Destiny or Coincidence?

Athira Patel

I stood in front of my closet going through my dresses trying to find the top which Riya gave me on my birthday. I never wore that top until now and this is the right occasion to wear since I'm going to the pub for the first time in my life with my buddies.

I thought back to my conversation with my best friend "Hey babe, I know you haven't gone to the pub up to now. But we are thinking to go today evening to celebrate our last day together since tomorrow we all will be travelling to different places. So you will be coming along with us and don't even try to say no to me. I know that you are excited to go to a pub but nervous to try it, so get ready by 6.30 PM. Will pick you up from your home. Tell uncle that you will be staying at Rishi's house. See you..." and cut the call without listening to my side if I'm ready to go or not.

Yes, that's my best friend Riya Agarwal who is of 23 years old and had been my best friend ever since 6th grade in school. She is fair and has black colour eyes which do match her waist-length straight hair with 5'6 height and slim with the right amount of fat at right places. She is very fierce, bold, caring and short tempered. She does what she thinks and never looks back to take any suggestions and doesn't care what the world thinks about her. She can be very soft and caring when needed. But most of the time she is a happy and bubbly girl. Everywhere we go she will easily get the attention of all the boys since she is very beautiful and good looking. Thank god that she is the popular one among our gang and gets all the attention to herself even if she doesn't try to get it. I hate being noticed. So I'm happy with the way it is. She is the only daughter to her parents and when we were in degree 1st year her father got transferred to Mumbai since he is a government employee and both her parents got shifted there. But she wants to complete her studies in Hyderabad itself with us, so she stayed back and currently living in a college hostel.

And coming to our gang we are of four member's with Riya Agarwal, Rishi Ahuja, Dev Varma and myself. We met both Rishi and Dev in our Intermediate when we were given the same chemistry project to complete together. From that day on we clicked and we are together till now. Rishi and Riya are together though from last 3 years.

Rishi is of 24 Years with 5'9 Height and very masculine body since he workout daily. He is fair and handsome with light brown colour eyes and black colour hair which is long with light curls which fall over his face and reaches his ears. Also, he got a cute smile with those sexy dimples. He is North Indian basically and younger one in the family. His parents died when he was 6 years old but his elder brother never let them feel like they are alone. They are of 4 members with one elder sister and two elder brothers. All of them got married and settled in their hometown Nagpur.

Since the first day we met, he started liking Riya. It was no secret. We all can see it on his face, the way he looks at her and the way he gets lost in his own little dream world thinking of her. He was unable to make a move on her until her parents got shifted to Mumbai and she became alone. She doesn't want to stay at her hostel much so she used to spend her time in Rishi's room most of the time. Then one day at the starting of the final year of our degree he asked her out and she said yes. From then on they are together.

And my other idiot friend Dev is from Pune, Single child to his rich parents. His father is a businessman and mother is an interior designer. Dev is also of the same height as Rishi and handsome with gym body. He has dark brown colour eyes with chocolate brown colour hair. Both of them stay together in a room from Degree. He is a player and gets all the attention of the girls in our college and never backs down from a chance of flirting with a girl. He is not a committed type but true to his friends and family. He is caring, jovial, flirting, and short-tempered. But he is the best when came to listening and giving any suggestions at the time when needed. He knows how to handle the situation in the worst of the cases and I like that about him.

....

I have finally picked up light blue ankle length jeans with a plain black colour sleeveless top and got dressed quickly because its already 6.00 PM and Riya said that she will pick me up at 6.30 PM. She hates if I'm late. So I quickly moved to my dressing table and sat in front of my mirror and started applying eyeliner and mascara when my mobile started ringing to the left side of the dressing table where the bed is located. I got up and answered the call seeing that it's Dev.

"Hey Wassup?" I said while applying nude colour lip balm to my lips.

There was some shuffling from the other side of the line "Hey Choti, I hope you are ready?" Dev asked using his flirting voice indicating he is ready to rock the party.

"Yup, I am almost done. Where are you by the way?" I asked him while checking for matching earrings and a watch.

"We have just started from our room. Will reach there within 10min. So be ready or else you are gonna face the devil herself" He said while laughing loudly. Riya was shouting on the other line hearing dev's comment mentioning her as a devil. I smiled to myself thinking these two won't ever change when it comes to pulling each other legs at every given time.

"I got it, Playboy. Will be waiting for you outside. Come soon." I said using his nickname I call whenever he uses his nickname for me. After checking myself in the mirror one last time before getting ready to go downstairs I grabbed my purse and backpack in my hand.

