Shaurya
Waking up the next day was very stressful.
Groaning, my eyes open up to a not-so beautiful sunny day, birds chirping annoyingly and Nathan snoring on the floor of my bedroom. Why is he on the floor?
"Nathan?" I moan, sitting up. I get a glimpse of myself in the mirror in front of me and notice how horrible I look. Massive eye bags under my eyes, hair sprawled in different directions... I look disgusting!
Taking a deep breath, I get out of bed and trudge over to the foot of my bed where a very tired Nathan is sprawled across my floor. He seems to be in a deep trance of sleep, his mouth open and slight traces of drool seeping out of his mouth. Scrunching my nose in disgust, I lean to the ground, shaking his shoulder awake. "Hey, dude. Wake up!"
Nathan makes some weird noises out of his mouthâ whatever the hell they were.
Groaning, I shake his shoulder even harder. "Nathan, come on!"
Nathan says something along the lines of, "lmm mm aonnnneee."
One thing I've learned living with someone else is that there are gonna be many similarities and differences between you and that person, such as Nathan and I. I put cereal first and then milk, which Nathan does the oppositeâ and the wrongâ way. I brush first and then take a shower while Nathan does the complete oppositeâ which is utterly disgusting. And I am an early bird no matter what while Nathan is a late sleeper, which is extremely aggravating.
Admitting defeat, I decide that there's only one way to wake up this stone statue.
My legs take me to the kitchen as I get a short glimpse of the time written on the clock. It's 3 o clock in the afternoon... what the hell?! Okay, scratch off everything I said about me being a morning person. What I meant to say is that I wake up immediately while Nathan gives no humane response to anyone while he's been shaken awake.
I fill up my jug with ice cold water as a mischievous sneer grows on my face. He's so gonna hate me after this, but it's completely worth it!
I run over to my room and see that Nathan is still sprawled across the foot of my bed, his limbs placed in very weird directions. A broad grin spreads on my lips as I clutch the jug in my hand and, without any hesitation whatsoever, I tilt the jug, watching the water splatter against Nathan's face graciously. The OCD part of me cringes as I realize I'm gonna have to clean this mess up... but seeing the look on Nathan's face is going to be priceless!
As the water falls against his face in a gracious motion, Nathan suddenly starts to react. His eyes open up as water splashes on his face. "Whh thh fffff, Shhhaaayyaa!"
I burst out laughing as I set the jug aside, crouching to my knees. "Rise and shine, sweetheart!" I make a girly voice as Nathan scrunches his nose in disgust. "Remind me why I'm roommates with you again?"
"Because you wuv me," I make a pouty face as Nathan pushes my face away. "What time is it though?"
"3 o clock in the afternoon," I raise my eyebrows.
"Oh God!" He shoots up from the floor, water still clinging to his shirt and his hair drenched. "It's 3 o clock? I have a date with Emma in thirty minutes!"
"Seriously?" I question.
"Yes!" He exclaims, running to the bathroom. "Oh Jesusâ she's actually going to kill me! And I-" his whining gets shut off as he closes the bathroom door behind him, his muffled voice still ringing from the walls. Sighing, I think to myself, damn, what a hectic morning, or shall I say afternoon, it's been so far.
My feet take me back to the kitchen again, but it's not to take another jug of water to descend my friend inâ unfortunatelyâ but it's actually my extreme desire to eat breakfast that takes over.
And yes, I know it's the afternoon right now, but I'm still going to enjoy a bowl of fruity pebbles to myself. Once I pour myself a bowl of milk and add cereal to it, I sit down at the table and grab my phone, looking through the pictures we all took last night. There's already countless of pictures posted on Instagram, people having fun at the party, dancing, drinking, eating, laughing, and genuinely having a great time. I'm glad that my party was a success, once again.
I go through my camera roll and look through the wonderful memories we created last night. There's a video of Nathan chugging three beers down in not even a minute as Emma glares at him in disgust. A smile grows on my face. If I do run away, I gotta admit I'm gonna miss Nathan the most.
There's pictures of me and a couple of my guy friends lounging by the mini bar, and some other of all of us dancing and having a great time. I get a glimpse of Anika, who's in the background with Em and Ty. It hits me when I realize that what happened yesterday was true. Anika and I kissing, me asking her to run away with me and us dating now...
I can't believe she's actually my girlfriend.
