Tara Ahuja's Golden Rules

2:Don't Bring Up Varun

My father always had an unwavering disdain for my brother's best friend, Varun. There was just something about him that got under my dad's skin. I wasn't quite sure what it was. Perhaps it was Varun's open-mindedness, or the fact that he was the furthest possible thing from an Ahuja. Yet, ironically, he managed to create a life-long, unbreakable friendship with my brother.

Varun was the only thing in my brother's life that challenged his adoration of our father. In most regards, Ajit worshiped my father's wiseness and authority; yet I knew that he always questioned his intense hatred for Varun.

Sure, Varun was a wild card, and he didn't really share the same beliefs, but it was his personality that mattered, right?

The tension that was created by even uttering Varun's name was undeniable. Which is why I think that one of Ajit Ahuja's golden rules had to be: Don't bring up Varun.

To get around that golden rule, I noticed that Ajit often referred to Varun as a "friend."

"A friend and I went to the store," "A friend and I are wanting to go out."

Quite ridiculous, if you ask me. Personally, I always liked Varun. He was my brother's only sensible friend. By that, I mean, he was nothing like him. I often pondered about how they even became friends.

How could anyone like Varun possibly even tolerate my brother? Varun was so progressive, he had a challenging opinion on almost every topic. He was always on the same wavelength as me on certain topics without even knowing.

He was the only one to stick up for me after the incident that had killed my father occurred.

I wished I could thank him for that. I wished I could talk to him in general. I could easily see myself spending hours talking to him about just about anything. Ajit was unbelievably lucky to have a friend like that.

Varun and I hardly ever spoke to one another in our nearly ten years of knowing each other. Again, discounting the horrific events of the tragedy that occurred.

Ajit would never want Varun and I to be friends friends. So, I'd consider us acquaintances. In Ajit's deranged world, a boy and a girl could never truly be platonic friends. He'd see one too many friends-to-lovers trope movies for that not to be true. Varun and I being friends friends could lead to other deeper things. And said other things could lead to my brother ripping out Varun's chest with his bare hands. Friendship didn't matter at that point.

But it didn't matter, in any case. Varun and I would never let things get to that point. I didn't like him like that. Yes, if I'm being completely honest, I have occasionally wondered what would happen if Varun and I started dating. But it had no significance. It was like an intrusive thought.

It was like the voice in your head telling you to jump, when you stand at tall heights. An intriguing, but dangerous thought.

If anything, I just liked it when he was around. Hearing that he was going to come over definitely made me a bit excited, even if I barely saw him, and if he were coming over, I'd definitely clean myself up a little bit. That also didn't really mean anything, though, that was just common decency.

Pushing my thoughts aside, I scrambled to get out the door and head to campus. My very first day was going to set the tone for the rests of the year.

***

The short walk from the door of the lecture hall to the random sit I picked, was a rather disappointing one. All I saw were familiar faces. There's something magical about complete strangers, and something utterly disenchanting about familiar faces. This was supposed to be my fresh start, and I was already disappointed.