Evening

Kritvik Bhatt

The rain had finally settled, and the water on the streets was drying up. There were some patches of dry land on the street. The skies were all cleared up, and the sun was about to settle. The evening was great, and lovely, for some reason. The rain had settled, after all.

It was the same damp street with dry patches all around it. Drenched cars and a couple story high apartments were on all sides of the street. And, in the middle of all that stuff walked our two figures.

I sniffed in with my blocked nose, which revolted against taking in too much air at once. I was walking beside Aaryan, my hands inside my pocket. We both were in denim pants and casual sweatshirts.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.

Our shoes patted on the dry and wet ground as we walked.

“This rain was fucking cold, alright?” He commented. “But I didn’t think you’d catch a fucking cold, pal.”

“Man, I told you I caught the cold yesterday.”

He frowned, “You caught cold only through the buildup of rain?”

“Damn no, man!” I smiled as I turned to him. “Obviously it’s cold, so I caught a cold.”

He nodded, his lips turning into a smile. “Ya see, I don’t like winter rains for this exact reason.”

“Obviously, why would someone like winters?” I commented as I turned my head to the front again. “They’re damn cold, and you gotta wear so many layers.”

“Yeah, they’re fucking uncomfortable.”

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.

There was a little silence between us for a couple of seconds.

“Maybe summers are not too good too, by the way.”

“I agree. It’s too fucking hot in summers,” He quickly added.

I then turned my head to my right at him. “Then what season do you like?”

He turned his head to me, and frowned, “Ya see, I…” His eyes opened wide. “Maybe the time between summers and winters…”

I chuckled. “Damn, man.”

“Asshole, this shit was fucking genius,” He smiled as we turned our heads to the front.

“Yeah,” I replied. We both then continued to walk silently, for some reason, for a couple of seconds, until I asked again, “Is Sooraj coming today?”

“Ya see, he got selections for a tournament next month. He said that it was some district tournament or some shit, perhaps. Dunno. But, he said that it’s some fucking serious shit, so he ain’t gonna come for some days and only practice.”

“Damn, man. He seems serious about this cricket stuff.”

Aaryan nodded. “He is, pal. He’s fucking serious about this shit. He never shows it to others, but his actions show how dedicated he is.”

“That’s great, man,” I turned my head to him. “And Aakash?”

He shrugged. “He got some shit to do too.”

I nodded as I turned my head to the front. “These guys always got some stuff nowadays.”

“Ya see, I can’t blame them. We’re in tenth, and that boards shit is scaring everybody, right?”

“Hmm, yeah,” I nodded. Then, I frowned and said, “But I don’t feel any pressure right now, for some reason. Maybe it’s too early for them too.”

“Asshole, pre-boards are about to start soon, and there are only three months left for boards.”

“Yeah, but still, man. Three months is a lot.”

“Ya see, it’s not for tuition teachers who wanna fuck students around to earn some extra grand.”

I nodded. “That makes sense, obviously.”

“Yeah. It’s not that the kids have any pressure, ya see, except some. But, these tuition teachers and school teachers are the ones who are just… just making them fucking grind for this shit. They’d revise a shit ton times, give some shit sample question papers, some fucking last year exam papers, and much more shit to do.”

“Damn. The syllabus remains the same, so all this stuff isn’t gonna help.”

“Right? I feel so too, pal.”

“But man, it’d get some extra three or four marks to them, maybe.”

Aaryan turned his head to me. “Who the fuck cares about three extra marks. They don’t mean shit, asshole.”

I turned to him and looked into his eyes. “They matter to those toppers, man. I have been with the toppers.”

“I… failed my mathematics exam,” I remembered Jiya’s voice in my head. “It’s over! I failed in a subject! I… Maybe I can’t study anymore! It’s not my thing! I… I won’t be able to do anything my whole life!”

I paused my dialogue for a moment, no doubt, and then I gulped in and said, “Even I try to get some three or four extra marks, but I’m not that dedicated to that stuff, for some reason.”

Aaryan nodded and turned his head to the front. “That shit is fucked up.”

“Maybe,” I replied.

Another silence followed our conversation for a couple of seconds. We both were walking aimlessly in the middle of the street, for some reason, beside each other. The sky was turning darker with each second, and the sun was setting. The wet clouds were going away, and only some shreds of them remained. No doubt, it was great after the rain.

“No doubt, we should go home. No one’s coming.”

“Ya see, I get bored at home. And since my counselor has instructed me to spend time outside for about one hour without fail, I gotta do that shit.”

“Damn, that counseling is still going on?” I asked.

“Yeah, pal. That asshole makes me do unreasonable and silly shit to get away from my addiction. I’m not even addicted to that shit now.”

“Great, man. It’s working, huh?” I smiled.

“Yeah, it just did, perhaps.” He smiled a little too. And then, he, for some reason, suddenly added, “Ya see, by the way, it’s my birthday on the fifteenth.”

“This month?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

I turned to him smiling, “When’s the party then?”

“I was just about to talk about that shit, ya asshole,” He turned to me with a smile. “It’s on the fifteenth. Ya gotta come too.”

