Allie's POV:
Black! That’s what I see right now. Well, not that I am blind or something, but it’s pitch black in here. I am in my own house sneaking in like Jerry to get back to my mouse hole (my room) without Tom noticing me.
You may want to know who is playing Tom? I would say the answer to that is my Mother.
As I entered the hallway, I saw the staircase to the right which leads to first floor and to my room (Goal!). I sighed in relief at the thought of my room only a couple of stairs away.
It is pretty dark in here and the only source of light is from the street lamps, pouring in through glass windows in the passage. I walked a little slower and steadily hoping to make it to the staircase without waking anybody up and then getting caught in the process. Getting caught by my mother would be the worst situation I could think of right now. May be I am exaggerating but it’s close to a nightmare. I shuddered at the thought of it and focused back on ‘mission mouse-hole’.
After few seconds of walking like the James Bond, I made it to the steps successfully and started doing a little victory dance. That was easy.
I was about to place my feet on the first wooden plank, when the lights flickered on.
Uh-oh. Busted!
My eyes widened. I took in a deep breath, my heart started beating faster than its usual speed. Mom is close behind me, isn’t she? Of course she is. It happens the same way in every movie. Oh my god Allie! Stop talking to yourself.
I gulped hard and ever so slowly, I turn around and my eyes widen more (if that is even possible) as I take in the sight of person standing in front of me. I was so right. Stupid movies.
“Do you know what time it is?” She asked calmly with her lips shut tight in a line and glared at me. May be she was talking quietly because she didn’t want my Papa and elder brother to wake up I guess?
No. No don’t get it all wrong. That is just the silence before the storm. She folded both her arms on her chest, patiently waiting for me to reply.
“Umm H-hey mom” I replied sheepishly. I am so dead now.
6 hours ago….
“Shut up and get out of your bed Allie!” yelled Shanaya, my best friend slash neighbor from the other end of the call. I groaned in return at the loud voice and not wanting to leave this little heaven on earth, MY BED!
“It’s 6 in the evening Allie. Which person in his right state of mind sleeps at this time of day?” She asked annoyed.
I took off the covers and sat up on the bed, rubbing my eyes with the back of my fist, still sleepy with a little drool on my chin and bird’s nest on my head. I had an amazing dream of Johnny Depp and me sailing on his Black Pearl when, suddenly my phone started vibrating and snapping me out of my dream to real world. Pretty annoying, isn’t it? When you dream of one Hotshot sexy man alive on this planet and something just wakes you up at that right moment. Ugh.
“Well, I sleep. Now, what do you want?” I whined after a yawn.
Yes, you guessed it right. I am one hell lot of a deep sleeper. It’s something I do when I am lonely and jobless, which is, most of the time. And after having one long day completing lots of homework and notes, it is only fair to take a small nap.
“Don’t tell me you forgot again?” She asked.
Uh-oh.
“Umm what?” I asked back confused.
There was a long pause before Shanaya sighed deeply which made me even more curious. I tried to rewind all event that happened during this past one day, week and month. No nothing. I don’t remember forgetting anything.
“Its Vicky’s birthday today Allie. He is throwing a party and we are all invited. You forgot to wish him again like last year, didn’t you?” She said completely disappointed.
Oh no! It can’t be. Why didn’t I rewind my mind to last year on this date, when I forgot to wish Vicky on his birthday. He is one of my best buddy in one whole group of best buddies. I know it sounds weird and all but that’s how I got my best friends (mind the “s”). There are these apps on Facebook which gives titles to every character in one’s classroom or friend circle, like Queen bee, nerd, artist etc. Vicky is the ‘crazy one’ in our friend circle and also one of my favorite person. It should be a crime that I forget his birthday almost every year.
“Oh my god! Oh my god! It totally slipped out of my mind. Uh again.” I pouted and hopped out of my bed and started walking back and forth like the crazy person I am. “Help me Shanny. What do I do now? He will be so mad at me. I do it every year and….” I started rambling when Shanny cut me off.
“Oh shut up, will you?” I could imagine her rolling her eyes at my rambling as she continued speaking. “I logged into your Facebook account and wished him personally this morning. He was probably dancing that you finally remembered his birthday and he won the bet against Aryan.” She chuckled.
