The Rebound Theory

09| Aashi

Aashi| 09

Neel emerges from a sea of students possessing and crowding the cafetaria for their per weekday fill of chicken burgers, smoothies and OJs.

Neel's eyes are everything. Everything that a girl would want to drown in.

And from what I can see through my hazy vision of leaking tears. . .there is a very different side of him that he usually lets me see.

*Neel's fire. He's igniting and rekindling. He's scorching. He's a phoenix rising from the ashes.*

With the intensified flare that's he has fixated on Rohit's stature, Neel is practically smoldering him. And from the looks of it, Rohit is toast.

"What the fuck is my problem? Mine!? What's yours, Neel? Why the sudden interest in Aashi?"

"Because she's mine."

A cold silence follows, and everyone's icy glare is piercing me, but I don't care, tears are still streaking my flushed face. A white noise of chattering and judging overwhelms the cafetaria, but it doesn't break the boys' resolve to get into this fight further. They are continually shooting intense glares at each other, and everyone's sitting back to see how this drama unfolds.

*Yes, he's making me flustered as I cry. How can someone do that? Isn't it forbidden?*

Ria coughs and caves from the scene, taking a hold of me and dragging me by the hands. I shake my head. I'm not the one who runs. I'm not the one who caves. I'm the one who stands up for herself.

"Which sweet loving are you talking about, Rohit?" I say, rubbing the incoming snot with the back of my sleeves as the cafetaria falls completely silent at my reaction, "The one which was followed by premature ejaculation or the one where your dick was limp."

Neel throws me a varied mix of a chuckle and a smile as he steps close, too close for comfort, runs his palms around my waist, holding it, "And everyone knows that I give you the best orgasms. Don't I, baby?"

I instantaneously smirk, deciding to play along, and thinking of hurting Rohit where he hurts the most. "You do, baby. You last far longer, too," I say, touching the buttons of his shirt, to make myself remember that this is happening for real.

The cafetaria erupts into laughter. The icy silence is disrupted with hoarse, animalistic noises of shrieking and snorting and I laugh too, as Neel's wiping off my tears with the slight stroke from the pads of his thumb, whispering to my ear to stay strong in front of him. I nod at him.

"Let's go, baby, " Neel takes my palm into his, squeezing it lightly and walking me out of the cafetaria. I walk alongside him, with Ria following us with our book- bags.

The cafetaria door closes, and we fall into squeals of laughter, tears brimming at the corner of our eyes.

"Omg, you had him, Aashi. Neel you made him suck it." Ria says in between haphazard prolonged laughs, trying to stop herself from snorting.

I gesture for my book- bag which is on her arm, and she willingly gives it to me, "I needed to say that."

"You did. I'm so proud of you, Ashu," Neel says, rubbing the corner of his eye and grinning at us like he just won a  marathon, "that douchebag deserves that, not you. I told you," he shakes his head, crossing his arms over his chest.

*He's forming an invisible wall to protect him. Hell, he's giving me nicknames. Umm. . . Who's this guy? What is happening to the jerk I've known forever?*

I arch my eyebrows, "you told me what?"

He's again flaring, hiding that flicker of heat behind his eyes, invading my personal space, "That you'll be very, very appreciative."