Chapter 2

1 years ago

Adi

@ZA_Ray

Chapter 2

*Disclaimer: Mention of Alcohol*

Nikki was absentmindedly sipping the soup that her Chachi quickly prepared so that Nikki can have something while she made her favorite parathas and butter chicken. Her phone got her attention when it buzzed with a message, and it read 'You okay Princess? Heard you skipped class.' Nikki was immediately thrown back to the day she got that nickname. 

*Flashback starts*

It was the last day of their vacation before she and Nandini joined their first year in medical college. It was also the last day they will meet their school friends for a very long time or ever. Only Nikki and Nandini were attending medical college together in Delhi, their other friends were either in different colleges or even moving to different cities, so they all decided to have one last party together. Actually, it was Armaan who planned and convinced everyone to celebrate their last day partying in a club, and nobody could say no as they knew this will probably be the last time they will see each other, despite the promises to keep in touch. 

Nandini was sitting by the window in her best friend's room surfing through her phone, already gotten ready for tonight, she wore a beautiful sleeveless flowy black dress that went up to her knees, while Nikki was giving final touch-up to her makeup, that matched her fitted off shoulder pale blue dress that reached till her mid-thighs, accentuating her curves perfectly. 

"Nikki quick!" Nandini whined, "Armaan will be here any minute and he will get grumpy if we are late. Remember, last time he left us and we had to take Uber to the party."

"He won't leave us today, after all it's our last party and anyway I am done, just have to wear the shoes, and guess what I got?" Nikki excitedly went to her closet and took out a new shoe box. "I was dying to show you these." 

"You finally bought these," Nandini exclaimed seeing the pair of gorgeous silverish glittery shoes, that she knew Nikki was eyeing for months. "It's so... princessy"

"Yeah...I couldn't stop thinking about these, so thought I at least deserved a pretty gift before my life gets ruined aka medical college," Nikki said as she secured the shoe straps on her ankle.

"That reminds me, we should come back early. We have our first class tomorrow and we can't miss it or be late. I am not drinking and neither should you."

"Don't worry. We will stay out till 12 or 1 tops, you will stay at my place tonight anyway and of course, we are drinking."

"Are you crazy? We can't stay that late, and do you not know your brother?" 

"Maan isn't even home tonight, he went out for a friend's birthday. He didn't tell you?"

"Why would he tell me anything?" Nandini tried to act indifferent.

"Oh, God! Did you guys fight again?" Nikki rolled her eyes, this was such a common scenario for her.

"Nevermind" Nandini tried to drop the topic. "But he will flip out if he knew we are staying out so late, especially since you are looking like a sex bomb."

"Gee thanks, best friend, and don't worry about your boyfriend, I told him Armaan will be with us."

Nandini ignored the "boyfriend" remark and curiously asked "I always wondered how did Mnaik allow Armaan to be so close to you. He is so overprotective about other guys."

"I know right? So I have a theory that they made some kind of pact, as long as Armaan leaves me and you alone, Manik will let him live. And maybe that's why Armaan ran after every girl in school except us."

"I understand your one, but why make Armaan stay away from me?"

"As if you don't know."

"No, I don't."

"It's because Maan wants you only for himself," Nikki replied without missing a beat.

"Don't be stupid." Nandini was slightly blushing.

"You know, one of these days I will make you guys admit that you like each other." Nikki countered.

Nandini scoffed "I don't like your egoistical brother."

"So, you kiss guys you don't even like?" Nikki smirked while her best friend looked shocked.

Nandini and Nikki have been best friends since they were kids and were inseparable in school, their parents became friends as well, and growing up they both spent their holidays at each other places, and Nandini could easily call it her second home. So naturally, Manik and Nandini were close as well, though the dynamic changed over the years. Nikki only recently realized there was some kind of tension and spark between her brother and her best friend, and she thought they weren't aware of their feelings, but it was so obvious. They would fight over the most random things, and then soon they will laugh about something else and make fun of each other, get jealous if the other's attention shifted to someone else, and at times they will casually hold hands and then again fight. Like, the other day the three of them decided to watch a movie, during which Nandini kept her head on Manik's shoulder and Manik had his arm around her like it is the most natural thing in the world, seeing that Nikki was happy thinking they were finally figuring their feelings out, but that happiness didn't last long because by the end of the movie they started fighting over a character. Nikki got annoyed and took the empty popcorn bowls and drink glasses back to the kitchen to wash them meanwhile she could hear Manik and Nandini fight, their voices getting louder by the minute. By the time she was done, Nikki realized the other two have stopped arguing, wondering whether they have killed each other she peeked into the living room and got the shock of her life when she saw Manik and Nandini kissing. Partly not wanting to ruin the moment but mostly being too shocked to respond, she kept mum about it till now.