Aryan is another best friend of mine. Unlike Vicky and Shanaya, he wasn’t my childhood buddy. Actually, Vicky was our mutual friend. We wouldn’t have been even friends if Vicky wouldn’t drag Aryan along with him wherever our group hung out. He moved to Mumbai a few years ago and mixed up instantly with all of us. We are pretty close and inseparable. He knew most of my secrets and got to know me so well (in a very less time) that he could predict my every next move. Plus, like such a good friend he is, he is always there for me whenever I need him. And the only person who manages to make me laugh in my worst moods. He is captain of our school’s Football team and a really handsome and good looking and drool worthy and hot and what not boy. Not my words-this is what girls from our school talk about him. Not that I disagree, because he really is all handsome and good looking and also the popular-cocky-egoistic-annoying best friend I love so much.
“Oh my god. Thank you so much Shanny and oh wait. They had a bet on that?” I asked surprised.
“Yes. Aryan was 101% sure you would forget again and Vicky had faith in you.” She said stressing on the word ‘faith’. “I am sure Vicky watched a cliché movie before using the word faith because you know how he is and then there was this rule to the bet that no one from the group can remind you about his upcoming birthday at any cost or Vicky loses the bet and that’s why Vicky was trying to give you hints in this past week and acting all weird and I am sure you had no clue about it because you probably thought Vicky is crazy and you ignored him.” she stated in one breath.
“Breath Shanaya Khanna, breath.” I said hurriedly. She took a deep breath and sighed.
Now I know why Vicky got balloons, pastries, party poppers and birthday banners for one whole week to the school. He just carried them with him all the time I was around and handed them over to me at the end of the day with a bright goofy grin. I just ignored him thinking it was another stupid act of his. When I asked him what was all that about? He just shrugged and clapped his hands. Did it make any sense? No. See? Now that’s the crazy Vicky I am talking about. Crazy, stupid and idiot might I add as well. But hey, he’s my best friend. I rolled my eyes at that and sighed.
“Okay. So you have 2 hours to get ready for the party. Make it quick and come down at 8. See ya, love ya. Hugs and kisses muaah bye” she said quickly.
“Bye.” I mumbled before disconnecting the call.
I stretched myself to get rid of my sleepy self. I had two long hours to do nothing but just dress up which is the last thing on my to-do list. I decided to watch TV instead. I headed downstairs in my Disney printed pajama shorts and tank top not bothered to brush my hair. As I skipped from the last step, I bumped into a wall.
Ouch.
I held my hand on my head massaging the area that hurt. Oh wait. We don’t have a wall right at the end of the staircase. I looked up to see it wasn’t a wall I bumped into.
“Watch where you walk Zombie. Someone might just shoot you thinking you are infected by some virus and turned into a zombie.” He half-yelled looking at me from head to toe, amusement clear in his eyes.
“Ha-ha-ha was it supposed to be funny? Because it was not. Now move out of my way.” I whined and pushed him hard on his chest with my palm. It was a waste attempt because he didn’t move an inch from where he stood.
“Ooooh little sister is all grumpy grumpy.” He said in an irritating high pitched voice and ruffled my long chocolate brown hair. Thanks for that. Now I look even more worse.
I groaned and made my way to the kitchen. I seriously couldn’t think of a witty comeback with a grumpy mood and growling tummy. I heard my elder brother chuckle as he followed me to the kitchen as well. I grabbed an apple from the fridge and headed to the living room to watch TV, completely ignoring my brother.
I took a bite of my apple as I plopped down on the couch. I was about to start the TV when someone snatched the remote from my hand. What the hell. I looked up and glared at my brother. He smirked.
“What do you want!?” I scowled and narrowed my eyes at him.
“I want to watch a movie here. I am bored watching movies on my lappy. Need a big screen to watch super hero’s movie you know?” He said.
I widened my eyes in excitement. “Man of steel!” I screamed.
“Dark knight rises” he deadpanned and rolled his eyes.
“Man of steel.” I glared.
“Dark knight rises.” he glared.
“Superman.” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Batman.” He narrowed his eyes at me.
“Superman” I pouted.
“Batman” He did not pout.
This kept on going for another 5 minutes. Until,
“Ironman” We both said at the same time. We fist-bumped and he went back to his room to get the movie as I made my way to kitchen to make some popcorn.
