In The Stars || AdiYa FF

Chapter 6 - From the Past (Feb 13)

Zoya breathed warm air in her palms and rubbed them together. Big droplets of water were splotching the windowpane to her right. It had been raining incessantly for a couple of hours now. She pressed the home button of her iPhone.

It showed 11:10pm.

50 minutes to 14th February.

All her planning and running had amounted to nothing. It would have been delightful if she could begin her vacation with Yash from this day. She had tried, though, she assured her self. She had come over her fear of flying, she had held on to dear life when the plane was plummeting, she had tried to board a train, bus, anything yet now, she was stuck- literally stuck in the middle of nowhere, with a grumpy Aditya.

He had reclined his car seat to as far back as it would go and closed his eyes. She couldn't tell if he was sleeping (doubtful) or was just annoyed at everything. He was quite unpredictable. One moment he would argue with her, the next he would give her his sweater without her asking.

Aditya had turned off the engine sometime back. They needed to save fuel if they ever got out of this situation. His grey hoodie was providing her the much-needed warmth. It felt comfortable and had a light fragrance that she couldn't really name but it reminded her of dewy grass in the morning.

She looked at her phone screen again. 11:14pm. Time was crawling by, she could feel each second tick. Sleeping would help pass the time but under stressful situations, sleep always evaded her. And she was hungry. The last meal she had was lunch, many hours ago. Her stomach rumbled letting her know the same.

"You are hungry,"" came Aditya's voice, which made her turn sideways. She had assumed correctly that he wasn't asleep. He inclined his seat upward.

"I should have something,"" he informed her and turned on the light above them.

Looking over his shoulder, he dug his hand in the pocket seat and took out a can of Pringles. "This."" He shook the can of chips. He tore open the silver seal and took out a handful, offering her the can. Zoya thanked him and took some. Between them, it didn't take more than a few minutes to empty the container. Aditya took out a bottle of water, took a swig and gave it to her.

That was their dinner- chips and water.

"We'll have to leave the car in the morning,"" Zoya suggested, "even if it is raining.""

Aditya responded with a "hmm"" sound indicating his agreement.

"This feels like a slasher movie setting,"" she grinned, "Us being stuck here, like in those films where people get lost in the jungle, or their car wont start or something and there is a killer on the loose.""

"Why thank you!"" Adtiya narrowed his eyes but there was a smile on his lips, "for that wonderful thought. I can sleep easily now.""

Zoya chuckled, "My sister, Noor, she loves those movies. We have spent many weekends watching a ton of those."" A pause and then, "I miss her, I miss home... sitting by the fireplace on rainy nights like this and... just talking with her and mom, sometimes with dad.""

"They are in Dublin?" he asked, "Is that why you are in a rush to get there?"

Zoya was surprised that he was responding. Till now they had either argued or he had replied with the just necessary words. This was the first time he had shown interest in talking to her. Almost as if he could read her thoughts, he added, "Going to be sharing this enclosed space for sometime. It gets boring after a point. So."

That is exactly why she had started conversing with him. If time was crawling at a turtle's pace, sleep would never dawn on her and she had nothing to distract herself with, she figured talking would be a good way to pass time.