Is It Me... Or Have We Grown Up? #VariaSquad

Chapter 2

Varun P.O.V.

'What do you mean, I was more confident when I was 11?!' I asked, offended. Alia laughed.

'I mean 11 year old Varun didn't take half an hour to hold a girls hand.'

'Oh come on, I do not take half an hour!' I defended.

'Not with all the others you don't, but apparently, for some bizarre reason, you can't hold my hand.'

'That's different. You're my best friend. And there's already enough rumours about us as it is, we don't need to create more.' I said. She rolled her eyes.

'The only way for us to stop rumours from being created is for you to never come near me again. Anyway, it's not like you don't touch me. It just takes you a while.'

'What's your point?'

'I'm just saying, you were more...What's the word? Comfortable with me when you were 11.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'You didn't hesitate about these things. And you were a flirt.'

'I was not! I was eleven!'

'Do you not remember that time when you literally spent a weekend trying to flirt with me?' She asked, eyebrow raised.

'It wasn't a whole weekend and I wasnt exactly flirting.' I replied.

'You copied a romantic scene, Varun. That's called flirting.'

'I used it to apologise!' I exclaimed.

Let me explain.

At eleven years old I had two best friends: Alia and Shraddha. We were inseparable. Every weekend and every holiday you would find us together. We barely spent two minutes out of each other's company. Except for a weekend in October 1998.

Flashback

It was the 22nd of October 1998. Like most weekends, I had plans with Shraddha and Alia. Except, they were both pissed with me. Alia especially.

Why?

Because I had gone to see a movie without them last week. You might think it's ridiculous for them to be mad at me because I went to see a movie, but we had all three been looking forward to this movie for months. It's not my fault. Dad just took us to see it last week. You're probably wondering which movie. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Maybe now it's understandable why they're annoyed.

Now I had to try and make it up to them, or rather Alia. Shraddha wasn't even that mad. She knew I would gladly go see it again. But Alia, well she was a different story.

See, me and Alia, we fight a lot. We argue and pick on each other. But we're still best friends. I'm fact, I might say that I'm closer to her than I am to Shraddha even though I've only known her just over a year. But don't tell Shraddha.

Today, I had a plan. With the help of Alia's older brother, Rahul, I was going to apologise. I have to say, it's quite a good plan. I don't have time to explain though. We've just pulled up at Alia's house. Watch and see. I got out the car, telling bhai I would see him later.

The side gate to the garden was open thanks to Rahul. He met me in the garden with a ladder.

'So, you ready to apologise?' He asked. I nodded. 'Well, let's get started.' We positioned the ladder so that I could climb up to Alia's balcony. He held it steady as I climbed, leaving once he was sure it was stable. I looked through the window and saw Alia lying on her bed. I knocked on the window. Her head turned in my direction. She glared at me but still came to open the window.