The Big Swap - Part 19

 ~NINETEEN~

"What are you thinking?" she asked.

Vedant gazed at her with doubt, he definitely didn't want for her to have to sit and endure listening to his family problems. That would be too much to ask on his part. And what had Archit said to him? Take things slow. Slow being the keyword.

But in the past ten hours, their progress with each other had been anything but slow.

"Vedant I want to stay and I want to listen, if you're having doubts about that." She added quickly, surprising him.

The last time they met she looked like she was this close to slapping him. He'd somehow managed to convince himself over this span of a month that he was not going to get the sort of relationship with Meera he wanted.

But right now, instead of leaving and celebrating her own success she was ready to sit and listen to his tale of woe.

"I can't Meera. You should go and enjoy yourse-" he stopped mid sentence to see her brows raised. "What?" he asked.

"Enjoy myself. With who exactly?"

He flushed, realizing he'd forgotten the sort of family she came from.

"Sorry."

She shook her head lightly in response and turned back towards the sea.

"My Father's going to give me a mouthful." He explained.

Meera shook her head again, "What are you feeling right now?"

Vedant shrugged for response, "Pretty bad. I mean, I've never failed before. But then again, I'd never written IPCC before either."

Meera pulled her legs up, hugging them to her chest as she looked down at the waves crashing into the stones. The waves were huge and strong, looking as mighty as ever once formed, but they'd all meet the same fate after reaching the shore. The waves would disintegrate and just go back and mix up with the vast sea.

She'd always compared the mighty waves to one's ego.

One's ego made them feel like there was no one better than them, they'd be full of pride. And then, life would come in the way. One day, the very same might and ego would disintegrate and make the person realize their true worth.

Meera could stand ugly faces, she could stand broken English and perhaps even a diffident person, but she couldn't stand egoistic and arrogant people.

And Vedant seemed to just fit the bill.

Sure he looked quite shocked and sad about the results, but from his body language she could tell it was only a matter of time before he got back up on his feet and started preparing for the next attempt with crazy concentration.

That was Vedant Shah to you.

The guy who'd give his all to something he decided to do.

"God what am I going to tell everybody?" Vedant sighed, his head resting on his palms.

Meera gulped, not used to seeing him like this.

"I'm really bad at consolations so I'm not even going try." She whispered gently, placing her hand on his shoulder.

Vedant's back vibrated against her touch, and she wondered if he was laughing or crying to himself. Both options frightened her.

For laughing in a situation like this seemed pretty crazy to her, and if he was crying she didn't quite know how to handle it.

He looked up at her and both of them gulped, having stepped beyond the unspoken line of private space. They sat far closer than two friends would. But then again, what were they? Were they even friends to begin with?

Vedant sighed, his gaze dropping down at his shoes, "My Father's going to make this so much harder."

His phone rang that moment, and Meera took that as her cue to scoot away from him. He turned to her, obviously noting the move. From the look on his face, he didn't quite appreciate it, but at the rate things were escalating between them, Meera decided she wasn't ready yet.

"Yeah?"

"No." Vedant mumbled into the phone.

"I'll come when I'm ready."

"Vi come on. You know Dad." His voice was an almost inaudible whisper.

"I'm FINE Vi. Stop asking!"

"No."

"Okay."

He sighed and closed his eyes, "I love you too."

"You've not informed anybody at home you're here?"

Vedant shook his head guiltily, stuffing the phone back into the pocket of his jeans.

"I mean, I told Vidisha I'll be out for most parts of the day. But not my parents."

Meera's eyes narrowed at him with disapproval,

"What? You don't know my parents Meera. I'm already pretty disturbed right now and I cannot handle their whiplash. I'm not ready yet."

She was up on her feet in a jiffy, and he watched her dust off her denims.

"You're leaving?" he asked, trying fully to repress the disappointment in his tone.

"We're leaving."

Vedant closed his eyes as he breathed, "I'm not going home Meera."

"Have you seen the time Vedant? It's almost eight! And we've been here since ten in the morning. I know even my parents will be worrying so you can imagine how worried your parents must be!"

"If they were worried, they'd call and find out themselves you know?"

She sighed, "Where did your sister call you from?"

"Home." He shrugged.

Oh.

Why did she have to be so rational?

Now he was feeling guilty for disappearing like that!

He shook his head with annoyance as he too got up on his feet and pulled the bag up. Meera jumped down the stone flooring and Vedant followed.

"Do you need a ride home?" He asked again, actually testing his luck this time. They'd made progress today hadn't they?

Her gaze shifted behind him with another one of her calculative looks that had always lead to bad and abrupt ends to their meet.

"You know what? I'm sorry I asked. I know, I need to give you your spac-"

"-Vedant." She cut suddenly, a smile evident, "I need a ride home."

... continued The Big Swap - Part 20