To The Moon And Back

Under The Moonlight

I almost begged Sanvi to make her agree to the trip. I don't want awkward, quiet, introvert me being with them alone. After discussing a list of bribes, she agreed and we finally packed our bags.

We four are travelling by car – Arjun driving, with Sanvi in the passenger seat, Arya and me in the backseat. Arjun and Sanvi clicked together perfectly. She didn't seem uncomfortable for one moment. They are grooving for a song, apparently their favorite one, blasting through the speakers.

Meanwhile Arya and me are just staring out of the window at our respective sides. I glanced at him. He is tapping his fingers on his thigh according to the beat. Watching him, I unknowingly matched his rhythm with my foot. He caught me staring at him and raised an eyebrow. I can sense amusement in his eyes. I just nodded my head saying 'Nothing' when it is the opposite happening inside of me.

It is almost 6-hour trip. Generally I feel sleepy if I travel for such long time. But this time, I don't even have a trace of sleep on my eyes. Because my mind is running at a lot of thoughts about the scenarios that might be possible on our trip.

We reached our destination and unpacked the necessities. Though it is a long journey, instead of taking rest, we decided to go shopping and then have lunch and later we can visit the famous places.

This place has a lot of shopping centers and handicraft stores. Sanvi and I are very excited while Arjun is nagging us to hurry up. We sure are taking a lot of time in every store but not buying anything. He is whining like a child to make us hurry.

Sanvi bought some items she liked but I am having secondary thoughts even after liking something. But finally in one store, I liked an item and decided to buy it. I went to the billing counter.

The cute guy on the other side of counter smiled politely and scanned the barcode.

"Your name please!"

"Aadhya"

"Nice name. I think beautiful girls have beautiful names too!" he grinned.

I heard Sanvi's chuckle and Arya muttering something under his breath.

"Thank you" I blushed.

"And your phone number please, you know, just for the billing purpose"

This time I chuckled and I am about to give my mobile number when suddenly Arya stopped me and gave his number instead.

The person face turned serious and he did the remaining process in silence and handed me the bag. Arya deliberately stressed the word 'Thank you' and guided me out of the store with his hand on my back.

Sanvi's giggles and winks at me are making the situation even more awkward for me. I liked this side of him, raising hopes in me.

We are very hungry with all the shopping so we decided to eat. We had lunch at the local restaurant to try the native dishes. This place is so beautiful and the pleasant climate is adding to it. There are many historical monuments and natural sceneries to visit. I enjoyed a lot and it is very stress relieving. We brought a camera with us and clicked many pictures at every visit.

Soon it is dark outside and we have visited some famous places and tried every street food. We decided to go to the beach tomorrow. We reached our resort and changed our clothes to comfortable wear. I am about to go to bed when I got a message notification from Arya.

U asleep?

                                                                                       No, about to. Y?

U want to go for

a walk?

                                                                                      Sure, give me 5 min.

                                                                                      I will come out.

I wore a hoodie as it is chilly outside. He just had a tee and jeans. I wondered he is not feeling cold at all. We went near the shore and started walking along the ocean. I maintained a good distance from the water as the weather is too cool. After some time, I sat on the sand and I am just staring at the sky. The sky is full of stars and a crescent moon. I am looking fondly at the sky. Arya sat beside me and he is very close. I felt like snuggling against him. He felt so warm and comfortable.

"Why do you like the night sky so much?" he asked, breaking the silence.

I thought for a few seconds and replied, "Because it gives me peace. I am an over-thinker and constantly have lot of things on my mind. But when I am staring at the moon, I feel calm. And the stars, they are so tiny yet significant. Just like how little things are important in our lives. So I guess, I just feel relaxed just watching them and thinking good little things in my life out weights the problems."

"Such as?"

I looked at Arya and I find him looking at me. I am sad that it is very dark so I can't see him properly.

"What such as?" I raised an eyebrow even though he can't see me properly.

"What are the good little things in your life?"

I contemplated for a minute and replied, "You know, like streaming movies with my bestie while eating on the couch, going shopping without actually buying anything, eating at a good restaurant, short weekend trips. These don't take that much effort or cost but these will be the memories that we will cherish forever. Like whenever we see or do something related to it, we will always remember these times. I like it.

And as you know, I am really happy that you are being a part of my good little things. I am really enjoying spending time with you. Thank you Arya for being there for me."

There it is. I told him and rested my head on his shoulder.

I don't know how I gathered courage or words to tell him this but here I am. My mind is running at great speed about how he might feel hearing these words.

"I will be there for you as long as you need me to."

I smiled and hummed at his response. I still rested my head and he adjusted himself to make me comfortable. Then we stayed like that for a long time.

We returned back to our resort and as I am about to go inside my room, he grabbed my wrist making me stop.

"Don't over think about anything and sleep tight. He kissed my forehead. "Good night Aadhya"

I nodded, unable to say anything at his sudden action and went inside. I am glad that it was dark outside or else he would have seen me blush so hard.