"I too you as a shy person."
I looked up and saw Ved looking at me with curious eyes.
I blinked and quickly averted my gaze and tapped Parth's shoulder. He turned towards me and I told him I needed to use the washroom. He told me the directions and I nodded my head. I picked up my phone and dashed away.
Once I got in the washroom, I calmed down. I dried myself up and looked at my reflection in the mirror. My hair was sticking in all directions and clothes were dripping with water.
I didn't even bring extra pair of clothes with me. Well, I wasn't informed about a pool party you see.
Knock! Knock!
I opened the door and saw a maid with some clothes and a plastic bag in her hands. She told me Parth had sent her to give those to me. I thanked her and felt relieved that I wouldn't have to spend rest of the time in wet clothes.
I picked up a long sleeved shirt and put it on. It was over-sized. I put on the track pants and put my wet clothes in the plastic bag.
Was I over reacting? Ved was trying to talk normally and what did I do? Run away from him? This way he would surely get suspicious. How could he forget my face though? He really was an idiot.
Idea! I will talk to him first this time.
"Don't you have a sister or someone? This shirt is too big."
I complained as I approached Parth who was now all dry and dressed up in fresh clothes. He turned his head and looked over my appearance.
"That looks good on you," he smiled.
"Hi Ved!" I said and forced myself to smile. I believed it must have looked creepy to him. He furrowed his eyebrows and glanced over me.
"Are you bipolar?" he asked.
"What?!"
"You were acting all shy with me and now you are being friendly to me," he explained.
I glanced at Parth who was busy observing us. I pursed my lips. Did my move backfire?
"Well whatever. Nice to meet you. Finally." He extended his hand towards me and I just stared at it.
Parth nudged me and the bulb lit up. Oh right. I was supposed to shake his hand. Why did I act like a dumb person whenever Ved was around? I slowly brought my hand up and shook his hand.
"Your name?" he tilted his head.
Why do you need to know? Hasn't Parth already told you?
"Sandhya," I said in a low voice.
As if a signal was sent to his brain, his grip tightened and he narrowed his eyes. Parth excused himself as he was called up by a guest. No! Don't leave me alone.
"I knew you were familiar," Ved said and inched closer.
"I think you are talking about someone else."
I yanked my hand away and fake smiled. Someone save me!
"Kid!" Rajeev called and motioned with his hand to come over. Bless his soul. I ran towards him and glanced back over my shoulder. Ved was looking at me suspiciously.
"Why do you call her that? Isn't she too old for a kid?" Mayank asked.
Rajeev shrugged his shoulders and patted my head. Was I a dog? Mayank shook his head and called Ved over. We were gathered in the center of the floor. Some people were still dancing around.
"Let's begin the games, shall we?" Mayank announced rubbing his hands enthusiastically.
"What games?" I asked.
"I am coming to that. Don't interrupt me," he said.
"Since the party is gonna end soon, let's play some games. First game is quite simple. You all familiar with tug of war?" We all nodded.
Wait a minute! He wants us to play tug of war? Was he insane?
"Don't you have some better games in mind? We can play some indoor games," I groaned.
He ignored me. There were some girls too but they didn't complain. Instead they seemed enthusiastic.
"Does this happen in parties?" I asked Parth and he told me Mayank usually came with all sorts of weird games. It didn't even matter if the game didn't match the environment. A guy handed Mayank a rope and he began stretching it to check its strength.
"Ok. Let's team up. Who wants to be in my team?" Mayank asked.
Soon the teams were formed with 6 members each and we moved in the backyard.
Fortunately, I was in Shree's team, away from Ved. Unfortunately, Rajeev was in Mayank's team. He was alone capable of winning this. Why were we even doing it?
"Stop flirting and tell me how we are going to win this," I asked Shree who was busy mesmerizing our other female team members.
Our team had me, Shree, one guy I didn't know the name of and three girls. Whereas Mayank had two girls and four guys, including him in his team. Parth decided to be the referee.
We needed to win this. Ved glanced at me and smiled mischievously. I cracked my knuckles and smacked Shree on the back to get his attention.
"You are the leader. Give us some strategy," I told him and others nodded. We huddled and decided that since we were lacking manpower, we would use distraction. That would be cheating but everything was fair in love and war.
