Till Forever Falls Apart

24). Anika

ANIKA

Oh god!!! My head is killing me. Why did I drink this much? 

Ohh, I know. I was afraid of going home and telling my parents the truth. Truth about, why am I here? Truth about, why did I lie to them? Truth about every damn thing. And on top of that I have to tell Zane everything too. 

So, when the girls noticed that I was not enjoying our girls night as much as I always have, they made me spill everything. And to be honest, it does feel good that both of my friends know everything now. 

I never thought that Sasha would be so understanding about all this. See, when I met her, she said that if given a choice between choosing emotional decisions or practical decisions, choose practical ones. Because the emotional ones will definitely end with a massive heartbreak. Which, I think, is true. That's why, when she said, “If it was the only way you could've chosen your dreams then you made the right choice, sweetie.”

Even Ayla, who barely gets surprised, got speechless after hearing this. But Sasha just looked at us and said, “Hey! I'm not heartless. Just because my emotional choices made my life hell, does not mean that hers will too.” 

We might not know much about her past but someone definitely broke her heart, in the worst way possible. I wanted to ask her about this but stopped myself when I noticed Ayla’s face when Sasha said that. Both of my girls have some heavy baggage, which they just don't even like to think about. 

So yeah, our fun girl's night turned into a drunk girl's night pretty quickly after that.

I got up and went into the bathroom,  splashed some water on my face and then went into the living room, only to find the two other women sleeping in some weird positions on the couch. Just looking at them is painful. 

One thing is for sure, once they get up their heads are not the only thing killing them. They'll have pain in every limb. 

I went to the kitchen, filled a pot with some water and kept it on the gas, to make chai for us. I put everything required for making chai in the vessel. Just as I strained the chai in three cups, my phone started ringing. I left everything and went into the living room, from where the sound was coming from. 

Ayla groaned at the sound and said, “Ughhh…shut up, otherwise I'll break you. You damn, alarm clock.”

I chuckled and picked the phone up. 

Before I could even say anything, the voice asked urgently, “When are you leaving for India?”

How did he get to know about this? “H-How did you know?” I asked Zane.

Instead of answering my question, he repeated. “Just tell me, Ika?” 

“Um…in four days, why?” I asked him, confused by this.

He sighed, like he was relieved. 

And then he asked me a question, I never would've thought. 

“Would you like to spend those four days with me, firefly?” 

WHAT? 

Apparently saying this loudly wasn't enough for me. So, I did what Ayla usually does.

“WHAT?” I asked him so loudly that both Ayla and Sasha got terrified and started saying.

“What happened? Are you okay? Did you slip or something?" 

“What? What happened? Is there an intruder in our house?” This came from Ayla.

For some reason, her mind always goes towards some terrifying situation. 

I looked at them apologetically and said, “ Sorry guys, it's nothing. I was just talking on the phone with Zane.”

“Ughh…don't ever do this to me again especially when I'm hungover.” Ayla said. 

Sasha just came towards me, picked one of the cups filled with chai and started sipping it while looking at me curiously.

Zane cleared his throat on the line. 

God, I forgot about answering him. 

“Uhh, yeah. Sorry, um…we had a girl's night, and got drunk, more than we should've and now we're all hungover.” I explained.

“About your question, are you serious?” I asked him.

“Damn serious. I want to spend the remaining four days with you, Ika.” He sounded serious.

“It's a very huge step for me, Zane. Can I think about it?”

“Yeah, of course. But please don't take long after all we're on a deadline.” He said.

“Yeah, I'll inform you in an hour or something, don't worry.” I assured him.

Then we said our goodbyes and hung up.

I checked my chats with him and found out how he knows about me going to India.

Well, I would've been embarrassed if he hadn't dropped the bombshell on me.

“Sooo…you going to tell us why you reacted the way you did? What did your hero say?”

Just then Ayla came and started sipping her chai too. 

“He asked me to come to his place before leaving for India.” I told them.

Ayla whistled. Sasha just looked at me and asked, “Do you not want to go?”

“I don't know. I've never dated before. And I like him. A lot. And I also want to spend more and more time with him too. But what about the real reason of me being here?”

They know what I'm talking about. 

Ayla started thinking and just then Sasha said, “You know, you can search for your studio in San Francisco too. I heard that the famous Indian dancer Smriti Saryal’s dance studio is also there. You can meet her and ask for her guidance and I even heard that there's a dance competition happening. You can take part in it too.” 

“How do you know so much about this?” I asked her.

“When I overheard you, I did my research.” She shrugged, like it's no big deal. 

See…the sweetest. 

She's not wrong about this. This could work. And in that way, I can easily tell Zane about everything too.

“Sooo…I should say yes?” I ask them.

Both of them answered at the same time.

“Hell yeah.”

I guess I'm going to Zane’s.