When I returned back to living room, I noticed that the external hard-disk was already connected to TV and my brother sprawled on sofa occupying most of the place and all set to watch the movie. Not wanting to argue over place on couch, I decided to sit on the bean bag. I placed the bowl on coffee table and dragged my bean bag beside the table. The movie started and we watched in silence for the next two hours, laughing occasionally or commenting on how cool Tony Stark is.
The end of movie was near when my phone started ringing. I answered without checking the caller id. Before I could greet hello, a female voice started yelling on the other end.
“Where the hell are you Allie? I told you to be ready at 8 and come out. We are already late. Everyone has arrived at the party and asking for us both.”
Shit! I was so engrossed in the movie that I totally forgot about the party tonight. I looked behind me on the wall clock to see that it was already 8.
“Oh my god! Give me two minutes Shanny, I’ll be there. Bye.” with that said I hung up and rushed out of the living room to my bedroom.
I washed my face, brushed my hair and rushed to my closet and changed into a beautiful navy blue dress. The dress hugged my body like a second skin up till waist and flowed out from there on till mid-thigh with a white bow on the waist band. To say, it was decent and a very pretty dress. I wore white buckle heels to match with the bow on my waist band. Then, I hurried to dressing table, applied a very little make-up which consisted of eye-liner, mascara and natural pink lip gloss. I checked myself one last time in the full-length mirror and sighed. I looked fine for girl who dressed up within ten minutes.
I wore my favorite flavored cologne, collected my sling bag from the corner table and rushed out of my room, tripping on the last staircase, but managed not falling straight on my face. I made my way to front door when it flashed to me, I hadn’t informed anybody at home about the party.
“Ayush Bhai?” I called for my brother in living room.
“What?” he replied.
“Where is Mom?” I asked.
“She went out to meet the Gupta’s.” He informed me walking over to front door and right infront of me, engrossed in his cell phone. The Gupta’s were our family friends.
“Okay.” I said biting my lips. I didn’t want to leave without mom’s permission. So I thought of calling her and asking for the permission on the phone itself.
I opened my sling bag and searched for my cell phone. Hmm tissues, lip gloss, swiss knife, cash…
Wait. Swiss knife?
“How come there’s a swiss knife in my bag?” I muttered in wonder to myself. I don’t remember buying one.
“I put it in there for your safety” my brother replied looking up from his phone for the first time. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at me from head to toe.
“I am going to Vicky’s birthday party with my friends and not with some criminal or rapist. I don’t need the knife for god’s sake.” I said rolling my eyes at him.
“Don’t you dare roll your eyes at me, I got it for your safety. And why are you wearing that? It’s so short and … and it’s so tight” He said, awkwardly gesturing with his hands.
“It’s a party wear and it’s perfect.” I shrugged carelessly and he let out a sigh in defeat.
I began searching for my phone again, until I finally found it. I quickly dialed Mom’s number and waited for it to get connected. She answered on the fourth ring.
“Hello” She greeted.
“Hi-Mom-its-Vicky’s-birthday-today-He-is-throwing-a-party-and-I-am-going-with-Shanaya-I-will-be-back-soon.” I informed her in one sentence.
“Be back by 11. One minute late and you know the punishment.” She warned.
“Yeah okay mom. I get it. I have to hurry up now, I am already late. See you soon. Bye. Love you” I said.
“Okay Bye. Love you too. Please be safe.” She said and with that I hung up.
I collected my Scoot’s key from the stand beside main door and hurried out of the house.
“Bye Ayush bhai” I yelled as I started my Vespa and hurriedly buckled the helmet.
“Bye. Be safe. Call me if you get in any kind of trouble.” He waved.
I smiled in response to that. He is the world’s best brother.
A loud honk from behind made me squeal. I turned around and glared at Shanaya. She always does that.
“Park your vehicle back. Let’s take mine” She said coming by my side.
“Alright” I agreed and turned left to park it back.
“Hurry up Allie. You’re already 20 minutes late.” She said as i climbed back on her Vespa. We both bought the same scooter, only her bike was orange and mine was pink.
“Sorry.” I smiled sheepishly, though she couldn’t see.
