"Score?" She punched in again and hit send. Done sending another desperate message to Armaan, she threw her cell back on the bed and lay down.
Her eyes remained glued to the ceiling, impatiently tapping her fingers.Armaan probably is too engrossed in the match to reply right now. Suddenly, she sat up straight on feeling a short vibration and looked at her cell, excitement making her face glow. Her face fell almost instantly, when the tragic realization embarked in her- she was imagining stuff. But, was she the one to blame? It was a Barca-ManU match, the one most important football match, you wouldn't miss for the world, forget her stupid friends! Grumpily, she crossed her arms and rested her body on the bed. She was so bored and irritated right now that she easily chop a body down to cutlets.
"Huh, stupid Armaan. Why would he care about me? He's getting a complete football match to watch! What a jerk. I hate him." Absent-mindedly, she mumbled to herself, cursing the guy for the umpteenth time.
Right when she thought she'd lose her mind, there was an actual ringing on phone. Immediately, her glum face shone up like a bright morning star. She picked up her phone and looked at the message.
"ManU0-1Barca :-(" She grinned. Yes, yes! So what, if she was not able to watch the match and her stupid, lame, jackass boyfriend didn't care? At least her favorite club was winning and Armaan's was losing!
"Yeah, baby! Show'em how its done." She grinned. A minute a go she felt like a sad old lady, and the next minute her day was made. She typed her reply, broad smile adoring her face, and hit sent, when Anjali and Muskaan walked in. She could feel a handful of mirth in the air, since her sister couldn't stop laughing for another minute.
"Oh, my goodness, Muskaan. You're so funny!" She complimented Muskaan, looking at Riddhima.
"I'm telling you Muskaan. We should actually do it." Muskaan winked at her, a cute little devil grin was visible to Riddhima.
"Well?" Riddhima leaned a little, pretending to be interested in their conversation. But the truth was, her mind was purely and completely the game.
"Oh, nothing. Muskaan was thinking of ways of kicking the boys of the house." Finally, after she could get hold of her breath, Anjali spoke. The beautiful, black eyes twinkled again, and she broke into fits of laughter. Riddhima sighed. 'How to revenge boys' was still the topic of discussion meant no match for the day; she suddenly seemed to realize how tragic her life felt!
"Oh, nice." She smiled and nodded. Her gaze wandered around and fell on the bowl carried by Muskaan.
"Muski? What is that?" She pointed at the bowl with nasty green, thick and grainy liquid in it.
"Its face pack, Ridzi." Answered a shocked Muskaan. Was it such a big deal that Riddhima was not extremely passionate about beauty and makeup? She really didn't care how fair the pack made you look, or how it was the 'secret' to beautiful skin. But tonight, she was stuck with them. There was no way, she was going to escape this! Knowing Muski's nature well, Riddhima knew she would be termed as 'gaddar' had she tried to make up some excuse. She cursed her tragic luck another time.
"Oh, face pack?" She looked at Anjali, faking an excited smile.
"Oh, WOW!" She clapped her hands together, her expression both horror-stricken and tensed. Anjali smiled inwardly.
"Okay, lets start!" Muskaan hopped up from the bed, and clapped her hands in glee, little too loud, "FIRST ME!", saying this she ran in the bathroom.
"Wonderful" Riddhima rolled her eyes, and then went silent. It obvious what she must be pondering about: it was probably half-time right now. AND, that meant she could still make it to the second half. Her face lit up again and fell the next moment. She couldn't! She felt so trapped and petted right now. So lost in her thoughts, she didn't realize that her 'Anjie di' was still sitting near her. She pulled out of her chains of thought, when she felt a hand on her knee.
"You can make us some sandwiches after you put on the face pack. I promise it won't take much time."
"Second half starts in ten minutes, I know." A smile appeared on her face. She was fortunate enough to have the sweetest sister to herself; god had been really kind to her that way if not with her luck.
"May BARCA beat the shit outta MANU" Although not a big football fan herself, Anjali had a little bit knowledge about it all, courtesy her little sister who just couldn't stay still with all the excitement.
"Aw, di!" And soon, she was being pulled into a warm embrace.
"You're the best sister, you know that?" Their body swayed in movements, after which broke the hug and looked at her.
"Uh, duh!" Anjali mocked. Riddhima kissed her cheeks lovingly. Anjali was slightly taken aback from this action.
"What was that for?" Her heart felt so warm suddenly.
"Where should I start, Di." Riddhima said simply. Anjali understood the underlying and blinked, accepting it gracefully.
"Uh, guys? The pack is not going to last LONG!" They jumped up from bed, on hearing Muskaan's scream. They ran inside the bathroom, trying not to test her patience.
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"God, I never thought that a match could be SO bloody boring without Riddhima!" Armaan whispered to himself, as he walked in the kitchen. It was dark. The sole source of illumination in the dark room was the stream of white light streaming through the window across the room. It's length stretched across the room, till the refrigerator, right where Armaan stood right now.
It was so silent, that he could hear music playing in the neighborhood. He cocked his eyebrows together.
"What IS that? Dead peoples music?" He wondered, hearing to the weird tunes the song played too. Shaking his thoughts out, he opened the refrigerator door and picked up the juiciest of apples available. The redness of it made his empty stomach muscles grumbled even more. He shuffled to the fridge a little more and sighed. No coke? Seriously?
