rematch | ishman

CH: 2

Shubman Gill had no business to have gotten this hot in three years. Rishabh sometimes bugged Ishan to watch his interviews with local outlets, but a screen could only do so much justice to his looks.

Ishan felt sick to his stomach. Why was he here?

“I'd been hoping to run into you for months now,” Abhishek spoke first, interrupting Ishan’s internal monologue. Ishan watched as his old friend approached him. Meanwhile, Shubman remained standing there, leaning against a pole with a smile that only served to irritate Ishan more.

“This is gold,” Rishabh mused and Surya elbowed him. Mayank looked over at Ishan with concern. He prayed for his best friend to not give into his impulse.

“What are you doing here?” Ishan asked quietly.

Abhishek’s eyes softened. “Not even a hello?”

Ishan didn’t reply, he glanced at Shubman before turning back to Abhishek. “What is he doing here, Abhi?”

Abhishek bit down a smile, he thought he’d never hear the nickname again in that voice. He promptly ignored Ishan’s question and took him in a hug. It hurt a little when Ishan stiffened but he pulled back with an unwavering smile.

“I go here, you know,” he said.

“Go where?”

“Here, at Summit.”

So that was what the chess guy was getting to. Ishan frowned. “I haven’t seen you around.”

“Of course, I bunked half of my classes last semester. And the campus is fairly big so it’s not a surprise, is it?”

Ishan wondered if the gods had a twisted sense of humour. 

“Why did you leave Meridian?” he asked, not ready to entertain the sudden friendliness.

“Ironic for you to be saying that.” Shubman finally said, striding towards them. His voice grew deeper, Ishan noticed.

“I never joined.” Ishan made sure to keep his tone devoid of any emotion.

“Right, you never even joined.” Shubman’s voice didn’t sound as condescending as Ishan’s brain made it out to be. “I wonder why?”

“Oh, he’s asking for it,” Rishabh whispered to Surya and got elbowed again.

Ishan scoffed, reluctantly shifting his gaze towards the taller guy. Shubman’s eyes flashed with a glint that he couldn’t quite comprehend. Looking at that face for too long stirred an ugly feeling in his stomach.

“Keep wondering,” Ishan said with a sarcastic smile.

“Still feisty,” Shubman mumbled to himself.

“Why were you calling out my name?” Abhishek asked, breaking the tension.

That brought Ishan back to the situation at his hand. The chess guy couldn’t have possibly been suggesting what Ishan thought he was. He stole a glance at the guy, who nodded slowly. It was a bad idea. Terrible, even.  He looked at his friends, who appeared as doubtful as himself. Rishabh shot him an expression that said, “Do what you want.”

Ishan inhaled sharply. “I need to have a talk with you,” he said.

“Sweet! Are we going to talk about cricket?” Shubman quipped cheerfully as he slung an arm around Abhishek.

“We,” Ishan forced out through gritted teeth, “are going to talk about cricket. You are going to fuck off.”

“Cricket without me? Sounds boring.”