ShivOmRu SS ~ Cross Connections

Chapter 2

Om and Shivay walked into a very busy canteen after their football practise, to see there were no vacant spots available. "Perfect, now how do we grab food before the lectures begin?" grumbled Shivay and was about to walk out, when Om stopped them. He pointed at two people sharing a table for six. "Look bro, your brother and her boyfriend is sitting there, let's join them" laughed Om.

"Om! She is not my BROTHER, and he is definitely not her boyfriend!" screeched Shivay in irritation as they went to join Soumya and Rudra in their table.

"Hey Somu, do you mind if we join?" asked Shivay casually as they reached them. "SOM-Z not SOM-U bhai" he corrected Shivay with gritted teeth. Om sniggered at that and Rudra gave him a confused look. Shivay didn't say anything, they joined the table and were munching food by themselves.

"Somz did you clean the trek shoes for tomorrow mate?" asked Rudra while munching on a samosa. "Yep dude, I am all set" replied Soumya nonchalantly.

Shivay looked up and looked at the pair of them. Trek? Tomorrow morning? What? Then he remembered Anika's word about Rudra coming and picking her up in the middle of the night for a drive - he had tried Rudra's number last night, but even that was unreachable - time was ripe thought Shivay, Somu needed the talk'.

"Soumya, we need to talk." He began, but Soumya didn't seem to listen, he called her again, and still she pretended to not hear him. He needed her to pay heed to his words, so he decided to try it her way. "Okay Somz, bro we gotta talk. Man to man. Now" Soumya looked up and frowned and then she said, "Sure, follow me". Shivay stood up and excused himself from Om and Rudra and walked out.

Om noticed Rudra giving a quizzical look to Soumya's retreating figure. A smirk escaped him - Rudra looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Your girl?" Om asked motioning towards Soumya. Rudra looked startled for a second. "Girl? Somz?" then he laughed "Dude, I am not gay". Still annoyed with Om's attitude towards Somz, Rudra took out an assignment from his bag and flipped through the pages as he munched on samosa - too bad the canteen was so full, sitting with this jerk of a guy was annoying him.

***

Anika walked into the canteen and was upset to see it so full, now how was she ever going to complete her assignment before class? True, last night she did begin working on it, but that Shivay's chuckle and concern was too much for her to handle. She couldn't concentrate on work at all, finally in the wee hours she decided to call it a night and finish her work in the canteen and go to class - that way Shivay won't know she still worked on her assignment in the last moment. But now what? She was about to walk out in disappointment, when she heard Om call her from behind. She turned to see Om and Rudra sharing a table and quickly went to join them.

"Hi Om, thanks! I desperately need to finish today's assignment" she smiled at him softly. Om sighed, but he knew there was no point teling her to focus on her work before Shivay's - He knew Anika had a soft corner for Shivay, and he tried to tell her subtly many times that Shivay had nothing for her, he liked his cousin Tia - but Anika wouldn't ever pay heed. So, without dweling further, he let her begin working.

Anika on the other hand greeted Rudra too. "Hi Rudra? How was last night's drive? And where is Somz? I thought she..oops, I mean he left home early today!" Rudra smiled at her brightly. He liked Anika, she was soft and caring and most importantly a loving roomie to his best mate Somz - "Hey Anne! Last night was KILLER, if we ever go out with the other girls, we will get you too! And yes Somz was here, but Shivay called him to talk."

When Anika just finished her assignment, and tallied her findings with Om, Shivay came back to the canteen, with Tia at his heel. They came with fresh stock of coffee and joined the table.