Can't I Touch Your Heart?

Chapter 17 Watermelon Mist

Neel stood at his balcony, looking at the chair on which Rhea was sitting a few hours back. It was dark now and the chaos the children were creating was now a peaceful murmur of adults. He held the shucked up corn cob in his hand and everlasting symphonies in his head. He couldn't believe what he saw that day. With an array of colours around her and a white sheet before her, to see that, to hear her happy voice, it brought a nostalgia he seemed to have forgotten into the waves of tragic memories. 

The next day at school, while Rhea and her friend, Nikki, sat in the cafeteria, Nikki asked how it was going with Ember.
"He has joined my Crash Course Centre," Rhea complained as she pressed her forehead.
"I'm telling you, it's more than friendship. He likes you" Nikki said.

"No, he likes someone else," Rhea looked at her fingers.
"Well, why do you look so upset?" Nikki asked.
"I'm not upset. Okay, maybe I am, but I don't know why,"
Nikki smirked, "Why won't you be? Your crush likes someone else, after all,"

"I do not like Ember Helberg. We are just friends,"
"That's what your mind says, try asking your heart. What does it think?"
"Nikki, mind is meant for thinking, not heart. Only idiots follow their heart,"
"People in love are idiots," Nikki said. Rhea didn't say anything. Nikki was expecting some reaction, however this was rather disappointing. Did it mean that she really liked him or she didn't? It turned awkward so Nikki decided to take advantage of the situation,

"Okay, give me his number. I want to talk to a foreigner too," She said "I'm sure we will be best buds!"
"I'm don't know if I should." Rhea said.
"The fact that you're not giving me his number just shows how possessive you are of him,"
"I'm not possessive of him. It's his right to privacy to not get his number leaked,"

"You're making such a big deal out of this. It's fine, dude," She tried to convince her. Rhea looked away in dismay and dilemma.
"Please? I thought we were friends..."
Finally, Rhea reluctantly gave Ember's number to her. Nikki quickly saved it on her phone and typed a message to him without wasting any time further.

"Oh my God! I sent it! Why is he not replying?" Nikki looked at Rhea.
"Because unlike us, he has a life," Rhea sneered.
"Is my Whatsapp name that suspicious?" Nikki peeped into her phone.
Rhea leaned towards Nikki's phone screen and gazed at her profile,

'Hillary Clinton'

"I don't know, sounds kinda sus" Rhea shrugged.
"But I'm a supporter"
"Change it, you moron"
"Then, what should I name myself? Arorhea's wife?"
"That's just gross" Rhea gagged, "Why can't you give yourself a normal and unsuspicious name?"

"Unsuspicious? Is that even a word? Wait I got my word,"
"Nikki no,"
"Ms unsuspicious!" Nikki squealed. Rhea just stared at her with hopeless rays of darkness oozing through her eyes, or maybe they are just dark circles. The bell rang and everyone started moving back to their respective classes.

"Oh! I needed to go to the art room in the lunch break for practice, shoot!" Rhea suddenly remembered and hurried out. She pushed people aside and ran towards a room at the end of the stairway. As soon as she entered it, she bumped into someone and the guy's lunch ended on his shirt. And guess what? It was Neel Dewan! Again! It was like his shirts had a lifetime back luck warranty with them. Rhea was surely painting his shirts on a regular basis.

It also seemed like a brand new uniform shirt, which now had ketchup smeared over it like period blood exuding from his nipples. His chest felt like a frying pan, with the leftover extra spicy noodles covering his chest and neck like long flower garlands they put around the heads of politicians or pictures of dead people. The Fresca drink over his stomach, moving down his pants, added a breath of filthy aroma to him, with the impression as if he had peed his pants.