Shaurya
"--And then, I was telling my professor, 'Yo! I had no idea you were pregnant!' And she literally glared at me and started... yelling at me and said, 'I am not pregnant! I'm just bloated!'" Nathan breaks out in laughter as he stuffs a sandwich into his mouth.
"Oh, my God!" Emma breaks out in laughter. "I can't believe you thought she was pregnant!"
"Me neither," Nathan snorts. "Lesson learned: never assume a woman's pregnant."
"Honestly," Emma smiles. As I watch Emma and Nathan talk about women and pregnancy, I take a huge bite from my burrito. All three of us are sitting in the cafeteria as I basically third wheel with Emma and Nathan. These two are best friends and have hard core feelings for each other, but they just won't admit it to each other! Hopefully Nathan will grow some balls and admit that he likes her, but it looks like this might take a while.
Nathan looks at me willingly. "Are you okay, Shaurya?"
I scrunch my nose at him. "Yeah, of course I am. Why?"
"I don't know," he shrugs, taking a sip from his drink. "You've been quiet this entire time."
"Yeah, well, maybe I just like being quiet," I mutter.
Nathan places his drink on the table and crosses his arms across his chest, glaring at me. "Mr. Shaurya Roy. Since when have you ever preferred being quiet?"
I roll my eyes at him. Emma smirks at me and jabs Nathan in the shoulder. "I bet he's thinking about that girl he was talking to when he came out of literature."
My cheeks flush as they mention Anika. Nathan wriggles his eyebrows. "Oh, yes! We need the juicy details on that." He flutters his eyelashes at me and places his chin on his hands.
"Shut up," I grumble. "She's just a friend."
"Yeah, and I'm a walrus," Nathan replies. Emma breaks out in laughter and I glare at him. "Seriously, dude," I mutter. "I just needed help on an assignment."
"Yeah, and is that assignment, 'Make Out With Me?'" Emma snorts and Nathan bangs the table with his hands, bursting out in laughter. "Guys!" I hiss, but they apparently keep on laughing even harder. Gee, I sure do love my friends.
I annoyingly take another bite out of my sandwich and try to abruptly change the topic as soon as possible. "So, Nathan. How was Photography?"
"It was great," Nathan replies. "Except the fact that my professor basically despises me now."
"Because you thought she was pregnant," Emma says, a smile growing on her lips. "Hey!" Nathan shrieks. "It honestly looked like she was, though!"
Emma chuckles. Suddenly, her phone vibrates and she sighs as she looks towards her phone. "That's my call to leave," she sucks in a breath. She looks towards Nathan and smiles. "See you later." Then she looks towards me. "And let me know how you and your girlfriend are doing," she winks and I groan as she leaves the table, laughing.
I look back at Nathan as his cheeks suddenly turn to a bright red color. I exasperatedly groan. "Dude, how much longer are you going to wait? Just ask her out already!"
"I know, I know!" He groans. "I'm just waiting for perfect timing, okay?"
"Bro, if you keep waiting for perfect timing, then I guarantee you're going to be 80 when you're finally ready to ask her out."
Nathan frowns at me as he runs his fingers through his dirty blonde hair. "But I don't even know if she likes me back."
"It's okay," I moan out. "And I'm pretty sure she does. She's been making lovey-dovey eyes towards you since freshman year."
Nathan sucks in a breath. "I don't know. I'll think about it."
I roll my eyes at him and suddenly a cunning smile appears on Nathan's face. "Now... how about that girl you were walking with after literature?"
"Nathan," I groan. "She's just a friend."
"For now," he sing songs. "But, Shaurya. Isn't she, like, way out of your league, though?"
I scrunch my eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"Dude, you know exactly what I mean," Nathan glares at me. "She looks like a complete nerd."
"So?" I snort. "Maybe I want to change things up a bit."
"So you do admit that you'll date her, right?"