"On the count of 3, you may begin. 1... 2... 3!" Parth shouted.
"Hiyaaaa! Pull!" We all shouted and began the tug of war.
"Oh look! A UFO!" I shouted but no use.
"Using tricks now?" Ved commented.
We lost the chance. Damn. I just ignored him and began pulling harder. After playing like that for few more minutes, we lost. Mayank's team jumped in joy and began booing at us. I rolled my eyes.
"So childish," I said.
"We can say the same about you, Sandhya," Ved retorted.
The way he said my name sent shivers down my spine. I furrowed my eyebrows and he just smirked.
"You are still the same as I remember. Using tricks and distractions to win," he added.
My eyes widened in horror while his sparked with amusement. He came forward and flicked my forehead.
"Thought you fooled me? There's no way I can forget you, Miss Sandhya Rai. Though you had me fooled with your shy act for sometime." He put his hands in his pockets and tilted his head.
"Cat got your tongue?" he mocked.
Speak Sandhya. Say something! Don't let him do this to you.
"You didn't recognize me earlier though," I retorted.
He inched closer and I took a step back. Stand your ground! Try to talk with him politely. Maybe he wouldn't bother me and we can even become friends? Maybe he had changed and forgotten everything? Afterall, it had been 6 years since we last saw each other.
"There's no need to act on our past. We have common friends so maybe we can be friends too?" I said as softly as I could.
"Friends?!" he laughed. I glanced around but saw that no one was paying attention to us. Everyone was busy drinking or chatting. Where was Parth?
"If not, then stay away from me," I added.
"You tried to befriend my friends. Are you plotting something? The one who should stay away is you Sandhya, not me," he sneered.
He hasn't changed at all, has he?
"Do you still hate me?" I asked.
"Why shouldn't I?"
I sighed and rubbed my face.
"Look Ved. I don't want to deal with you. If you don't want to be friends, that's okay but don't accuse me of stealing your friends. I didn't even know you were going to be in my college," I tried to reason.
"Now I know why you were trying to avoid me. You are still afraid of me, aren't you? College is going to be so much fun now." He smiled evilly and started walking backwards.
"We don't have to repeat the history, Ved. We can start over as acquaintances. There's no use keeping a grudge," I said, hoping he was joking.
"Did you forget already? History is my favourite subject." He turned away and went back to his friends. I stared at his retreating form.
"Why do you look like you have seen a ghost?" Parth asked.
"I want to go home," I replied.
"So early? Don't you want to eat something first?"
I shook my head and glanced at Ved. He was already looking at me. He mouthed 'Cheers' as he held up his beer bottle and winked. I shut my eyes in frustration.
"You okay?" Parth asked in concern.
I gave him a small smile and told him that I had to get back home soon. I lied to him. I still had one more hour but I couldn't stay here any longer.
Parth didn't force me and nodded his head in understanding. He offered to drop me home but I told him I would take a cab.
I grabbed my clothes from the washroom and told Parth that I will return his clothes on Monday. He told me not to bother about it but I couldn't keep something that wasn't mine.
I thanked him for inviting me and he gave me a side hug. I left his house soon and decided to walk for few minutes. I got an auto and got back home before 9:30 pm.
"Party ended early?" Dad asked as I entered the house.
"Got bored," I replied and he asked if I had dinner or not. I lied that I had it and went to my room. Mom was already asleep. I decided to keep my current clothes on. They were comfortable.
I took out my wet clothes from bag and dumped them into the washroom. Dad didn't notice my change of clothes as he was distracted with watching news.
I laid down on my bed but couldn't relax. I kept thinking about the party. Ved found out I was avoiding him on purpose and he still hated me. The way his expressions changed, scared me. I should have tried harder to stay away from him.
It was not my fault we had mutual friends. He was still living in the past. So was I. Hm? Shouldn't he be over it now? We were kids. He was the one who bullied me but acted like I was the bad guy.
I don't want to imagine how he will treat me in college. Ugh! I pulled my hair.
I didn't even remember why we started fighting in the first place. I pinched my nose bridge. I wouldn't spoil my mood because of him. Tomorrow was Sunday. I was going to enjoy my day.
Whatever would happen was in the future. Let's focus on now. I closed my eyes and after turning several times in my bed, fell asleep. I would deal with Ved later.