rematch | ishman

CH: 4

“You’re awfully quiet, what’s wrong?” Abhishek asked, squinting his eyes.

Shubman chewed on his straw, sucking the life out of his juice carton. “Nothing.”

Abhishek nodded to himself, flipping the pages of his assignment. “Did you fight?”

Shubman groaned in response as he collapsed onto Abhishek’s bed. He couldn’t exactly explain the unease he felt after Ishan walked out on him earlier. He had expected insults in return, not silence. It almost made him guilty about it, but in his defense, Ishan had just grown sensitive.

“I think I’m heading home,” he mumbled.

“Home,” Abhishek repeated flatly.

“Dorms are closed for a week.”

“So you’re going home?”

Shubman waved him off dismissively. “They don’t bother me anymore.”

Shubman’s relationship with his family was, at best, questionable. It was nothing that couldn’t be fixed but Shubman just avoided the problem as a whole, which was him being the root of his father’s disappointment.

“You’ll be holed up in your room,” Abhishek remarked. “You don’t even practice when you’re home. It’s not a good idea, with the tournament coming up.”

“I’ll watch Star Wars,” he mumbled.

There it was again, proving Abhishek’s hypothesis correct. Ishan didn’t watch Star Wars because it reminded him of Shubman, and Shubman watched it because it reminded him of Ishan. The only connection they had left of each other.

“Or, we could watch Star Wars,” Abhishek grinned.

Shubman looked up with hopeful eyes. “But you hate it.”

“Well, not as much as I hate your depressed calls from home.” Abhishek shrugged. “Just stay in my room, idiot.”

Shubman jumped in to hug him but got pushed away. “Don’t cause trouble for anyone, alright? And please stay away from Ishan for the love of God.”

“Sounds like a challenge to me.”

“Shub, no.”

“Shub, yes.”

He was going to have to force Ishan to talk to him. He was not letting things end on an awkward note and make himself out to be the bad guy.

“A week?!” Ishan exclaimed, utter horror flashed through his eyes.

Abhishek looked at him apologetically. “I’m sorry, Ish. There’s a reason for this, I promise.”

Ishan frowned at the sincerity in his voice. He shot an unconvinced look, slumping down on the bench.

“He won’t mess with you, I promise.”

“Are you sure about that?” Ishan muttered, as he looked over at Shubman, who was grinning like a spotlight, sending smug smiles and making strange hand gestures (Ishan couldn't tell if they were secret gang signs or cries for help from the swarm of girls surrounding him).

“Please,” Abhishek shot puppy-dog eyes at Ishan. Well, he couldn't refuse those.

Ishan sighed, muttered a "whatever," and walked off to his lecture. It was when he saw Shubman practicing on their grounds that he stormed into the coach’s office, looking furious.

Shastri barely blinked. “Coke?”

“No.”

“The drink.”