Page 16 of A King's Oath
She flopped back from him, her hands no more on his chest.
“What was that on the ground then?”
Samarth blinked, unable to form the words. Should he say it out loud, what he had been thinking? Would it stop feeling so good if he put it into words? Would she also feel like it? If she didn’t, would she stop talking to him?
Although, he had a fair idea that shemightfeel it too, given how she had scowled at him with Shree and Niva…
“I like how you want to do things forme,” she declared, proving him right. “Do them only for me,” she ordered, the princess in all her glory, her pointed chin tilted up, her stance prim, her eyes commanding. A fizz of joy shot up his system.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“So?” He asked.
“So what?”
“This… this is serious?”
“I mean, it’s not cuffing season but this is committed, Samarth. Stop being so dense.”
His mouth dropped open.
“You want to be in a relationship with me?”
“If Kunwarji is done pushing the trolley for Shreeya then why not?”
Samarth grinned — “And if Kunwarji is not?”
Ava’s hands rose and circled his neck, throttling him. He laughed, letting her jostle him, leaving his body languid in her hold. Her laugh reverberated with his and before he knew it, she had thrown her arms around him, jumping on her tiptoes to reach his shoulder. Samarth found his body bending down to accommodate her, burying his face in her sweaty hair as his arms banded around her waist. He lifted her off her feet. The tinkle of her laughter was loud, her voice hoarse after a long game as he swung her from side to side, her legs kicking and dangling.
“So, girlfriend and boyfriend?” She asked.
“And spending time together. Even when we are not in class or practise,” he added. “Let me take you out when we have our weekends off. Betogether.”
She tightened her arms around him, snorting in his ear. He set her back down — “But not today.”
She frowned — “You have more trolleys to push? What the hell, Samarth? In two years you never even talked about girls and now all you want is ‘Come I’ll tie your shoelace, Niva,’” she mimicked in her worst Samarth-voice. “‘Come I’ll show you my muscles Shreeya,’ ‘Let me tie your hair, Ava…’”
“Hey,” he grabbed her wildly gesticulating hands. She stopped.
Samarth held her wrists in his hands and bent his knees to look directly into her eyes again — “I only tiedyourhair, and I willonlytie your hair. Niva asked me to help her. And I took over from Shree to have a legitimate reason to be there on the stands.”
Her lips twisted. “Then why don’t you want to date me today?”
Samarth shook his head, unable to help the smile that refused to go from his face — “Do you ever use a filter? But then, you never had it.”
“Get to the point. I always knew you weren’t as bright as they called you.”
“The point is,” he said. “That this is serious. Very serious.”
“That’s what I said earlier!”
“No, you talked about cuffing season and all that crap that these Advay people do. Serious dating in winters, benching in the vacations, then breadcrumbing in summers. This is not that.”
“Then what is this?” Her face screwed up in confusion.
“This is… don’t get scared and run… or actually, if you get scared and run then that’s ok too.”