"That's right I saw the kiss that day." Nikki continued saying to her blushing friend "Which I may or may not have taken a picture of, which I may or may not use to blackmail you both in case I need something." 

"You didn't" Nandini gasped

"Only time will tell Bestie. But I will spare you for tonight." she smiled sweetly.

Nandini bit her lip thinking about that kiss. It was such a meaningless fight, like all of their fights but this time neither of them knew what happened but they suddenly found themselves kissing each other. It was a brief kiss and while Mnaik sat on the sofa stunned at his own action, Nandini got up quickly and went to Nikki's bedroom. Since then situation between them tensed up and they both were avoiding each other not knowing what to do after this. Nandini didn't know Nikki caught them in the act and wasn't sure if she actually had the picture but she knew Nikki was her best friend and will tease her to death about this, with or without the picture. She was brought back to reality when her phone buzzed and decided to drop the topic.

"Hey Armaan is downstairs, let's go." and with that, they went to the club.

*************

"Okay, before we enter, I want you guys to stay close by me so I can keep an eye on both of you," Armaan ordered.

"As if one overprotective brother wasn't enough, you have to act like one too. And I haven't still forgiven you for ruining my chances with Karan, the only guy I was ever interested in." Nikki scowled.

"Hey, this is the last time I get to act like this, from tomorrow you will have your actual brother to take care of you."

"Arrrghhh thanks for the reminder, I will take extra shots to drown my sorrow now." saying that Nikki entered the club, followed by Armaan and Nandini.

The trio were quite good-looking, while Armaan had the bad boy charm that attracted a lot of girls, Nandidi was innocently beautiful with her girl-next-door personality, and Nikita on the other hand had a daunting and sensual aura about her, and they turned a lot of heads when they were together like they did when they entered the club but ignoring all the looks Nikki went straight to the bar and ordered drinks for them. 

While Nandini was contemplating whether she should drink, Nikki already had 3 shots of Vodka, and seeing Armaan flirt with a girl Nikki reached for his drink as well. 

"Whoooaaa slow down. Are you even legally allowed to drink?" Nikki and Nandini turned to see a guy join them on Nikki's left, leaning against the bar counter. He looked older than them but more importantly strikingly attractive, his eyes full of amusement as he eyed Nikki. Clearly, he has been observing them for a while.

"Not that it's any of your business but I will still let you know that I am 18 plus, but I have been drinking since I was 16 so I have a lot of practice, both legally and illegally." 

Amusement still sparkling he smirked at her reply "I wish I could see you when you have a hangover" and he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows at the big glass of cocktail the bartender brought that Nikki had ordered.

"Don't worry about me, and now if you will excuse us, we have to go and join our friends." grabbing her glass of drink in one hand and pulling Nandini with the other hand they went to the dance floor to join their friends. Armaan joined them shortly and the gang of school friends kicked off their party for one last time. 

The group danced and drank together and Nikki could constantly feel the handsome stranger's eyes on her, even when he was at a distance dancing with his group and their eyes met a few times. Nikki tried to ignore that and danced her heart out till she slipped and almost fell, luckily Nandini caught her arm and dragged her to the side.

"I told you not to drink so much, you are so drunk you can't even stand properly." Nandini hissed at her best friend.

"Babe, I am not drunk, tipsy at best."

"Missing our steps, are we?" The stranger was back at their side obviously noticing Nikki's slip.

"It's because of my shoe." Nikki got annoyed and pointed at her shoe to show that her shoe strap accidentally unclasped and when she bent to fix it all the drinks she had throughout the night hit making her head spin, and she grabbed a stool to steady herself. 

"Tut tut...." giving a disapproving head shake and surprising both of them the guy bent down to fix the strap.

Nandini couldn't stop herself and teasingly nudged Nikki "Your Prince Charming."