I sigh. "That's not my point, Nathan! My point is that... who cares if she's not my usual type? I'm bored of the same old girls!" I take in a deep breath. "I want a challenge, someone that keeps me on my toes."
Nathan raises his eyebrows. "Wow. I had no idea you felt that way."
I sigh. "I truly do, though."
Nathan sadly smiles at me and pats my back. "It'll be okay, bro. I support your choices." I make quick eye contact with him and smile back. Suddenly, I find myself saying, "Hey, can I tell you something?"
He glares at me. "Of course. You're my best bud."
I flash a grin towards him and I reply, "The girl that I walked out with, well..." I bite my lip. "She was the one I was dancing with at the party."
Nathan's eyebrows shoot up as his mouth dangles open in surprise. "What the hell?! Are you shitting me, dude?!"
"No!" I yelp. "And keep it down."
"Sorry," he whispers. "But... what the hell?" he repeats. "But she's so--" he incoherently mutters. "And she's so--" and mutters some nonsense again.
I burst out in laughter. "Dude, I don't see what's so bad about her," I start to presume. "Both of her... personalities," I speak out, "Are perfect."
"Whatever, bro," Nathan smiles. "I just want to see you with a girl that's not, ya know... a hoe," he sighs. "Maybe this girl will be different."
"She is different," I emphasize. "She's different in her own way."
Anika
I feel my heart deflating a little as Shaurya walks away from me to socialize with his friends. Taking a deep breath, I lean against the door frame behind me, clutching my books to my chest. As I go through a huge mix of emotions, I think about the warmth I felt as Shaurya glanced in my direction, or a mere smile he shared with me. Why do I feel this way?
My thoughts are suddenly interrupted as I feel a light tap on my shoulder. I snap back to reality and see Emily smiling at me. "How was literature?" she asks, a smile playing on her lips.
"It was pretty good," I reply. Then, I feel my eyes looking over at Shaurya as he takes a seat with his friends. Emily scrunches her eyebrows at me. "Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah," I mutter, squinting my eyes. "We can start going now."
Emily chuckles, rolling her eyes. "That's not what I asked, silly." She tries to figure out where I'm looking as she peers over her shoulder. "Why are you so distracted?" she murmurs to herself.
I take a deep breath. "I may have ran into someone..."
Emily's eyes are widened as she turns back towards me. "What?! Who?"
I lightly chuckle to myself as I start to walk in the opposite direction, somewhere away from Shaurya. "Nothing. It's no one."
"Um, no," Emily staggers as she tries to catch up with me. "Who?" she screeches.
"I told you, Em," I raise my eyebrows as I fidget with my bag. "It's no one."
Emily glares at me. "I know you're lying, Ani. You fidget when you lie or when you're feeling super pressured or stressed."
I narrow my eyes at her. Goddammit.
I sigh in defeat. "Fine. He's just this guy from literature, it's not that big of a deal."
Emily looks at me as if I've grown a third head. "Ani, are you insane? Whoever this person is... might be the one!"
I shake my head. "No, Em. I mean, I don't know."
"Well, at least tell me something about him," Emily asks as she pushes a few strands of hair behind her ear. "Is he attractive? Muscular? Nice? And most important question of all..." She leans into me and whispers, "Smart?"
I close my eyes as my lips curl into a smirk. "To your liking, yes, he is all of those things."
"Score!" she jeers.
"And to add a cherry on top," I grin, "He can recite Romeo and Juliet lines like a god."
Emily places her hand on her chest and closes her eyes as she smiles brightly. "Whew, Ani. Is it just me or did the atmosphere suddenly feel warmer?"
I roll my eyes, feeling my heart beat just at the mere thoughts of him. "But, see, the thing is..."
"The thing is... what?" Em looks at me suspiciously.
I take a deep breath. "You know how I went to that party the other night?" She nods her head as she intently glares at me. "Well, I was dressed up super duper nicely, I honestly didn't even look like myself," I chuckle. "And I saw... him. The guy from literature, but I didn't even know he went to my college itself or his freaking name. Then, something just came across me and we... talked and somehow ended up grinding against each other on the dance floor," I shrug.
