're good to go." Said Sharon, miserably.

Swayam cracked a half-hearted smile. "Don't be so miserable Sharon, we'll plant another one."

"Yeah, and when I am 75 I'll climb and sulk on that." Said Sharon.

"Or maybe you could consider living in a house." Said Swayam.

"I'm just going to say it. When it comes down to it, I'd rather live in a tree than in a house." Said Sharon, a little haughtily.

"You don't mean that." Replied Swayam, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh yes I do. I do, very much." Said Sharon stubbornly. "In fact, I'm going to spend the entire night in this tree."

Swayam let out a tiresome sigh.

"I was afraid you were going to say that." Said Swayam, tossing her the blanket he had been carrying.

"It's unnerving how well you know me." Said Sharon, smiling a bit as she took the blanket.

"There's a method to your madness." Said Swayam, matter-of-factly.

Together, they watched the sun sinking into the horizon, obliterating all the colours from the sky. The night robbed in quickly, dark and harsh, dividing everything into black and white. Only the city lights twinkled, with an array of colours, like tiny beacons of individuality.

Sharon, wrapped the blanket tighter around herself as the cold crept in and they sat in the tree talking of everything and anything except that night'. It had become a forgotten memory, stored in the deepest corners of their minds. They avoided it for now, hoping it would just be one of those memories they would laugh at ten years later.

"Where's Rey?" asked Sharon, suddenly remembering her other best friend.

"Playing Fifa at home, in your honour." Said Swayam.

"He came a while back, blabbered something from below for ten whole minutes before he realized I couldn't hear a single word." Said Sharon.

"You know he's afraid of heights." Said Swayam.

"Yeah well, he better be kicking some arse at that game to compensate for not coming up." Muttered Sharon. "You should get going, it's getting late." She added.

"I'm not going anywhere, lady. I'm going to sit right here with you." Said Swayam, firmly.

"Swayam you can't possibly sit in a tree for a whole night with me." Said Sharon.

"Of course I can. After all who's going to save your sorry arse if you doze off and fall down? Though admittedly, it'll be hilarious if you die like that." Said Swayam, snickering.

"I'm glad the thought of my death brings so much amusement to you." Said Sharon. "Well, I guess we'll just have to keep talking till morning."

"Or we could go down and sleep in our comfortable beds like other sane people?" Suggested Swayam, in a last ditch effort.

"Sanity is not an option for me anymore." Said Sharon, looking mightily pleased with herself.

"I know." Said Swayam and leaned back against the trunk in resignation.

*******

The Thanksgiving dinner was so well written that I could picture it- the awkward silence, the calm before the storm, and Sharon's reaction of course. I would rather not have had Swayam answer that question like he did.

Wow girl I loved the chapter.. It was a great read..👍🏼.
Sharon's constant annoyance and irritation at swayam distant behaviour and nonchalant attitude and then bursting out at him in the midst of their dinner showed how much she really is affected by him..
Swayam's distant and indifferent behaviour hides a sceret of swayam which he wants to dearly keep under wraps and I think it is about his feelings for sharon..
Then the part where swayam comes to support sharon when she was feeling all low because her dad would'nt give in to her pleas to not cut down the tree which holds a lot of meaning to her.. I liked how he tried to talk her outta the situation and knock in some sense into her and yet again fails but he nevertheless stays with her..
All in all it was pleasing to read your chapter plzz plzzz give an update fast dying to read it..
Love,
Kashmi..🤗

wow!!
super work!!
The way you express sharon's pov was simply brilliant!!

Awesome chapter as always
Waiting for the next chapter
Thanks for the pm
Do update soon

U've got all tat makes a good book work.. thrs good writing here, an original and enticing plot and a really gud and effective set of characters!!