Residues

Chapter 11

9 Years Back...

I stood looking at Rihan and Suhani. It was a couple of days after the Graduation Party. We had come to college to get our deposits and other papers. And Suhani and Rihan were as usual at the lawn. Rihan lying with his head on Suhani's lap. She was moving her hand through his hair with a smile on her face. He caught her hand and kissed it.

"Ugh..." I heard beside me and turned around to see Yash. "They are at it again. The PDA is getting out of hand..."

I blinked. I remembered the graduation party. I remembered the kiss. I was seeing him for the first time after that night. We did not talk about the kiss after that night. But we did not talk about the first kiss ever until the night of the party either.

But now he squinted at Rihan and Suhani.

"Come with me," he turned to me. And caught my hand.

He led me to an empty classroom. Our classrooms are huge, seating capacity of a hundred. So, he led me to a bench, and I sat down. He sat next to me. And the next thing I knew was that his head was on my lap. He was lying down with his head on my lap. "I always wanted to know what this feels like," he casually said.

I was not sure what to make out of this. I had assumed that we will not do anything about the kiss. Like we did not do anything about the first one.

"Yash..." I called him.

"Ssshh..." he said. He took out his mini iPod that looks like a square and thrust one end of the earphone to my ear and the other end to his. And pressed play. A slow song from a recent movie began to play. Yash closed his eyes. I listened to the song. I smiled.

I looked at Yash.

I wanted to touch his hair. Like Suhani touches Rihan's hair. But I was timid, or more like scared to break the moment. So I just sat there. Until six songs...

Then the cleaning lady came in and we had to flee. Yash caught my hand and ran, and when we stopped, we laughed. And I realised Yash was holding my hand.

We were interrupted by Suhani who ran to us. Yash left my hand.

"Hey, we are meeting at my house tomorrow night. The guys want to see the football match or something."

So it was pizza, coke and football the next night. Suhani was snuggling close to Rihan. And Rihan was moving his hand through her long hair.

I felt a bit jealous. Because Yash sat a few feet away from me. And he was totally concentrated on the game. I got up and walked to the kitchen, I could see Yash's eyes following me. I got something to eat. Hung out a bit in the kitchen and then came back out. Yash was still just concentrated on the match. I felt quite disappointed.

"Su," I called, "I guess I will head out... My mom will make a fuss if I am any later."

Suhani nodded. "Bye..." I gathered my stuff.

"I will drop you." Yash suddenly said.

"You are watching the match." I reminded him. But I felt happy inside. A bit triumphant.

"It's late. I will drop you." He got up.

"I can get a rickshaw."

"Don't be silly, Ishi." Suhani cut in. "Yash, drop her. Go with Yash. It's too late."