"I hope you have packed your backpack for the night out. Because I swear if you forgot again this time I'm not gonna travel all the way back to your home at midnight or early in the morning for your backpack." He said while sounding serious.

"Are you serious?" I asked

"Of course I am. I don't want to sacrifice my beauty sleep for your backpack darling." While laughing he said that.

"Ya Ya. I got it, idiot. I have already packed it and presently holding it in my hands to make sure I won't forget again. Happy? Now come soon you lazy idiots." I said while laughing with him. Holding my purse and backpack for the night out I slipped in my black widgets and closed my bedroom door while coming downstairs.

"Sure babe. See you" he said and disconnected the call. I think he is the destined driver today for the four of us.

The sound of a TV running downstairs is an indication that my dad is in the hall watching cricket as usual after coming from the office. I have entered the hall while keeping my stuff on the table beside the entrance door. He was lazily seated in the couch holding a cold drink in one hand and eating chips with the other hand. He is in his shorts and T-shirt meaning he is done for the day and just relaxing watching his favourite cricket. It's his way of forgetting mom or even trying not to remember her. It has been 5 years since mom died due to sudden heart attack and I'm the only daughter to them. After mom died it has been very difficult for both of us to get on track with our daily life. We were both depressed and dad had become alone from that day onwards. He used to love her a lot and still loves her. But for my sake, he is acting strongly in front of me. I can see it in his eyes even if he won't share with me. I tried talking to him but he just smiles and says to leave it. He is very strong and I love him for that. I hope that one day he shares his pain with me.

I sat next to him on the couch to the left side of him and placed my head on his shoulder "Dad, I'm going to the pub with my friends and will be staying the night at Rishi's house. Is that fine?" I asked him while looking into his eyes by lifting my head slightly.

He looked down at me and smiled while taking my right hand in his both palms "You are a big girl Athi. I know you can take care of yourself and you know what is right and what is wrong. I believe in my daughter. She is too good and never once crossed her limits. So now, my baby just lives a little and enjoy before joining for the first day of your work. I'm proud of you beta. Go and take care. Whatever you do please be safe and intimate me from time to time." He said and kissed me on the forehead.

The sound of the ringing bell in the house indicated that my friends are here. I stood up with my dad and both of them walked towards the entrance door. I have opened the door while taking my backpack and purse. Dev entered and hugged me while saying in my ear "you look hot today choti. Damn you are my friend. Otherwise I would have made a move on you up to now" he backed away after saying that and winked at me while going further inside to say hi to dad. He was wearing black jeans and a white casual T-shirt but still, he was looking handsome.

Then Rishi and Riya came inside holding each other hands. Rishi was wearing dark blue torn jeans and light ash colour full sleeve T-shirt which is folded half up to his elbows in a messy way. He smiled and hugged me in a friendly way and entered inside. Then Riya came and stood in front observing me from head to toe for a full minute before speaking "Babe you look sexy in this top. Why did you not wear it until now? I knew you would be looking good in this. That's why I have bought you when I went to Mumbai." She said while hugging me and kissing my cheek. Riya was wearing Blue Jeans Shorts with Red colour Top which has some cuts at both sides of her shoulders and the top just reached to her navel area. She looked really hot in that. All of them hugged and said Hi to my dad while making their way out with my dad on their backside. After entering outside Dad said "Drive safe and Enjoy guys. Good night" He hugged me and kissed my forehead. I smiled and kissed his cheek and said bye while entering into the front seat of the car because Rishi and Riya occupied back seat. I closed the door after entering inside and gave my backpack to Rishi to place it in the back seat of the car. I waved my hand to my dad who is standing at the porch smiling at us and waving his hand.

Dev started the car and Riya squealed saying "At last Athi is going to come to the pub with us. I'm so excited. We are going to rock the party and you will enjoy each and every second of it babe." She is more excited than me. And is jumping on Rishi with excitement while he is trying to control his overexcited girlfriend.

I laughed and said "Ya I know I will. Because you won't leave me until then. Calm down Riya, you are going to ruin Rishi's dress" For which Dev laughed while driving.

We are going to be in this car for the next 15 to 20 Minutes until we reach the pub. I hope Riya is true about enjoying this. I want to enjoy for once leaving all my worries at the back of my mind. I'm looking forward to today and I get the feeling that something interesting is going to happen today.