As soon as we reached Vicky’s place, Shanny parked the vehicle in the drive way and placed our helmets on the seat. She straightened her dress and brushed her neatly styled hair with her fingers. Shanaya was the Queen bee of our group. She liked everything to be as perfect as her clothes and silky long hair.
“How do I look?” She asked me after checking herself in the rear view mirror of her bike for the fifth time. She was wearing a gorgeous skin tight white lace dress with white stilettos to match with. And her make-up consisted of smoky eye shadow and red lip gloss. She looked amazing.
“Like you just escaped from a Disaster movie” I joked lamely.
“Oh you are just jealous. I look fabulous.” She replied with a glare.
“Of course you are looking fabulous. Let’s roll now. Remember? We’re already late” I chuckled.
“All because of you” She said pointing a finger at me.
“Oh come on. I said sorry.” I pouted and managed to give my best puppy eyes look.
“Don’t give me that look. You know it doesn’t work on me.” She rolled her eyes at me.
“Little Miss. Grumpy” I muttered as we started moving away from the parking lot.
“I can hear you” She narrowed her eyes at me and I sighed.
We half-ran towards the main door, our heels making the clicking sound on the tiled floor. Shanny rang the doorbell and it pushed open after few seconds.
In a blink, someone engulfed me in a tight bear hug. It all happened so fast, I couldn’t even see the face of the person who opened the door for us and was presently crushing me to death.
“Thank you soooooo much Allie. I knew you wouldn’t forget my birthday this year” Vicky yelled happily in my ear. He was the shortest person amongst all the boys, which made him head leveled with me.
I tried pushing hard on his chest, which didn’t help much because his grip on me tightened, crushing all the bones in my body as I struggled for air.
“Vic-ck-yy.. you….a-are.. ki-killing…me” I choked out.
A hand on my shoulder yanked me back, away from the suffocating hug and made Vicky stumble back. I took in a deep breath and huffed. I looked up at my savior to thank him. Before I could sum up words in my mouth, he spoke, “You okay Allie?” Aryan asked, his voice full of concern.
“Yes-“ I was about to answer when Vicky cut me off.
“She is fine buddy” He said swinging his arm around my shoulder, smiling triumphantly.
I know what that smile was about. He won a stupid bet against Aryan and he was so obviously flaunting his little victory there. Little did he know, about the real winner here.
“You dumbshit. You could’ve choked her to death” Aryan’s eyes followed Vicky’s arm for a moment and shifted back to his face in a glare. Vicky scowled.
Before they could start any bickering, Shanny came to my rescue.
“Shut up you two. Let’s get in now, we have a cake to cut. Come on Vicky.” She pulled him by his arm and dragged him inside through the main door. I took a deep breath again and sighed. That boy is seriously crazy, I thought.
“So you remembered his birthday huh?” Aryan smirked.
“What do you think?” I tried to wink, but ended up closing both of my eyes.
Aryan erupted into fits of laughter looking at my face. It’s not my fault that I can’t wink. I smacked on his right arm and glared at him.
“Ouch. That hurt so much, I need a pain relief spray” He said in a sarcastic tone.
I smacked on his left arm as we started walking inside. “Seriously? That’s how you hit people? It feels like you are massaging my arm. I feel so good” He moaned.
“Stop making those horrible sounds” I chided giving him a disgusted look. It did not seem to affect him because he started making different noises which sounded even more ridiculous. Boys! I mentally rolled my eyes as we kept walking towards the living room together.
The music blasted through the room and people were all dancing around and few standing in corner with glass of soft drinks. I greeted few of my classmates and kept a smile plastered on my face all the time.
“So… are you going to tell me who wished Vicky on your behalf?” Aryan asked with a smirk on his face.
“Umm Shanny” I said as I bit my lip, not meeting his eyes. I felt really guilty for forgetting my childhood friend’s birthday. It wasn’t fair to him.
“Hey you don’t have to feel so guilty about it” He said, patting me on the shoulder. “Next time, I got your back” He winked at me and there it was, his reassuring smile that melted away all my negative emotions.
“Thanks.” I said as a huge grin spread across my face.
“Come on guys hurry up, let’s get done with the cake” Shanny yelled from the center of the room over the loud playing music.
