Part 31- cont'd

 

"Pass?" Aaliya asked stupidly.

"Pass" Kripa repeated.

Everyone was quiet. It was disappointing because they were really expecting an answer. No one thought she would pass. Not even Aaliya. One frequently used phrase was running through their minds, "the truth hurts." Could the truth be that bad that Kripa wouldn't even share it? The possibilities of what it could be made them shudder. 

"That means I get to ask you a question" said Kripa, looking pointedly at Prithvi.

"Yea" Prithvi replied with a sigh.

"Hmm…"

 

And the game continued like that. It took a while for everyone to get comfortable, but they eventually did. They played around until they were extremely tired. Since it was so late at night, they decided to have a huge sleepover. The girls were in Aaliya's room, and the guys in Angad's.

"Wait" said Kripa. "What are we suppose to wear?"

"You can borrow one of my night dresses, they just got back from the laundry and I have tons"

"Okay" Kripa replied.

She went through Aaliya's stuff and as expected, the clothes were all either too short, or too weird. Kripa never wore those kinds of clothes, but she didn't really have another choice. She was too lazy and tired to go back home and hadn't imagined that she would stay for so long.  So she changed into the night suit that didn't look bad. It was a tank top with short shorts. Extremely short. The other girls were dressed up in the same type of clothes and they all looked comfortable.

 

They all sat down on Aaliya's bed and talked and eventually fell asleep. Everyone except Kripa.  They were sleeping in awkward positions, sprawled all over the place, and Kripa was just lying down on a corner, eyes wide open, staring into space.  She didn't feel sleepy at all, just a bit tired. After ten minutes of listening to everyone's even breathing, which was completely boring, she got up and stood outside of Aaliya's balcony. She stretched and looked at the moon and then around the place. The view was high, and she could see a lot of places. Her eyes fell upon a Baskin- Robins that was a few blocks away. She felt a sudden craving of eating ice cream, or even an ice-cream cake. Her stomach growled. She looked back in the room. Everyone was still sleeping. Maybe, she could make a grand exit…. Except she couldn't go in the clothes she was currently in. He** no, she thought. She was trying to come up with another plan when she felt tight arms around her waist. She let out a shriek but recovered when she recognized the grip and familiar scent. She took it all in and smiled, not bothering to turn back.

 

"Sssh It's just me" he whispered, brushing his lips against her ear. She shivered. Those words.  Exact same words. They reminded her of something. Something she wanted to forget. Something that had scarred her life, something that would stay with her forever. She brushed off these thoughts and turned to Angad.

"How come you're still awake?"

"I could ask you the same question" he replied with a smirk.

She groaned. "Not that again, remember how we use to do that, whenever we went to the beach, we'd see each other and ask what the other was doing here and the answer would be: "I could ask you the same question."

Both smiled as the memory came to them.

"Yea" Angad replied. "That was fun"

"The good times" said Kripa.

"The good times" repeated Angad. Kripa just hugged him out of nowhere. He was shocked, but recovered and hugged her back. What he didn't know was that she was crying in his arms. He realized this when he felt the wet tears on his shirt. He tried to let go to face her but she held on tight. He gave up with a sigh and hugged her back, wondering what the matter was.

 

"I love you" she murmured.

"I love you two" he replied.

A light wind blew making her shiver a bit. She turned away from him and hugged herself, while quickly wiping her tears.

"I'll be right back" he told her. She nodded, still not looking at him. He returned with one of his shirts in hand and put it on for her. "What are you wearing?" he asked.

She looked down at her clothes and went red a bit. "I didn't have anything to wear, so Aaliya--"

She was cut off by his chuckle. "You don't have to explain yourself hon, I pretty much guessed the situation." He turned her around so she was eye-to-eye with him.

"Now, why were you crying?" he asked.

"Oh its nothing, just, just, missing my parents and stuff, and yea. That's it, nothing big" she replied quickly, avoiding his eyes.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

She nodded. He was still skeptical, but since she didn't want to talk about it, he didn't pressurize her.

"Well, if there ever is anything, you can tell me, you know that right?" he told her.

She nodded. "Angad?"

"Hmm?" he asked.

"Promise me, you wont ever leave me, no matter what happened"

Now, he was sure something was going on, but once again, he brushed it off. "I promise"

 

She smiled at this and he smiled back confusedly.

"So what were you doing out here?" he asked.

"I want ice-cream" she said out of the blue.

"Ice-cream?" he asked, shocked.

"Mhm, ice cream, man, I haven't had some good ice cream in awhile" she replied. He shook his head.

"All right, I'll go get some from downstairs, I think Aaliya bought some from Baskin Robins today" he replied.

"I wanna come too"

"All right, cept you can't go through my room, the guys are there, I'll go from there, and you come from Aaliya's room, okay?"

"Okay" she replied.

They carried out the plan, and both approached the kitchen together. Angad found the ice cream from the freezer, and Kripa took the whole carton from him, digging into it with her spoon. He looked at how cute she looked and smiled. She looked up at him and asked if he wanted some. He shook his head but she persuaded him and started to feed him some.

 

When the ice cream finished, Kripa threw the box out and looked at a sleepy Angad, stifling a yawn herself.

"Lets go to sleep" she told him.

"Together?" he asked naughtily.

"No!!" she replied.

"Aww, come on Kripa" Angad said mischievously.

"Angad, are  you crazy, no means no, go to sleep"

Angad made a face at her and she mocked the face, heading to Aaliya' room. Just when she was about to enter, Angad pulled her back.

"What?" she whispered.

"My g-night kiss" he whispered back.

"What?" she asked loudly, shaking her head.

He gave her a passionate kiss in reply. She kissed him back, and after a long kiss they broke apart to catch their breaths.

"Good night" she whispered, giving him a little peck on his lips.

"Good night" he replied as she went back to the room smiling.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End of Part~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~