But not gonna lie, dating her is gonna be difficult. It's not her that's gonna cause the difficult part, it's just gonna be our situation, mostly her father that's keeping us apart. But I can't even text her good morning or good night, FaceTime her or anything, which is gonna suck. I sulk to myself, going through pictures that Anika and I took last night. We only took a couple, because I know Anika is a bit camera shy, but wow... she manages to look great in every single picture. Her smile even lights up through the goddamn screen.
The only time I can truly meet her is during college. I'm thankful that we have classes together so we manage to see each other for the most part of the day. And even if I take her out on dates, then it will also be difficult because then she'd have to truly sneak out every single time and I don't want her to get in trouble again.
That's exactly why I want her to run away with me.
I know it's an absurd idea, possibly the most crazy idea I've come up with in my entire life. But in my mind, it sounds completely sane. I mean, I like this girl and I'm pretty sure she likes me. If her father doesn't approve of me, then that's his loss. And if my father doesn't approve of me, then that's his loss as well. And I'm not exactly running away from them, I just can't handle them and their antics anymore. It's toxic, and I just want to spend my time with Anika as much as I possibly can.
I find myself scrolling through the rest of the pictures Anika and I took together. Then, I realize that I am now in the past text messages Anika and I shared before her father took her phone away from her, the times when we spent talking to each other every night, chatting about our deepest fears and insecurities and our secrets and the things we desire the most.
I miss that.
Leaning against my chair, I reminisce on the wonderful and sweet moments Anika and I encountered together. Meeting each first time at the party, having the same literature class together, talking to each other about our feelings on FaceTime, taking care of each other, kissing her by the sunset, and asking her to be my girlfriend and run away with me so it can be just us and no one else...
All of this happened in almost a month.
It's crazy how any girl would be able to take over my life like that in a short amount of time, but I'm honestly not complaining because it's the girl that I want, and no one else can ever replace her.
I snap back to reality as Nathan waltzes out into the living room. His luscious blonde hair is combed to the right, neatly for once, and he wears a polo button down shirt and khaki shorts. Damn, he's really taking this date seriously, huh?
"Where's your date with Emma?" I mumble through my cereal, setting my phone aside.
"We're gonna have it by the park," Nathan grins, sitting in front of me as he peels a fresh banana open. "I planned this nice picnic for her with all her favorite foods, which I'm sure she's gonna admire."
"I'm glad," I smile. "When do you guys plan to come back?"
"Whenever time allows," he winks, stuffing his mouth into the banana. I scrunch my nose, a sly smirk appearing on my face. "Okay, dude, whatever that means," I scoff. "Have you guys... you know, done the deed yet?"
"Oh," Nathan pauses, leaning towards me. "We've done the deed plenty of times."
"Oh, damn! Nice!"
"Tell me about it!" he leans back, feeling accomplished. "But she's the only girl where I feel like we can actually be something... more than just sex and lust. She is the one for me, and she gets me, mentally too," he sighs.
"Wow, I didn't know you were so lovey dovey," I pucker my lips as he leans forward and smacks me upside the head. "You can't be talking, bro. Care to explain why you and Anika ran off so very last minute?" he smirks, wriggling his eyebrows.
"Well," I sigh, feeling a shy grin growing on my lips. "We might have done some stuff too..."
Nathan gasps. "No way! The Shaurya Roy finally moved on from Lexie, huh?!"
"I've already been moved on from Lexie," I scoff. "And it's not like Anika's a rebound, she's way more than that. Like just how you feel about Emma."
"Damn," he whistles. "But do you care to explain why you and Anika ran off so very last minute?" he enunciates, clearly very eager to know what happened.
I roll my eyes. "Fine." And so, I told him. Everything except the part of me running away.
If I'm going to be running away, no one should know except Anika and I. And I feel like the person that shouldn't know, besides my father, would be Nathan. Not because he's the reason I'm running away in the first place or I don't trust him, but because I know he would do anything to prevent me from running away or have me talk this out with him, and I know it would be extremely uncomfortable doing that with him because he just wouldn't understand what I'm going through and why I'm making the decisions that I'm making.
Nathan goes up and smacks my shoulder supportingly. "Damn, my boy! Kissed Anika by the sunset, eh? How come that idea never came to my mind...?" he starts to think to himself as I chuckle. "It was just an impulse. A very great impulse that I am thankful for," I mumble to myself.