Aryan and I turned away from each other to face the coffee table, which had this huge 3 layered chocolate cake that had a monkey figure sitting on the top, holding a banner that said ‘Happy Birthday Dumbass’. I giggled as I watched Vicky standing in front of the cake, with a knife in his hand and grinning like a child.
“So technically, I won the bet.” Aryan said out of the blue.
Yes of course, he was the winner. But I couldn’t tell that to Vicky and spoil his precious day and besides, I don’t think Aryan would want that too.
“Aryan. Dude come over here” Krish called over from across the room. When he realized Aryan wasn’t alone, he looked at me and waved. I smiled and waved back. Krish was the sweetest and a very quiet kind of person. He always excelled in the academics and was named ‘the nerd’ of the group.
“You wouldn’t tell Vicky, right?” I asked Aryan hurriedly.
He bent down a little, coming closer to my right ear. I could smell the sweet scent of the cologne he wore. “That wasn’t my point. I just wanted to prove that I know you inside out” he whispered in my ear sending shivers down my spine and strode towards the other end of the room, leaving me speechless.
I smiled as I watched him talk casually to all the other guy and spare me glance occasionally with a smug smile that I have never seen him give me before. Okay! I thought. Something is seriously wrong with him. I shook my head and made my way to the center of the room and stood beside Vicky, who was all set to cut the cake.
Soon we were all gathered in a huge circle. I recognized few people from my school and my classes. I politely smiled and waved at them.
We started the birthday song with claps as Vicky sliced the cake. I grabbed a slice of cake and offered it to Vicky. He quickly took a huge bite of it and grabbed it from my hand eating it himself. I officially wished him finally. He said a thank you and continued eating his cake.
“Yummy. The cake is so yummy” Vicky moaned as he spoke with mouthful of cake. What’s with guys and moaning these days? I shook my head proceeded to eat the cake. It seriously did look yummy.
The party went on in a blur. I met all my friends in a corner and we got into a conversation discussing if pigs will ever fly in the future. Most of the logically answers came from Krish and Dhriti and soon it was a debate between the two.
Dhriti was typical nerdy girl. She loved reading and that is why she always carried a book with her wherever she went. Even now, I bet she had a book in her bag somewhere. She rarely spoke and this is that rare moment where she is actually speaking. We instantly became good friends in class. I liked her polite and kind nature and the fact that she didn’t gossip.
The conversation went on and I zoned out a couple of times. Later I went on the dance floor with Shanny and we exchanged couple of moves. I loved dancing. It made me feel relaxed and light every time I danced. As the quote said ‘Dancing is like dreaming with your feet’, I truly believed in it. My mom enrolled me in classical dance classes at a very young age and I could said, I got pretty good moves.
After the exhausting dance, I made my way to the kitchen to get a glass of water. I hate soft drinks or any kind of drink unless it’s a fruit juice and that’s why I preferred water over drinks.
I opened the fridge and grabbed a water bottle. I quickly poured the water in my glass and gulped it all in seconds.
“Woah. Slow down there thirsty crow” Aryan said gesturing me to hand over the bottle I was holding.
“Where were you? I haven’t seen you around all night.” I asked him casually handing him the bottle.
He took a quick sip. “Missed me?” He winked at me.
“No. I was just curious as to where you were.” I replied taking the bottle from his hand and turning around to place it back then, faced him once again.
He rolled his eyes at me. “You don’t get it, do you?” He said taking a few steps towards me.
“What?” I asked confused.
His expressions turned grim as he came a little too close to me. I could feel my heart pounding loudly with anticipation and I looked everywhere else in the room except his eyes. He leaned forward and pinched my nose lightly.
“You look beautiful tonight” He smiled and with that said, he left the kitchen. I let out my breath I didn’t know I was holding for so long. I smiled to myself. Something is terribly wrong with me. He’s my best friend and it was just a compliment. But why did I get butterflies in my stomach when he was standing nearly an inch away from me?
“There you are” Shanny said, bringing me back to real world.
“Yes. I came in to drink water.” I informed her.
“Are you okay? You look flushed” She frowned looking at my face.
“I am fine” I shrugged and started to search for my cell phone in my bag to distract myself. “What’s the time Shanny?” I asked her.
“Okay. It’s 11.45” She replied.
My eyes widened in shock. Shanny must’ve realized it too. She knew the epic rules of my mom.
“Run!” We both exclaimed in unison.