Revenge of Brothers Grimm - Chapter 3
Chapter 3: Jumbled signals from far and beyond - Riding on fourth gear
Nikki had seen red when she had seen green on Riddhima's
wrist. OK, let's rewind first. From Riddhima's point of view, the plan was
foolproof. The green rubber band that adorned her left wrist was a sort of
mock-gift from Armaan. After much speculation with the voice in her head which
she was currently addressing as Daisy, she decided to use green to invoke
green. All she wanted was to get Nikki whine and chase Armaan even more than
normal so that he would know what getting annoyed was all about. As she
expected, Nikki had thrown a hissy fit when she finally caught Armaan. But she
had forgotten that jealousy rarely made people rational. Nikki had some sort of
contrived reasoning in her mind that somehow Riddhima had made Armaan give her the band. Riddhima had drawn a blank face when
Nikki and Anjali had cornered her and demanded an explanation.
After Riddhima's honest explanation Nikki seemed to relax but she knew better. Of course anything would have been totally worth it since she and her friends had had great fun in seeing Armaan chased all around campus and the way he jumped whenever he heard a girl calling his name. Nikki had finally caught up with him and somehow managed to convince him to throw them a party. Nikki was one smart girl.
Armaan had invited a whole lot of people to his party. It was more like he tagged along next to Nikki when she invited people. He was however surprised when he saw three sisters standing on the porch, two of them preparing themselves for a grand entrance. The third one was scowling at her sisters and asking them to move on quicker. He found that Riddhima had cleaned up pretty well and she wore something that was party appropriate ' a cocktail dress. Even though the party had begun couple of hours ago, he was finally going to have some fun that evening because she was here.
Nikki and Anjali had squealed and Riddhima had glared when he met them on the porch. Nikki and Anjali linked their arms on either side of Armaan with Riddhima following them. Once inside, Armaan gave a lame excuse of mingling and Nikki was distracted by other members of A.M.M.Y and moved on to socialize which involved kissing air around people's head and checking out oppositions' array of sported labels. A few moments later Riddhima found herself face to face with Armaan. He was holding a glass containing amber colored liquid and asked her if she wanted one. She waved her hand not bothering to answer him given the noise level in the room. His eyes were however stuck on her arms, their motion and the way they clasped below her bosom. He didn't realize that he was staring down her arms when she was right in front for him, hardly a foot away.
"Armaan." She hissed angrily. He replied with a non-committal growl.
"My face is up here, you jackass", she hissed again. It took him less than nanosecond to figure out her obvious anger.
"You are wearing mehendi on your hands and arms with a stunning cocktail dress." He exclaimed.
"Your point being?" She scowled at him. He didn't respond. He blatantly stared at her arms.
"Nikki?" He questioned her. She wondered if he found that theory somewhere carved and hidden in intricate design of red and orange.
"Retribution backfired", she shrugged. He could see that they were on the banks of unchartered waters. He also knew that she would never be the one who would willingly dip her feet in. He didn't mind the wait.
"Do you want to drink something?" He asked her again.
"Coffee." She replied without thinking with a hint of challenge in her voice.
"Do you want just coffee or snooty coffee?" He asked her while they moved amidst the crowd towards the kitchen. She noted that his house, no, mansion, was huge. Stupid rich kid, she mused.
"Snooty coffee?" She enquired when they entered vast kitchen area.
"Do you know how Nikki takes her coffee? It should be a part of some kind of memory test for baristas. Three shots of espresso, half skim milk, half cream, two pumps of vanilla, one and half pumps of caramel, five grams of brown sugar, half a tea spoon of nutmeg sprinkled and no foam. That's snooty coffee." He smiled at her grinning face.
"And how do you take your coffee?" He asked her.
"Hot. Black. Pure." She replied. He saluted and started on espresso machine. Stupid rich kid, she muttered again. In a few moments, the entire kitchen smelled of glorious coffee. She idly mused why he was hanging out with her drinking coffee in his own party. She shrugged her thoughts and bristled when Armaan handed her a cup of freshly brewed coffee. He had discarded his cup of amber liquid and was holding an identical mug as hers.
"Want to talk about why you are looking like poster girl for badly composing fusion artists?"
"Do you want me to pull a couch on which I would lie down and start talking about emotions and depression and other stuff when you would sit behind a desk and pretend to care?" She scoffed.
"I know you are wired wrong but now you have micropsia too?" He taunted her.
"How do you spell that?" A third voice asked. Riddhima jumped from her seat and spilled coffee on floor while Armaan who had just taken a sip choked on it.
"How the hell did you find us?" Riddhima exclaimed Rahul who was looking at them expectantly. He just shrugged and nodded at Armaan to go on. Armaan was finding the situation wildly amusing and now he was sure that Rahul did have a crush on Riddhima.