Emily opens her mouth in shock and gasps. "Oh my goodness! Ani, you guys danced against each other? And explicitly?" she hushed.
"Mhmm," I smirk, feeling my cheeks blush.
Emily shakes her head. "Nope, this is way too good to believe. Ani, you have to get to know this guy more! What's his name?"
"Shaurya Roy, I think."
She takes a double take and looks at me as if I just asked her to jump off of a cliff. "E-excuse me? Shaurya Roy?"
"Yeah..." I trail. "What about him?"
Emily splutters. "Shaurya Roy is the son of Neil Roy, possibly the richest businessman in possibly Western California." She takes a deep breath. "Holy shit."
"Wait, Neil Roy?" I ponder. "That name seems so familiar."
"Yeah, 'cause it's Neil Roy," she emphasizes. "Ani, how do you not know who they are? I bet they probably showed up in the Forbes magazine."
I sigh. "Yeah, I got no clue."
Emily shakes her head, clearly still surprised about Shaurya's family as I think the same. Shaurya is the son of the richest businessman in Western California? Interesting.
I open my mouth to say something to Emily, but I feel an arm wrap around my shoulder and I hear, "'Sup, bitches! Ya miss me?!"
"Oh my God, Ty," Emily chuckles. We turn around and meet eyes with our other best friend, Tyler Rivera. He's came out gay to his parents and his friends since middle school and possibly had twenty-five boyfriends in that time span. I can guarantee you five bucks that he's dating someone right now.
"What's up, Ty?" I ask.
"Nothing much, hon," he smiles, playing with his curly black hair.
"How's Jake?" Emily sing songs.
Tyler sighs dreamily. "He's the best. Like, literally, I am this close to proposing to him."
"Whoa, buddy," Emily chuckles. "You guys have been dating for, what, three days?"
"Um, no," Tyler glares at Emily. Then, his face droops a little as he murmurs, "It's been four days."
Emily smirks. "I'm still pretty close, though." I laugh to myself as Tyler glares at Emily. "Well, it's not like you guys are having a better love life than me."
"Actually, Ani's over here is pretty debatable," Emily winces as she winks at me.
"Really?" Tyler squeals, then he turns to me, flailing his arms around. "Oh my gosh, Ani! Spill the deets!"
I laugh again, rolling my eyes. "It's not that big of a deal."
"Oh hush, my child," Tyler swats my arm. "Who's the lucky guy?"
I take a deep breath and suddenly Emily butts in and says, "Shaurya Roy!"
Tyler's eyes widen as a dreamy look is placed on his face. "Shaurya Roy, as in possibly the hottest, smartest, dreamiest, sexiest, nicest, funniest, and richest Indian guy to saunter on this planet?" He pretends to fan his face. "That boy can run me over with his Mercedes and I'd still strip for him."
Emily bursts into laughter as I glare at my idiotic friends. Then, Tyler glances towards me and places an arm on my shoulder as we continue to walk to wherever our feet take us. "So, how did you meet Shaurya? Did you guys kiss?" He wriggles his eyebrows. "Or moooooore?"
I exasperatedly sigh. "Ty, it's not like that."
"Ani, it is so like that," Emily interrupts. She looks towards Tyler and says, "They saw each other at a club and were grinding against each other."
Tyler raises his eyebrows as a wolf whistle escapes from his mouth. "Ani, I never knew you had such a kinky side to you."
"We were drunk!" I grumble.
"Well, drunk acts are sober acts," Emily explains.
"What the hell does that even mean?" I screech.
"What she means is that what drunk people do is usually what sober people want to do," Tyler pops his lips.
I sigh and Tyler says, "Is he in any classes with you?"
"He's in literature with me," I raise my eyebrows. "But that's it."