Which didn't escape his ears and straightening up he smiled "I take that as a compliment, thanks."

Nikki getting irritated at the conversation started to go back to the dance floor but Nandini stopped her. "No. Drunk or not, we should leave, it's almost 12 am. You stay right here and I will get Ams."

"Good luck finding him." Nikki laughed "He is probably in some corner making out with that girl he was flirting with."

"And he was supposed to keep an eye on us. What an idiot!" grumbling Nandini went to get her friend.

"You can't stay past midnight? Why, are you Cinderella?" the guy asked jokingly.

"Yes. But instead of a fairy godmother, I have an elder brother, so stay away," she warned.

He chuckled "I can handle the brother, but tell me how will I find you again?"

"What? You need my shoe or something?" Nikki asked referring to the old fairy tale.

"No need for a shoe, it's not like I will forget you," he said as his eyes roamed over Nikki, smiling appreciatively.

Seeing his frank admiration and his flirting Nikki was seriously annoyed "Well, best of luck then." she huffed and turned to leave and heard him say "Bye Princess."

That would have been the end of the story if they haven't met again, the next day, at medical college.

Nandini had a throbbing headache the next day from last night's drinking as she was a light drinker, Nikita, on the other hand, was as cheery as ever, and with two very different moods the best friends went to attend their first-day classes. By the end of the first period, Nandini couldn't take the pain anymore and went to the nurse's station to take painkillers, hence Nikki was waiting in the corridor for her to come and that's when she saw the stranger guy again. He was walking by when he noticed her and halted to a stop, slightly tilting his head, eyeing her up and down, and smiling he asked "Am I dreaming? Or did my dream come true?"

That's when Nandini joined them and was shocked to see him, so was Nikki and disturbed too "Are you stalking me?" she exclaimed.

Nandini flinched at Nikki's loud voice "Please don't scream." she whined.

"Wow, you look horrible." the guy commented.

"Hangover." was Nandini's one-word reply as she leaned on the wall.

"But you look sharp for a person who drank like a fish." he turned his attention back to Nikki.

"I don't get hangovers." 

"Wooaahh... How does it feel to be God's favorite?"

"I am not his favorite, if I was I wouldn't have had to deal with you, stalker."

He arched an eyebrow "Well, let's see...I am in my 3rd year in this college and as I haven't seen you here before so I am assuming you are new, so the question is are you stalking me?"

"What? NO!"

"No screaming" Nandini slapped Nikki's arm reminding her to talk in a low voice around her.

"Sorry... And as for you, of course, I am not stalking you. This is some kind of stupid coincidence."

"Or maybe this is fate, see I didn't even need your shoes to find you!" 

"Or maybe this is your Karma for making me drink?" Nandini supplied.

"Awww... Is your head hurting too much? Should I ask my dear brother to kiss you and make it better?" Nikki asked in a fake cooing voice.

"Shut Up!" Nandini blushed profusely.

"As much as I am loving this heart-warming friendship, but I have to run for class now, will catch you guys later. Bye Princess." he gave a wink and rushed to his class.

"What in the holy hell is happening God?" Nikki cried out.

"A love story in progress." even in pain Nandini couldn't help but tease her friend "Your Prince Charming is hot and funny." to which Nikki looked daggers at her "Aww don't be angry Princess." Nandini continued teasing as they too headed for the next class.

*Flashback Ends*

Nikki was wondering whether she should reply to the text or not when Chachi came with a tray of food, and looking at that Nikki didn't feel like eating, and she loved paratha and butter chicken.

Looking at her face Chachi asked, "You lost your apatite?"

Nikki felt guilty "Yeah.."

"Don't worry, your hormones will do that now. It's a good thing you are not at least throwing up seeing the food. During my pregnancy, I couldn't eat any of my favorite food as I would get nauseated by the smell." to which Nikki looked at her in horror so she smiled consolingly "Just try to eat a bit. You will need the strength."

Nikki sighed and started nibbling on her food, thinking she will definitely need the strength, especially if she had to face Manik and also Nandini.

Author's Note ~

It's almost 5 am here and I am writing with sleepy eyes, didn't have the time to proofread, so if there is any mistake please excuse that. And I hope you liked the chapter, do leave your precious feedback. Lots of Love