you are mine

chapter 3

I feel the streets are different and beautiful. The flowers blooming, the green leaves, people walking with mixed emotions... it was like I am having a new way of seeing things around me. This might be because I am overdosed by my hormones.

I was enjoying the moment but when I saw the stationery shop across the road on my way home, i realised that I had forgotten about Ryan. Before the class, he came to me and said to wait for him at the shop after school. s**t ! How can I forget this, now he might think that he is not important to me. Oh no!! We're already experiencing these friendship issues since me and Aaron started dating!!

I crossed the road and looked for him in the shop, but he wasn't there. All I know is, this is going to get worse and we are going to have another fight. i asked the shopkeeper about Ryan. "Oh, Ryan! He was studying some magazines untill a few minutes ago and left the shop not too early" he said. "ohhh!!" I said. Then he said "you can catch him if you make it fast". Actually, we are regulars here. The shopkeeper is kinda a friend to us and he also gives special discounts to us. Sometimes this shop is a hanging place for us during the holidays. he got it right that Ryan was waiting for me just by observing.

i started to run down the streets towards our house after saying thank you to him....

"hey!! heyyyy" I shouted taking long breaths but Ryan didn’t respond then I boosted my speed a little to reach him because he is a bit far away. I reached near him after that I just gave a shot on his shoulder and I just leaned on him along with my hands on his shoulder because I didn’t have any strength to move forward I was totally drained from running to catch up with him. He shockingly turned and said “Diwanaaa!! I was shocked seriously”. He then held me in his right shoulder and asked “are you okay? What’s with the exhaustion?” “Yup! Am ok. But a little bit tired and out of breath. Let’s just find a place to sit at first” I told him. So we looked for some spot so that I can revive, we spotted a bench in the pedestrian a few steps far.

We sat on the bench. I just spread my legs and arms and put my head back on the bench for a few seconds. Then I drank a lot of water and then inhaled air through my lungs as much as possible and let them all slowly. I felt like I gained a little energy back, during this whole time Ryan was just staring at me to get his answers from me.

“Ok, I’ll start from here. Am sorry, I forgot that you told me to wait in the stationery shop and I was a little out of my mind during the break”. Then I don’t know what to say cause I got stuck in that incident and am thinking about what exactly happened. I stayed silent for a few seconds. Then Ryan said “no, no it’s totally my fault, I shouldn’t have nagged at you and am sorry for that!! Don’t think about it again it’s nothing”. Okay I said and then expired all the air through my mouth with a relief, because now I don’t have any problem and it’s really peaceful to sit under a tree. Then Ryan asked “is it still painful?” “Yeah! It’s so painful. You know I can’t able to lift my arm” I said sarcastically acting like my hand is broken. “ohh! It seems like your hand is broken” he said with sympathy. “Yeah!! Ouch it hurts a lot” I enacted with a pity face.

"Ok ok let me see" he said and grabbed my hand. He said "is this the hand which tapped on me while am walking on my way to home peacefully? It’s the same hand which got hit by the ball I think. It seems like your hand needs some physiotherapy, I knew some, let me give you the treatment. thank me later for my precious and fare free therapy. Thinking of which you are so lucky to get my treatment" while squeezing my arm adding pressure little by little. Ahhh! Leave my hand you are making it worse you i***t I yelled. But he didn’t leave my hand instead he twisted my hands and said I think now it will be fine. “Ok I admit I just made fun it’s not that serious. Now leave my hand or else am going to end up really with a broken hand” I said. Then he released my hand and laughed at me saying “don’t forget that you have a nice friend who is best at treating. Come to me if this happens again”. “It’s not funny” I said while stretching my hands, my hands turned numb and I felt my arms only after stretching for a few minutes. This is the reason why i hate boys they would always make us feel inferior using their strength but not that much, however it doesn’t matter as they don’t intend to do so and they are always true in my point of view.

Ryan laughed as much as he could. We both were sitting on the bench suddenly Ryan stopped his victorious laugh and turned towards me and asked “why did you run and from where?” “Ah That! I saw the stationery shop and it reminded me of you. I remembered you told me to wait there so I rushed to see you in the store but you left, then the shopkeeper said that you left a few minutes ago and he said that I can catch you if I make it fast. Sooo!! Am here speaking with you" I said and smiled at him. then I remembered he didn't tell me why he told me to wait there so i asked him "Yes you didn’t say why do you want to meet and what’s the matter?”

“It’s not that important enough that you should run and lose your energy!” he said. Then I replied “yeah it’s not important but you are! See how lucky you are to get a friend like me who thinks her friend is more important!” After hearing me he struck his forehead in his palms and said “yeah but you could have avoided that part lucky, its ok. I asked you to wait there to talk about things as we don’t have time to talk in school and you are busy with your boyfriend, that’s why...” “You are the one who’s busy with your friends and am not that busy compared to you. Ok tell me what do you want to talk about?” I asked him.

“That, uh that!!”He hesitated. “What’s with the hesitation? Did you do something and got stuck in that or else did you get committed if you did who is that sinner?” I made fun of him. “Stop guessing! It’s not like what you think so stop with your wild fantasies” He said. “If not what is it then?” I asked. He then said “it’s about you”. “About me!” I exclaimed.

“You seemed a bit off, like you are so down and it seemed like something is bothering you. You are absent minded the whole day, I was wondering what could be the problem that you seem so down? “He asked. I don’t know what to say, I realised that I was absent minded the whole day thinking about Aaron only after Ryan’s words. I remained silent for a few seconds. After noticing my silence Ryan said “if there’s nothing, am happy! If there’s really something going on and you are not comfortable sharing it with me, am ok with it. But remember one thing I’ll be there for you whatever the problem is. Share with someone else whom you feel to share so that you can reduce your burden, don’t get it piled up and take control over you!”

“No, it’s not like that. I would share anything with you because you are my best friend since childhood. I trust you by all means, you know me well and you don’t judge me, so why would I cover things from you. Actually it’s nothing I was just overthinking about stuffs and got myself occupied in that thoughts. I and Aaron had a small clash last night and we decided to meet in the break but he didn’t show up. That’s the issue which also got solved. Nothing much” I said briefly.

“Ok fine! Now there’s no problem right?” he asked. “Yeah everything is on track and nothing to worry! Ok let’s head to our home, it’s getting late and am not ready to spoil my happy mood by getting scolds for reaching home late” I said standing up from the bench and looking at him.

“Yes! We should go home fast. I have a lot of works to do and I don’t know why I am wasting time with you” he said standing up before me with a funny face and started to walk down the streets. I got slightly offended by his words how could he say that he is wasting time with me. I moved after him and followed him back. “You either play games or read comics. You don’t do anything useful and you say that am wasting your time. You are so full of yourself” I said to him while walking but he didn’t respond. So I just ran in front, turned facing him and shouted “Neha, you’re my Juliet!” On hearing that he started to chase me because he wants to keep me that as a secret. It was a hilarious proposal done by him in our middle school and he got rejected. Thinking of which still makes me laugh so harder. We both ran down the streets happily not thinking about anything except Neha though. We reached our home and I said “bye” to him but he just turned his back and entered his home which is opposite to my house. I can feel him he is just irritated on making fun of him, so it’s natural for him to turn his back.