"Damn," Tyler whistles. "I swear to God if y'all don't get married and give birth to hot Indian babies," he looks at me, "I'm suing."
"Suing who?" Emily asks, a smirk growing on her lips. "God?"
"Um, no," Tyler sneers. "Her ovaries because clearly they were not strong enough to do the deed."
"Ty!" I screech as my friends burst into laughter, practically screeching like hyenas. I roll my eyes and walk a little bit faster.
Shaurya
After Nathan and I finish eating lunch, he drops me off at my second class of the day as he saunters to his second class. The second class, otherwise known as Economics, was honestly the most excruciatingly boring class I have ever encountered. Not only did the professor make me fall asleep, due to his very monotonous voice, but I have zero, zilch, nada interest in Economics!
I really wish my father didn't expect me to become such a top-notch businessman like him. Ever since I was born, I basically had the same thought running over and over again in my mind:
you have to become a businessman
you have to become a businessman
you have to become a businessman
My mother, however, wanted me to become whatever the hell I wanted to become. She works at an insurance company as a receptionist, but I can tell she loves her job. Meanwhile, my father is workaholic as hell and always puts work above anything and everything. But they had a love marriage, so my father didn't really mind that my mother wasn't a business person like himself.
But I don't see why he expects me to go down the same path as him!
My father has been the CEO of a merchandizing business since I entered middle school. Ever since then, we've been getting buttloads of money and my father has been getting various amounts of liability organizations and corporations, it's insane. He even got interviewed for a Forbes magazine!
Having a top notch businessman as a father is great and all, but living with a strict father as himself is possibly the roughest thing to endure, especially for me. I've been pressured to follow my father's footsteps or even go further than him. But I don't want to become a businessman.
I want to become an artist.
I have been wanting to ever since I've been a little child. My mother noticed my secret artistic talents when she saw me doodling in my school notebooks whenever I got bored in school. She then secretly bought me canvasses so I can come up with different pieces in my free time. Since then, my mom has always acknowledged and pursued my talents in art, but we know that I can't possibly do anything about it because my father would disapprove of my interest in art before I can even utter the word art.
But I guess I have to live with it now, as I have been for the past twenty-two years.
As the first day of college starts to wind down, I wait for Nathan to come by my car so we can finally get out of this shit hole. Nathan smiles at me as we pile into my car. I drive over to our apartment, which is at least ten minutes away from the college. Nathan and I were roommates in the first two years of college at our dorm, but then we decided to live together afterwards. My father wanted to buy the apartment for us, mainly because he's rich and he just wants to show off his money, but I desisted because, well, I'm an adult and the money I have made from secretly selling my artwork has really paid off.
Yes, I am secretly unraveling to become an artist and my father probably has no clue whatsoever that I am doing so.
During the summer, I'd gather up all my artwork and go down to San Francisco at a yearly art convention so I can sell my artwork and gain some money from it. None of my friends know, it's just me and my mother that knows that I sell my artwork yearly in San Francisco. The reason I would do that is, well, I don't want my father's money to be the reason I come ahead in life. I want to pursue my career on my own, but it's just how my father handles it that really petrifies me.
"Hey, are you okay?" Nathan's question interrupts me from my absorption of thoughts. I nod my head, smiling as I wait for the light to turn green. "Yeah, couldn't be better," I murmur.
He raises his eyebrows at me, as if he doesn't believe me at all. "Man, come on. I know you. Like, the face you have on right now is the complete opposite of 'yeah, couldn't be better.'"
I shake my head, chuckling. The light turns green and I lightly press on the accelerator. "Nathan, I'm just overwhelmed with the first day. Nothing much."
"Alrighty," Nathan sighs, crossing his arms over his chest. "Whatever you say, bro."
We arrive at our apartment around 6:15pm. As I get out of my car, I suddenly get a text from my father.
Dad: Did you make it home? How was first day of college? And how was Economics?