"From which planet are the Guptas? 'Coz I'm pretty sure basket-soon-be-Mallik is NOT from this planet." He mumbled. On feeling someone's presence near him, he looked up to see a green alien-like face close to him. His eyes widened. A deep inhale was followed by rush of air and screaming.
Armaan pushed the door back, stumbling and retorting as Riddhima tried to calm him down.
"Shh, shh!" Riddhima was literally on her toes, trying to tell the maniac that it wasn't a ghost.
"JESUS!" Armaan supported her body to the nearest support he could get-the kitchen counter-and spoke.
"What the hell are you doing Riddhima? What the hell IS THAT? Is that some new kind of make up, coz you look absolutely DELIGHTFUL in it!" Frustration started flowing out of him, when he could see her smiling.
"Well-" Riddhima grinned, having a good look at his face one more time. The next minute was followed by a loud roar of continuous laughter, which enraged Armaan to no extent.
"Fine, laugh! I'll give you all the time in the world." Armaan began walking out of the room, when Riddhima held his hands.
"No, wait." Riddhima whispered, and he stopped obediently, knowing his Riddhima well.
"I was missing you." Mumbled Riddhima in her baby voice.
"Me or the match?"
"Uh,well-"
"The match."
"Yes."
"Aw, Riddhima! That is SO SWEET!" Spoke Armaan sardonically and then turned serious.
"And for heaven sake, what is this creepy stuff?" He touched her cheeks slightly.
"Face pack?" She looked away, speaking in the smallest of her tone. She knew he wouldn't like it, but the reaction she expected was somewhat opposite to this. Had he been himself right now, he would have been laughing his ass off. But he was irritated instead, which could mean only one thing-something was bothering him.
Armaan touched her cheeks slightly, disgusted with the layer masking her face.
"Why, Riddhima? Why?" He spoke dramatically, shaking his hands off.
"Because Muskaan forced me into it?" She knew Armaan would figure it out. Her confused tone was so damn obvious. Damn you Riddhima for having the best boyfriend in the world, she thought.
"Uh, yeah right!" He cocked eyebrows in a mirthless musing.
"I meant the real reason."
"Uh-" She looked away, trying to not blush.
"Muskaan swears it works. She says that she read it in some magazine. She says its an effective way to make you look at me."
"What, again?"
"Uh-"
"Riddhima?" He looked at her seriously, trying to figure her out. Her heart melted immediately at the amount of cuteness in his expressions at the moment. When Riddhima found it hard to find the right words, she gave up, knowing that Armaan must have figured it out. She fiddled with her fingers, waiting for him to say something.
"You think I don't look at you anymore?"
"Well, I wouldn't say it like that." She swayed heads side by side nervously, trying to figure out something. Next what she heard shocked the hell out of her. She looked up to find Armaan laughing his head off.
"Ooh, ooh, ooh!" He looked at Riddhima and burst into fits of laughter again.
"You gals are so damn hilarious!"
On feeling the silence in the room, Riddhima looked up again to find him watching her.
"What? It is effective, okay? See you noticed me even if it was dark!"
"And that scared the shit outta me! That's what your motive was, to freak me out?"
Embarrassed, Riddhima looked away. Armaan smiled.
"I love you just the way you are, babe."
"Oh, yeah! Better said than done." Armaan just couldn't figure it out. What was it that was bothering her so much?
"After a few years, I'll go fat and old. And then-"
"I would love you even more." Riddhima shot a glance at him and knew that he was keeping it honest.
"You have no idea how much you mean to me, Riddhima. And to be honest, it hurts me when you think so lowly of me." He soft whispers mixed the silence.
"Armaa-"
"It's okay, sweetheart." He replied, even before she could apologize.
"You have no idea how I feel about you." His eyes bore into hers, as she confess.
"I'm waiting." She stated simply, waiting for him to say something.
"Well, someday." His voice suddenly felt so calm and deep. She wanted to know what was thinking. She had no idea how her love grew so much for the mystery named Armaan.
"Moreover, you look so sexy when you snore." He spoke, mischief hinting in his tone.
"What?"
"My sexy snoring machine." He grinned.
"I don't snore, okay?"
"And when you wake up every morning looking like a chimpanzee, HOT!"
"Armaan?" She said warily, nearing him.
"It makes me love you even more." He wrapped arms around her.
"The pack doesn't matter anymore?"
"Nah, it's working on the attractive meter." He winked.
"Well, in that case." She whispered in his ears and brushed her cheeks to his. As he felt her soft skin against his, he felt his senses getting knocked off, followed by a sense of passion set ablaze in him. But before he could do anything more, she was out of his reach.
She slid out of his masculine hold and stuck her tongue. Before he could get hold of her, she giggled like a kid and vanished in the girls room. Other side of the boundary? Oh, shit!
Well, after the mini world war in the mall, the entire house had been divided to two separate zones known as boys zone and girls zone respectively. The reason Riddhima couldn't watch the match at all was since the television was in the boys zone, good for him. Screw the match, he wanted to be Riddhima right now. But his girlfriend had just escaped out of his hold into the 'dushman' territory. He'd be roasted alive, he simply walks in. He could literally imagine Muskaan, Anjali and Riddhima in a tribal costume, dancing in a circle around him, singing "jhinga lala hu hu!" in his head; he had accepted it, it was damn scary.
So the only option left was patching the things b/w girls and boys. Ideally, that was the option he would rather leave, but the matter was Riddhima now. He couldn't sleep, not without Riddhima next to him. Unfortunately, he had to use his well-known formula 420 to make these fools patch up.
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