He snorts. "So are you guys, like, a thing now?"
Looks like I forgot to tell him the part of me asking Anika out. So, I did.
Nathan's eyes widen again as he looks at me in utter surprise. "So this is what happens when you guys are alone for more than ten minutes, huh? I bet the next time this will happen then you might propose to her, if this continues."
I smack his arm. "Dude, shut up. Can you just take anything serious for once? I do have strong feelings for Anika, and I'm proud that she's my... girlfriend," I gulp. Just saying that she's my girlfriend makes me blush like crazy.
Nathan sighs, placing a suggestive hand on my shoulder. "I know that, man. But I don't want her breaking your heart, like Lexie did."
I turn to face him. "She's not going to break my heart at all," I enunciate. "She would never do that."
He sighs, about to say something but his phone dings. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he takes a deep breath as he reads whatever text appeared on his phone. "Emma says that she's ready," he then adds, frowning, "We'll have this conversation later, bro."
"Yeah, it's okay," I shrug. "Don't wanna keep the lady waiting."
"Yeah," he chuckles. We then do our bro handshake and Nathan grabs all his stuff, soon stepping out of the door. Taking a deep breath, I decide to get up, throw my banana peel away, and I go back into my room. I grab a light blue shirt with basketball shorts and boxers and go into the bathroom.
My tired eyes look at my reflection in the mirror. I tame my wild and messy dark hair and frown as I realize that I look like actual shit. I mean, I guess that's the consequences of getting home late and waking up at an ungodly hour.
I strip my clothes and step into the shower, letting the warm water hit my back. As the water caresses my skin, flashbacks occur in my mind, particularly the ones where Anika and I were kissing. The water reminds me of the water Anika and I shared, only inches apart, are bodies sharing the same space. As I lath myself in soap, her soft and sweet voice echos in my mind, making me miss her so much more. God, I hope she runs away with me. I can't even stand being away from her for not even 24 hours.
Once I get out of the shower, I wrap a white towel around my waist and step out of the bathroom. Sitting down on the bed, I run my fingers through my hair, frustratingly groaning to myself. Did I make a mistake? Should I not have asked her such a huge question? It's honestly equivalent of me proposing to her, or asking her to live with me. How can I be such a dumbass?
I take my towel off and wear my clothes. And then I go brush my hair out and make sure it is at least a little bit presentable. Every inch and part of me urges to text her, go to her house and see her again, see her beautiful face and beg her to come with me. But... what am I thinking? I've never been so desperate for a girl. In fact, it would be the other way around. I never have done the chasing before, the girl has always chased me.
So why am I chasing her? Why am I so desperate for her?
Taking a deep breath, I look out of the window and hope for some of this confusion to clear. It's only been a month into the semester and I'm already thinking to run away. I've never had this thought run across my mind, this absurd thought that could possibly alter my life in dangerous ways. But could be that, ever since Anika waltzed into my life, that that was why that random thought appeared in my mind, right when we were kissing? Is Anika the reason why I want to run away?
No, she isn't the reason why. My family is. This life is.
Deep down I've always wanted to run away and start fresh. Not have Neil Roy, successful businessman of Oakland, CA, breath down my neck and make sure I be just like him and there's not ifs or buts allowed. Also, my mother would just go along with what he said, acknowledging the fact that I was suffering through his antics the entire damn time. And yet she did nothing about it, and I get it was a smart thing to just keep her head down and not spark any arguments between her and my father, but that was the main reason for their divorce: lack of communication and not connected to each other anymore.
But a sudden realization hits me. Something that makes me realize that I need to do this... for my own sake. Before I even run away. I need to make sure that my parents and I are on the same page, validating that whatever decisions I'm making are only for my own good intentions.
I need to visit my father.
*
A/N:
Hope you guys liked this chapter!
I apologize if this chapter was a bit shorter than usual, and also because I didn't update last week as well. I was literally DROWNING in studying for final exams (which are this week, YIKES) and I just couldn't find the time to write this chapter because I wanted it to be perfect :/
But the other reason this chapter was a bit shorter than usual is because this is sort of a filler chapter, where Shaurya just goes into his thoughts and reminisces about everything that's happened in the past 24 hours.
Stay tuned for the next chapter, though, where Shaurya makes plans to see his father, while Anika (hopefully) patches things up with her father.
- Ru <3