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

Chapter 12

Alia P.O.V.

I don't know what exactly made me say that to Varun. I practically just told him that I'm in love with him!

Given that he can be a bit slow sometimes, I don't think he'll have figured it out yet, but he will soon. Thankfully, the plane landed about an hour and a half after our conversation, so I managed to keep away from him on the plane and then get away quickly at the airport so he couldn't grill me about it.

It's a really weird feeling for me, wanting to keep away from Varun. It's literally the first time I have felt thankful that we didn't have much time together. It's not really even that I don't want to be around him, it's that I'm scared of what will happen next time we talk.

So, before that can happen, there's someone I need to talk to: Shaheen. She's the one person, other than Varun and Shraddha, that I can always confide in.

I called her as soon as I was out of the airport and in a taxi.

'So, you've finally returned!' She said by way of hello. Usually her weird behaviour would make me laugh, but my head was swimming.

'Yeah. Listen, I need to talk to you. Are you at home?' I had moved in with my sister a few months ago, mainly because it was getting lonely without her in the room next to me.

'Yeah, I'm home. Are we talking serious business here?' She asked.

'Very. Like, extremely. More serious than Sirius Black.' Potter references were commonly used between the two of us to describe a situation.

'That serious? Do I need to send Rohan home then?' I debated for a minute.

'No, he can stay. But warn him that this is not a time to joke. And whatever we talk about stays between us.'

'I will pass on that message. How far are you?'

'Ten minutes.'

'Okay. See you in a few.' She hung up the phone and I sighed.

'Ma'am it may take a little longer than expected. There's an accident up ahead.' The driver told me. Brilliant, more time for me to get lost in my thoughts. I nodded to the driver and fell back against the seat.

I was not prepared for the flood of memories that made their way to the forefront of my mind.

I was 17, lying next to Varun in my back garden and staring up at the stars as he tried to teach me how to see the constellations. I couldn't see them, didn't have the kind of imagination as he did, but it was a way to spend more time with him, so I acted like I was interested. We both knew I wasn't, but he didn't say anything so I didn't either.

Thinking about it, even back then, there was something about being around him that made me feel different. Not the same way I've been feeling recently, but like I could do anything as long as he was with me.

I was 14 and the mean girls at school had been picking on me, again. I didn't tell anyone, not my parents, not my siblings, nobody. Shraddha found out though. She came back to school after being off sick for a week and found out about it. She told Varun and that afternoon, he met us at school. Even at 15, he was good looking. Every girl there was drooling over him but he ignored them all, coming straight to me. I saw the looks they gave me as he hugged me, and I smiled. I knew without him telling me that this had been his plan to get them to back off. Show them I had someone to look out for me.