“Where?”

“Dunno,” He shrugged, his smile fading. He then turned his head to the front. “I’ve not decided. I’ve just asked for permission, and after much shit, they finally agreed.”

I turned my head to the front too. “Great. I’ll be there, man, obviously.”

“I wanna make this shit a lot of fun, since it’s exams after that, so this would be a fucking great stress reliever, ya see. Right?”

I nodded. “No doubt, man. That’s great of you to think that way.”

“So where should I host the party?”

“Uh, I guess, maybe you can…”

***

Sana Kohli

I was sitting on a chair in front of the wooden table on the right far corner of the room from the door. My head was tilted upward, balancing on the backrest of the plastic work chair. On my left was the window, which showed clearly the darkening sky, you see. Like, it’d turn dark in just some minutes.

My room was painted white, with a pink bed-sheet on top of the single-mattress bed. And, there was just a cupboard on my back, facing the door of the room.

My eyes were on my smartphone as I was scrolling through my black Campfire feed. My books were open, you see, but I had paused my studies to scroll through social media for some time. Like always.

I scrolled through a meme with some text and photos, and suddenly, I remembered, “Anyway, I should ask Kritvik if he’s coming to school tomorrow.”

I then clicked on the home button and then tapped on the silhouette telephone handle icon. I frowned as I typed something on it, and after some seconds, it started to ring. I moved my phone beside my right ear.

“Hello?” Kritvik said from the other side of the phone.

“K, are you coming to school tomorrow?”

“Maybe.”

“What do you mean by that?” I frowned a little. “Are you still sick?”

“I’m alright, man. But, my mom makes that decision. I’m alright, so I’m convincing her to send me to school tomorrow, but she’s not even reacting. But, no doubt it’s her decision to make, since she’s the one who wakes me up.”

“That’s sad.”

“Yeah.” He chuckled, “Hmhm.”

“Okay then.”

“What happened at school today, man?”

“Well, Kavya didn’t come either, so I was alone and bored the whole day.”

“… I’m sorry.”

“Emo, it’s not your fault,” I told him. “Anyway, you try to come tomorrow. I’ll call and ask Kavya too, and if she rejects, I’ll be relying on you to entertain me tomorrow, you see.”

“Damn, man, no doubt I gotta come tomorrow.”

“That’s sad, but yes. You seem fine. You’re fine now, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah yeah, cool. Anyway, I gotta study too. Bye bye.”

“Bye bye!” He replied and cut the call.

I then remembered the face of Daksh when we both were laughing really hard in the rain that day.

I smiled. “Yeah, I can just talk to him if these two don’t come tomorrow.”

***

Kritvik Bhatt

Creak.

I pushed open the door of my room and walked in. For some reason, my smartphone on the bed was turned on and it showed the time eleven-twenty-seven in the night. My right hand took up the phone as I walked to the other edge of the room. I pushed the curtains beside the study table close. I then walked to my left and pushed close the curtains on the other side of the door—beside my bed.

I then turned backward again. I threw my phone down, turned to the door from where I came in from, looked at the switches, and then started to walk to the switchboard to turn them off.

From the outside of my balcony, the lights of the room turned off, and it became just another dark room in the middle of the night. Obviously.

I was lying on my bed, my eyes closed off, and my blanket covering my body up until my neck. My eyes then slowly opened, a little narrower than usual, because of sleepiness, and then I tossed my body to my left toward the curtains. I then started to think about some stuff. “Sana… does she love me? Or does she look at me only as a friend?”

“Another damn night, man. Another damn night of overthinking relationships it was. For some reason, it was kind of my everyday job now. I… I didn’t sleep at nights. I just thought of Sana, and what is this feeling that I have for her is called. I was a kid back then, man.”

I thought, “She didn’t even call me the whole day yesterday. And, today when she called, she didn’t even ask me if I was alright.” I closed my eyes hard. “Damn no, man. She took care of me to get me home when I was feeling sick at school. And she asked me if I was alright. What am I even thinking, man? She cares for me, maybe.” My eyes then opened slightly. “But… it’s only because she’s so… caring. She cares for everyone, and if it were someone else, she’d have done the same, no doubt.”

“No… Still… She asked only me to go to JenCon with her. But… that was only because she had no other friends who knew about Jenshin and stuff.”

I closed my eyes, took in a deep breath, and then exhaled out. “It’s so embarrassing to think about all of this stuff. Obviously, all of it doesn’t matter. Thinking about this stuff like this won’t help, man. And it’s dumb, no doubt. I should focus on my studies rather than this stuff. Jiya… Sana… They are just some friends, man. I… shouldn’t think about them like this. They care for me, and I should care for them too. That’s it.”

“And each night ended with a short monologue like that, for some reason. Obviously, I was right that I shouldn’t think about it, but I was so attached to Sana that she just couldn’t get out of my head. I had already imagined a lot of stuff between us, and I imagine both of us laughing a lot and chatting all day long. But, that was far from reality, obviously. In real life, we were just friends, after all. Just friends.”