Not So Perfect

Chapter 24

VICKY'S POV

I had gotten sidetracked last night due to Ariya, however, I walked into Alisha's office with my mind set on one goal.

She sat at her desk with papers scrawled all around her; she was never very neat. Her fingers typed away on her laptop, eyes bouncing back to a paper every few seconds. Her hair was sloppily thrown into a messy bun. She was immersed in her work and I was the one responsible for it.

I placed a cup of coffee on her desk. "I need to ask you something."

She grabbed the coffee without looking up from her screen murmuring a small yes.

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

She fought the urge to spit her drink all over the papers. At an antagonizing pace, she closed her laptop and cleared some files on her desk. She folded her arms staring at me with an unwelcoming expression. "What?" her voice was just as hard as her posture.

"You heard me." Someone had to get their happy ending and I would make sure it was Alisha. It was time I fulfilled my friendship. After all, dosti pyaar hai (friendship is love).

She softened a little, "Why?"

"What do you mean why? You know for me that kiss was unintentional, but for you it wasn't. You kept your feelings bottled up inside you because I was never interested. Moreover I was oblivious. You casually threw hints here and there asking if I would hook up with a girl or straight up calling me gay. I should've seen it, but I didn't. My mind was elsewhere which has done it no good. I want to fix all of that. So, yeah, my question remains...will you be my girlfriend." I huffed at the end of my speech.

She remained unaffected, "You talk too much. Now listen to me. Yes, Vicky I love you. I always have and you never knew. Yes, I did throw hints to see if you were ever interested in a relationship with me, but you never were. I was only your best friend. That day at the wedding, I wanted to tell you how I really felt. Instead, you surprised me by practicing a proposal for Ariya on me. For a second I was fooled that you were actually proposing to me. That day I realized that you could never be mine. It hurt; I felt jealous of Ariya even though I knew it was not going to get me anywhere. What's important is this: you love Ariya. You're so deeply in love with her that I would hate to be the third person."

"Ariya is dating Raj."

"Key word, Vicky. Dating. They aren't married. Maybe you don't realise that Ariya loves you just as much as you love her. I think everyone but you two can see that. You need to go out there and win your love before Raj succeeds in taking her forever. And don't worry about me...we were friends and we'll remain friends. Suppose I were to say yes today...your heart wouldn't be in this relationship because it belongs to someone else."

I jumped around the table and engulfed her in a bone crushing hug. "Thank you Alisha." She had lifted a great burden off of me. The guilt I felt for knowing that I could never give her the happiness in a relationship that she deserves was silently eating me away. Her words dissolved all my doubts.

We pulled away. She smirked at me, "Just saying, for the all those Indian movies you watch you've learned nothing. I am much more filmy and I hate Indian films."

I grinned cheekily, "Love ya, too!"

***

"Why am I third wheeling between you two?" I was out for dinner with Aisha and Purab.

"Why don't you get a girlfriend?" she sarcastically said.

She continued from my stare, "Oh yeah, how would you? You're in love with Ariya who is dating someone else."