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

Chapter 10

Alia P.O.V.

'Alia!' My sister called from downstairs. I ignored her, currently trying to get a hold of Varun. Idiot wasn't answering his phone.

'Alia! Come down stairs!' She called again.

'I'm coming!' I yelled back.

'Jaldi kar! Taro vaste package che!'(Hurry up! There's a package for you!) Package? I better go see what she's on about. I went down stairs to find her waiting in the entranceway holding a box.

'What the..?'

'I don't know. All I know is it had to be signed for.' She told me, handing the box over. It was actually really light. Wouldn't have guessed that from the size of it. 'Are you just gonna hold it or are you gonna open it?' She asked.

'Chavi che? It's got like three layers of tape.' (Have keys?) She gave me her keys and I cut it open. I pulled out some tissue paper to reveal... a folded piece of cloth?

I took the cloth out of the box to find it was actually a dress. A really beautiful dress.

'Wow. That is one amazing dress.' Shaheen told me. I nodded. 'Who sent that? Note ke kai che?' (Is there a note?) I shrugged, still admiring the dress. Shaheen looked in the box. 'Aha!' She exclaimed, pulling out a folded piece of paper. '"It's been way too long and I can't wait to see you. Meet me at the cliff by the lake tonight at 8."' She read. 'Looks like you've got a secret admirer, or is it a boyfriend?'

'Neither.' I told her, having figured out who it was, at least I hoped so.

'Then? Who is it?' I rolled my eyes. She may be older than me but she certainly acts younger sometimes.

'I'll tell you in a minute. I need to double check something.' I pulled out my phone and called Shraddha. 'Hey. Has your post come yet?' I asked.

'Hey. Yeah. I'm guessing yours just came.'

'It did. Did you happen to get a mysterious package?' I questioned, grinning.

'I did indeed. A dress and a note to meet at the cliff at 8?' She asked.

'Yep.'

'You know what this means right?'

'He's back!' Shaheen watched me, confused by what she could hear of the conversation.

'He's back early.'

'I'm not complaining. This means it won't be so boring around here.'

'True.' Shaheen was beginning to get a little impatient.

'Okay. I better go. See you tonight then.'

'See you tonight. You need a lift?'

'Please.'

'Okay. I'll come get you at half 7.' She hung up the phone before I could confirm. I turned to my sister.

'So? Who is it? Who sent the dress?'

'Varun.'

'I thought he didn't get back for another two weeks?'

'Evidently he's back early.'

I groaned as someone shook me awake, bringing me out of my dream, well it was a memory, but I was dreaming about it.

'Alia, don't you want to eat?' Someone, probably the person shaking me, asked. I opened my eyes slightly, squinting against the bright artificial lights of the plane. I saw Pari next to me, waking me up. I sat up, stretching and wincing slightly because I had slept funny.

'Pari? Where's Varun?' I'm sure I had been sitting next to him.

'First thing she says when she wakes up. You'd think it would be something like I'm hungry or I need to pee.' She joked. I shot her a look. 'He's right over there.' She pointed. I looked where she was pointing and saw Varun talking to one of the air hostesses. I felt a little upset that he had just left me without saying anything before realising I was being irrational. It's not like he had left me stranded or left me with a group of strangers.

But I still felt a little angry that he was openly flirting.

Wait, what? Why do I feel angry about that? He's allowed to flirt with whoever he wants.

He saw me looking at him and smiled. He said something to the hostess before heading back over to me.

'Thanks for keeping my seat warm, Pari.' He told her.

'Sure thing. By the way, I think somebody's a little annoyed with you.' She told him, getting up and going to sit back next to Sid. I would've glared at her but that would mean looking in Varun's direction which would mean he would know that I had three billion thoughts and emotions flying through my head.

'Are you going to tell me what I did or do I have to try and read your mind?' Varun asked me.

'You haven't done anything.'

'Sure.' He drawled 'That's why you're apparently finding the window blind more interesting than me. What did I do?'

'You were flirting with the air hostess.' I mumbled, looking down and fiddling with my fingers.

'Seriously?' He laughed. I nodded. 'Idiot, I wasn't flirting. I was talking. Actually, I was asking if they had any light food like a sandwich or something. Apparently, somebody decided to get you sakh. I know you can't deal with heavy food while flying so I went to see if I could get you something else.' I felt my face flush with embarrassment. He laughed. 'Next time, ask first.'

'I'm sorry.' I mumbled.

'It's okay. But now you have to tell me why you've been acting so weird.'

'Weird?'

'You've been more distracted than usual, you seem to be getting less sleep, you're jumpy and you've been avoiding me since we left the hotel this morning. What's going on?'

What am I supposed to tell him? ''I think I'm falling in love with you and I don't want to tell you because it'll ruin our friendship and I can't lose you because that would be like losing myself.''? No. Definitely not.

'Alu, what's going on?' He asked again.

'Uh...' I was still looking for the words.

'Alia, you're starting to scare me. You're not sick right?'

'If being in love is a sickness, then yes.' I thought. I only realised I said it aloud when I saw his face fall.

What do I do now?

A/N: bet you didn't see that coming! Actually you probably did.

I didn't.

I actually didn't decide that was going to happen until about a minute ago when I wrote it.

How do you think Varun will react?

Please do tell me, I'm trying to decide between four reactions.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed and see you soon.