"It means distortions in perceptions where objects appear smaller than usual. Like Alice." Rahul, being Rahul, fell for it.
"Alice! Alice! Who the fu.. err' heck is Alice." He stuttered and glared at now sniggering Armaan.
"Keep it PG13 you half-wit", Riddhima screeched.
"The other half-wit here was talking about Alice, from Alice in Wonderland", she huffed.
Realization seemed to dawn on Rahul's face and started scribbling feverishly in his notebook. A moment or two later he looked up from his book and spoke to Armaan.
"Can you use the word in any other sentence which doesn't sound like an obvious insult?" He asked Armaan quite hopefully. Riddhima literally growled. Armaan burst out laughing.
"Riddhima, you growl like a kitten." Apparently that wasn't a very nice thing to say. She narrowed her eyes at him and Armaan took a step back unconsciously.
"Once I am finished with you Armaan you would be left feeling like ort."
"Aww...Riddhima, insulting me in monosyllabic are we?"
"I am Nikki's half-sister. Besides the fug outside is getting on my nerves and not to mention this stalker." She responded haughtily. Armaan laughed gaily.
"It's my presence that's making you birl sweetheart." It was his signature condescending tone that irked her more than anything. She glared at him and he smirked at her. Rahul got bored when both of them had reduced their insults to tiny words and left the kitchen. He, personally, didn't have interest in small words. Besides, he had already got his vocabulary fix for the day.
"More coffee?" Armaan asked breaking the silence. She exhaled loudly. How is that they went from insulting each other to semi-civilized conversation in 0 to 1.6 seconds?
Maybe both of them are wired wrong.
"Not that I don't mind, but how come you are here at the party?" Armaan asked her sincerely.
"I am the official designated driver for the evening", she replied staring outside the window.
"I thought it was because Nikki wanted to show people how you suck at fusing east and west." She shrugged. He simply raised his eyebrows.
"Why aren't you letting this go? Having a mild crush on me, are we?" She taunted him.
"What are you two doing here?" They heard a shrilly voice shrilling across the kitchen. Nikki looked at the two of them suspiciously. Riddhima rolled her eyes.
"Armaan wanted to surprise you with a friendship day gift. He was checking if I would approve of it. Isn't it Armaan?" She asked him sweetly. He glared at her when Nikki flung herself at him.
"Oh, Riddhima, why don't you go home? Abhi is going to drop us back." She dismissed her as if she was she was a cheap rag. Riddhima didn't bother a response. Armaan mouthed "This isn't over" with a glare and she simply winked at him.
She mumbled a good-bye to both of them and walked towards the exit. When she turned, she saw Armaan and Nikki in a semi-hug and before she turned, Armaan looked up and gave a short smile and a small wave.
It was then when the timer on microwave chimed and the clock now showed that it was midnight.
S
(The usual)
Interview with an upcoming stalker and a vocabulary junkie - Exclusive and unpublished till date!!!
Rahul: Why am I here?
Sookie: Because I asked you to. And also because I bribed you to be part of Armaan-Riddhima conversation in two chapters in future.
Rahul: Do you think I can be that easily bribed?
Sookie: You are sitting here, aren't you?
Rahul: (Scoffing) What do you want to know?
Sookie: What is with your obsession with vocabulary?
Rahul: People are passionate about many things. I love words.
Sookie: Buy a dictionary then.
Rahul: Dictionary is like watching a suspense movie of which you already know the ending. Learning words from Armaan-Riddhima is like watching an action thriller.
Sookie: That sounds beyond weird.
Rahul: Pot. Kettle.
Sookie: (Glaring) Aren't you afraid that one day either Armaan or Riddhima or both might get an restraining order against you?
Rahul: Nah. They are pretty cool.
Sookie: Didn't Riddhima look murderous tonight?
Rahul: Err'I guess it's a part of the job.
Sookie: What job? Stalking?
Rahul: Would you stop calling me a stalker?
Sookie: What are you then?
Rahul: A fan?
Sookie: Are you asking me?
Rahul: (Nodding to himself) I am a fan.
Sookie: Look, buddy, I really like you. Even though I believe that the color of your eyes suits people with blond hair, I tolerate you enough to give you a fair warning. Don't mess with them.
Rahul: (Visibly stung) Hey, I happen to love my eyes and girls happen to think I am choo cute. (At this he makes a supposedly adorable expression which actually looked as if someone was wringing his neck. I wish it I, who was wringing that neck.)
Sookie: Here is an advice ' get a life. Leave those two alone.
Rahul: Is this an interview or let's-insult-Rahul-and-callout-names session? I am so suing you for emotional damages and mental oppression.
Sookie: Sure. I will counter-sue you for damaging my IQ. This interview is over.
Rahul: It's over when I say it's over. O-V-U-R.
(Rahul stomped off after getting the last word.)
Edited by Sookie* - 14 years ago