Exasperatedly sighing, I reply--
Me: Pretty good. And yeah, Economics was good.
Just to clarify, I am totally lying in that sentence.
Dad: Keep it up, Shaurya. If I see that your grades have slowly dispersed, then you can guarantee that we will have a long and excruciating talk on how much you have failed me. Business is very important, son.
Me: Yeah, I know, Dad. Talk to you later.
As I feel steam fuming from my ears, I stuff my phone into my pocket with anger. Nathan looks at me confusingly. "Shaurya, what happened?"
"Nothing," I lie. "Just my father... he's just being an asshole."
Nathan winces as we walk into our apartment. Sometimes, I feel kind of bad for not telling Nathan about my real life issues. Sure, I have a whole bunch of friends but out of everyone I guess it is safe to presume to he's the closest friend I have ever redeemed. I tell him everything-- school issues, girl problems, etc-- but I just don't truthfully tell him my personal family issues. One, I think that he'll get tired of hearing my endless personal problems. Two, he just won't understand. He has supportive American parents while I am just the complete opposite.
As we go inside our apartment, I feel a rush of good vibes piling into my mind. I am honestly in love with our apartment. Nathan and I spent months furnishing our home, which consists of a kitchen, a small balcony, a mini gym, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Beneath it all, it's definitely enough for the both of us.
We've been living here for the past two years and we know that our luxury is going to come to an end because at the end of school... well, we want to do different things. Nathan is all about the engineering life while I'm looking forward to go to art school.
So, yeah, it's quite enough for now.
I take a deep breath as I fling my books on my bed and take a deep breath as I look up at the ceiling. Nathan quickly peers in my room and says, "Hey, do you want Chinese for dinner? I can just call the restaurant next door and order some noodles."
"Sure, that'll be great," I sigh. "I'll be chilling in my room for a while. Scream if you need anything."
"You got it," Nathan gives me a thumbs up and closes the door. I sigh again as I starfish my bed, solemnly staring at my ceiling fan. My room is a bit tiny, yes, but it is enough to fit the essentials-- such as my dresser, my twin bed, and my desk. The first thing a person would see when they walk into my room is my window, which gives a wondrous view of Oakland, California. Next they would see my oak colored bed with dark blue sheets. Then, they would view an oak colored desk that has dozens of medals and trophies perched on the top and piles of papers on the table itself. Finally, they would see a dresser with pictures of my family and friends on the top.
I quickly change out of my clothes into shorts and a black shirt that seems to be a little tight on me. I look into the mirror and see a drained out twenty-two year old man-- his dark hair poking in obscure directions and eyes baggier than ever. Man, I look like I'm on drugs.
Deciding to go over to my desk, I pull open my drawer that contains all my artistic materials, which Nathan has no clue of. I open the sketchbook perched at the way bottom and scan through my drawings-- rainforests, buildings, sunsets, people, animals, you name it.
Sighing defeatedly, I jab my sketchbook back into the drawer and slam it shut. Shaurya, what are you even thinking? How could you possibly have a career in art if your father doesn't even approve of it?
I can't keep moping around, hoping something would occur. I need to stand up for myself.
And with that final thought, I jump on my bed, closing my eyes as I find myself falling asleep.
*
A/N:
Let me know if you liked this chapter :)
Also, I will be uploading every FRIDAY. During the summer I uploaded twice-three times a week, mainly because I had no school and I was sort of free. But since school's about to start for me and I am about to start harder classes, I have to balance everything out, so again...
I WILL BE UPLOADING EVERY FRIDAY!
Also, we see here that Shaurya and Anika seem to be figuring out their feelings for each other. And not only that, but they seem to be tackling problems of their own. While Anika deals with finding a place in college, Shaurya ponders about how to reveal his true self to his strict father.
How do you think that's gonna go? And how exactly is Shaurya going to find his inspiration?
Well, looks like you're gonna have to stay tuned in the next chapter!
-Ru <3