The Chocolate Boy (Book One)

Chapter 9 : MI : Mission Impression - The Hangouts : Part 2

Omg! Thank you guys for those awesome birthday wishes!! Thanks to all of you for being there with me. This is the first birthday I had with wattpad and the overwhelming response just got me.

So yeah, Happy birthday to me! I'm seventeen, Woo hoo!

I might just disappear from the face of wattpad after today. But don't worry, I'll come back after 24th Feb. And if I don't, then expect an invitation to my funeral cause I can't imagine life without wattpad.

And yeah, those who forgot my birthday, wish me, I might forgive you :)

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes. "So don't you need flour and butter and God-knows-what-not to bake a cake?"

"Yeah," he started to drag out his words. "And that would mean to go for shopping. But I hate to go shopping."

"Ditto."

"The idea of scurrying through the racks and stuff and bargaining with the shopkeepers, itself makes me sick."

"Copy that."

"But we can go together!" He seemed like someone getting the light bulb of his brain switched on in the Mentos ad. Dimag ki batti jala de!

"No thanks."

"Hey come on, you pessimist! It will be fun! You'll be with me! Okay," he had put on his thinking cap. "Will a shopping mall do instead of the stores on the road?"

On the shopping days at home, Ma and Tuhina would usually go out to the market, leaving me behind, alone in the house. It was the time I always looked forward to. No one to frown at my sudden mood swings, to raise an eyebrow and pry on whatever I was doing  (that would be Tuhina, Ma wouldn't give a damn as long as I got good grades). And it was a peaceful time to flick through the sports and movie channels on the telly without being interrupted (that was definitely Ma and her obsession with sappy Bengali soaps; my sister and I happily got along in this matter).

To be honest, I quite enjoyed my freedom.

But here was Ishan, standing with a puppy face and glassy eyes, batting his eyelashes rapidly.

"Are you, by any chance, trying to give me butterfly kisses?"

"Sort of."

I huffed a sigh. "Then quit it before I change my mind."

***

"Look!" Ishan thrust a hand blender in front of me.

"What will we do with this?"

"Mix the ingredients! Prepare the batter! I don't have a blender in my kitchen," his eyes glazed on the fine steel as he put the thing in the cart.

"Whatever. Where do you get cake stuff?"

"Somewhere there - CHOCOLATES!" he raced past me, leaving behind the cart and stood there, gawking at the racks full of the brown delicacy.

I suddenly became aware of the thousand pairs of eyes on us.

Okay, there weren't thousands, but those ten pairs were enough to make me feel a bit queasy.

I moved towards Ishan, with the shopping cart in tow (which had nothing but the blender) and whispered in his ears, "Stop it Ishan, people are looking at us!"

"Chocolate."

"Ishan?"

"Chocolate?"

"Ishan Sen, I'm going to lock you inside a dark room if you don't snap out of your trance right now," I hissed.

His head slowly turned at me and he looked at me wide-eyed, "You won't do that."

He looked a bit vulnerable again. Like the way I'd found him in the washroom, weeks ago.

How could I forget? Obviously he was scared.

"Of course not. But can we get going?"

His expression changed in an instant. He nodded like an overexcited kid in a candy store, "Yes yes...but I'll miss my chocos!"

I shook my head in despair when he turned back to have a last look at his favourite part of the mall.

***

"Hey, hold on," I stopped Ishan from admiring a jar of pineapple jam.

I couldn't believe we hadn't talked about this before.

"What?" Ishan asked, somewhat annoyed.

"What cake are we exactly baking?"

He looked at me in confusion as realisation dawned upon him.

"We didn't really discuss it right?" His eyebrows furrowed as he thought.

I wasn't into much deep thinking about that. We still had six more days to think. Well, more like five days, we'd have to do the cooking on the other day. But then, I had my tuitions for two evenings in the week. So that came down to three days. Then there were those after school practices where Krrish was definitely trying to kill me and I had to struggle to stay alive. So those fights for survival usually took up half of the evening and then -

"Good to see you thinking so much about Nutri."

"Huh? No not Nutrition."

"That was sarcasm, Tuhin. I know you zoned out."

"Whatever," I waved it off.

Just then I spotted them.

"Can't we just buy a cake mix and do it?" I looked longingly at the packets lined up in the rack before me.

Less effort and more than enough work done, this had efficiency more than 1. For people who are arching an eyebrow at my Physics outburst, let me tell you, I had a nerd for a twin sister who kept on blabbering in the language of Science. To keep up with her (which I shamelessly fail to do), I knew the basic things of Physics and Chemistry even though I didn't have them as my subjects.

Ishan swatted me upside the head.

"What?"

"That's not what Ishan Sen and his best friend do."

My eyebrows shot up, "Best friend?"

"You, Mr Tuhin Mallick, are my best friend. And I won't let you cheat in my presence," he glared at me.

Okay, bringing that up was a mistake.

"So? Cake, huh?"

I jumped slightly when he kept a hand on my shoulder.

"Getting a bit jumpy, are we?" he added with a smirk.

I frowned. "You're making it a habit," I shook my head as I said to myself.

But he heard it. "What habit?"

"Hitting on me."

"I can't help if my hot best friend makes me feel gayer."

I hung my head low to hide the blush on my face as a little girl walked past, giggling at us. As soon as she was out of earshot, we looked up but just stared at each other.

"Chocolate cake?" I said out of nowhere, just trying to get the awkwardness out of my system.

"Chocolate, it is."

Dimag ki batti jala de - Switch on the light bulb of your brain (bad translation, I know but deal with it). ;)