The Big Swap - Part 13

~THIRTEEN~

It rained in Mumbai in the months of June, July and August generally.

But that year it suddenly rained in December. All the guys he'd ever known decided to meet for a football match in the rain.

He wasn't a crazy football fan, but liking the sport and the weather, in general, agreed in a jiffy.

Vedant didn't regret his decision even for once as they played and splashed themselves in the mud. They'd been one hour into playing when he suddenly realized there were about four to five faces he didn't quite recognize.

There was one tall and skinny guy, one short and stout guy who's keeping was amazing, there was one fairly well-built guy; the kind of guy who'd be perfect for a gym advertisement and another familiar looking guy.

"Hi, Kanan." The bodybuilder introduced himself.

"Vedant."

"Well that's Nikhil..." he introduced, patting the back of the skinny guy, "that's Jai..." he pointed at the familiar guy, "...and that's Rishi." Rishi, the shortie gave a small nod.

Despite his height and built, something about Rishi's body language screamed of confidence.

It took a total of five seconds for Vedant's head to join the pieces of the puzzle.

This was Rishi!

And that's Rishi's friend Kanan. Jai and Nikhil...Meera's friends.

It was as if, the harder he tried to stop thinking about her, the more she forced herself into his life.

"Any of you guys up for some snacks?" Rishi offered suddenly, obviously receiving multiple yeah-s and okay-s. Who says no to food after football?

"My sister cooks really well," Rishi explained, as he tucked the ball under his arm and lead the other boys towards a white building.

Vedant froze immediately, recalling the distaste with which Meera had had to cook at home during her IPCC days. And before he could stop himself he'd ended up asking,

"Oh. She's going to cook for all of us now?"

"Yeah." Rishi shrugged in response.

From the corner of his gaze, he sensed Archit throwing him a questioning stare, which he ignored.

"Aren't you going to ask her if she's free once?"

Rishi turned around suddenly, his brows raised in question, "What's your problem?"

"N-Nothing. He was just curious." Archit intervened instantly, also throwing him a glare.

"My sister cooks well. So she'll cook for me. Okay?"

Bastard.

With that, Rishi turned back ahead and continued walking.

"What the hell were you doing?" Archit whispered from next to him, as they took the stairs to Rishi's house.

Vedant pressed his lips into a thin line, trying to control the whiplash that was ready to take over from his mouth.

"Vedant." Archit gritted through his teeth.

"What?"

"What the hell were you doing? We barely know the guy."

Vedant took a deep breath in as he responded, "His sister's Meera."

Archit blinked with shock, as he let the information sink in. "How do you know that?"

Vedant shrugged casually, obviously reminding Archit about the diary.

"Right. The legendary diary. But, what's the problem if she's his sister?"

"She hates cooking. And this..." he started, almost ready to blurt out all of what Meera had ever felt only to realize what he was doing. They were her private emotions, things she'd never shared with anybody. He couldn't possibly tell Archit all that.

"...nothing." he sighed, also noting that Meera's house was only two buildings away from his.

After reaching the third floor, Rishi rang the doorbell to a wooden door-ed house. The door was opened by a frail, old lady, Dadi Vedant guessed.

"Where's Meera?" Rishi asked even before he set foot into the house.

"Oh she's out with Aashni. Beta you brought your friends home?" Dadi had a total of four teeth in her mouth, which is why when she closed her mouth, it looked like she was chewing on her gums. The skin under her eyes looked paper-thin, only showing just how old she was, but her swiftness with getting the door proved to be a contradiction to that.

"Yes, Dadi. But we came for some food. Never mind, we'll eat out."

Vedant sighed unconsciously.

Good, she's not home.

---------------------------------------------

 The scooty hopped on the speed breaker at the turning for his house he absolutely hated riding through. He groaned, feeling all the contents in the storage unit of his scooty shuffle.

Needless to say, it was a fairly old and rickety scooty. One his Mum rode more than seven years ago and eventually passed onto Vedant. At that time he'd agreed simply because he was glad to get a vehicle he would be allowed to ride anywhere to.

But as the years passed and he grew up, seeing his neo rich friends get Beat-s and Polo-s for their birthdays, the scooty started to feel like more of an embarrassment.

"How many of you guys are going to say no? Is it a taxi strike or what?" a voiced yelled on the road, and Vedant watched as a black and yellow taxi zoomed past him to a different customer.

An annoyed Meera stood at the other end of the road with her arms folded before her chest. Vedant gulped.

She was even more decked up today, with tight leggings and a light pink colored top. Even in flats, she looked quite tall and remarkably slender. He could swear she'd seemed on the chubbier side the last few times he'd met her.

And though he'd found her equally attractive even then, today she'd managed to make his heart skip a beat.

"Hi." He smiled, then realized his helmet hid half his face and she'd probably freak out at this move and quickly pulled the helmet off of his head.

"Oh." She huffed, her shoulders slumping with relief.

"What's wrong?"

"You had your helmet on and you just slowed down like that..." her voice trailed off, her cheeks flushing red.

"Sorry." He mumbled sheepishly.

"It's fine." She smiled back, fidgeting with her phone again.

"So...you're headed to some party?" he asked, trying to make conversation, also out of curiosity.

"No. Not a party. Just uh...just giving some friends a treat. Why?"

Should I compliment her?

Or will that be a bad move?

"You're quite decked up." He shrugged, and she looked away at that.

"Where to?"

"Colaba." She replied instantly, her head already focussing on the main road ahead, obviously spotting for taxis.

Vedant felt a bead of sweat trickle down his forehead as he mustered up the courage to ask, "Do you uh..." Why does my throat feel so dry suddenly? "...do you need a ride?"

She stopped gazing at the road abruptly, her eyes observant and calculative again.

He looked back into her eyes with earnestness.

I swear I'm not like those stalker guys.

"Did you say something?" she asked.

"Me? No!" he answered quickly.

"Oh. Um...you were headed to Colaba too?"

No. This is the only way for me to spend some time with you.

"Yeah. I have some errands to run."

"At Colaba?"

"Yes, Meera." And then, upon seeing her hesitation, "I'm in a bit of a rush actually."

"Oh. Well, carry on then. Thank you for the offer." She smiled hesitantly, and right then, Vedant felt like pulling the hair on his scalp out of frustration.

WHY CAN'T SHE GIVE ME A CHANCE?

...continued The Big Swap - Part 14