Friends ForEver-A short Story

All the hands in clock are showing their unity and standing at exactly 12. Laya was smiling. She knew Jai was looking at the clock too at this very second. Before the seconds hand moved any, as though the time has frozen for him,  the phone rang. Not stopping her smile for even a second she picked up the phone without opening her eyes. “Happy Birthday to the Most Beautiful heart Ever”, the voice said.  Laya maintaining the same hearty smile said “Thank You”. This was her third birthday after she met Jai. And it has become a tradition for her to have her first wish from Jai ever since they became friends.

“You know what  I was thinking?" said Laya,  "that you had forgotten it this time…you haven’t mentioned anything about it this morning”.

“Forget Laya birthday- is not a word in my dictionary” said Jai.

“Very funny, it’s not a word, it’s a sentence.”

Jai, “They are both same in my dictionary”.

And they both burst laughing. 

“Wait a minute… someone is coming…I hear footsteps”

Just then the door bell rang.  “Bye bye… Got to go…talk to you later.” Said Laya and hung up.

Wondering who it might be at this hour she opened the door.

“Happy birthday to you… Happy Birthday to you… Happy birthday to Laya…” Sang the person on the otherside.

Holding a cake lit up with what looked like 20 candles.

Thank you Shriya,,, said Laya smiling and hugging Shriya….

“Ah ah ah… watch out gal.. you will ruin the cake…”

“Well I have every right to ruin it” said Laya not stopping smiling.
“You silly .. grow up.. you are 20 now”

“You first grow up missy… no more silly billy business with me”, said Laya..

“Hello… It’s been 20 days since I turned 20. Now don’t act too smart. I am 20% more smarter than you already”

“Really? Then please explain to me Ms Genius how does that make you 20% smarter?"
"Huh..." Exclaimed Shriya. "Because you are 20 but I am 20-20"
With this, They both burst out laughing...

"What is going on here... " he said rubbing his eyes... "Happy birthday my dear sweety pie"
"Thank you daddy... sorry we woke you up"...
 "I see that the party has already begun...hmmm ... am I invited?".
"Daddyyyyy..." she said rolling her eyes...

Dad then kissed her good night and went back to bed.
Shriya still looking at daddy's path after he left said, "You are so lucky to have such a wonderful father."
"I know.. he is my hero.", said laya
"By the way how did uncle allow you to get out of the house at this time."

He didn't I just sneaked out... Shriya said with a grin...
Miss 20-20 I have to admit you have grown smarter...

"Okay Lay... now it's time for cake cutting... the candles are all melting". Laya got a knife from kitchen, blew the candles and cut the cake.
As soon as she is done they both pounced on the cake as though they were tigers and it was their prey. They wrestled each other for biggest piece and started coating it on each others face.
"Stop it silly Lay the birthday girl gets coated in cake and gets the birthday bums...not others", said Shriya.
Laya didn't stop... "Okay okay... as much as you wish... okay here.. and here"... she said pointing at some open spots on her face... "Happy silly?" she said and they were both laughing...

"Hey I was talking to Jai and  hung up on him when you rang the bell. You want to talk to him?" asked  Laya. Laya and Shriya were childhood friends. They were neighbors, were of same age and went to same school and college. They were just inseparable from childhood.
Jai is their classmate now and is new friend that Laya made, however Shriya never liked Jai. She saw him as a disturbance between their friendship and never really saw him as a friend. Shriya feels that Jai is very impolite. To the extent that his actions are seen as disrespectful towards others. She absolutely hated how he addresses strangers and acquaintances as though they were his friends for ages.  She feels he crosses the line. Jai on the other hand finds Shriya bossy. He thinks she controls Laya more than she should be.
 Laya however is trying hard to bring them closer. They are the two most important friends she has and it saddens her that they both can't stand each other. She never leaves any chance she gets to bring them any nearer.

"Ahh Nope. Not now" said Shriya. Laya is finding some ray of hope. They have not been showing that intense aversion towards each other lately. She just smiled.
"Okay silly, I got to go..."
"Why can't you sleep here tonight.?"
"Are you kidding me. If my dad finds out I sneaked out, he will kill me. See you tomorrow girlie. Happy birthday and I love you." She hugged her and left for the door. Laya went out to see her off.

She got back inside locked the door and went to her room. She was so happy and has not stopped smiling. She felt blessed for having such wonderful people around her and went to sleep.

Laya's mom shook her awake holding an aarthi plate. "Mom I am 20 now. Too old for such things". "You are always my baby and you never grow old for Prayers and blessings", Said mom. Laya tried to put an angry face and got up from bed. Mom turned the Aarthi plate around her, applied tilak on her and said "Happy Birthday to my Baby". Laya hugged her mom and left for bathroom.

She was very much excited about her new birthday dress. She went out shopping with her dad and found a beautiful pink and white dress with kundan work. She got matching shoes as well. As soon as they came home from shopping mom was angry looking at the price tag. Layas smile vanished immediately. It took a while for dad to convince mom and bring smile on the two most pretty woman of his life. Laya always felt stronger and protected around her dad.

She put her new clothes on and her younger brother Vishnu came running to her. Vishnu is studying 9th standard and looks up to his sister for everything. Happy birthday sissy, he said hugging her. Dad, mom, Vishnu and laya all left for temple.

When they got back home, dad gave Laya 3000 Rs to spend so she can enjoy her birthday with her friends. Laya's face lit up. "But be home by 7. We will have family evening out", he said. Sure daddy. Laya ran out of house all happy and smiling. She made plans. She thought they would attend first 2 classes in the morning and then go to movies, spend sometime at mall and have lunch there.

Her day went well with Shriya and Jai and the beautiful gifts they presented her. Shriya gave her a pink watch with white stones embedded. Perfect! she said, this will go very well with my dress. Jai gave her a pink t-shirt with her picture on it and a caption that said, "Most innocent smile ever". "So you are all pinky today". "Yes, that is my favorite color"
She noticed that the usual friction between Jai and Shriya is missing. She felt happy and was hoping they would become good friends. They all attended couple of classes after lunch and Laya was home by 6.

Laya was happy to see her favorite desert her mom made for her, she ate a bowl full of it and was waiting for her dad and Vishnu to be home. Dad was home.. he was holding Laya's gift, an iphone. Laya just screamed with excitement. "OMG OMG is it for me?" she went running to her dad and not being able to hold her excitement she was jumping. Mom gave an angry look saying you are going to ruin her. Dad then said, come on she came first in the last semester... she deserves it.

They all went out for dinner to one of the nice restaurants around. They picked a nice private cozy corner and were all looking at the menu as to what they want to order. Laya suddenly got distracted with familiar voices. She looked around and was completely shocked with who she found there. She saw Jai and Shriya sitting at the table diagonally across to theirs and holding each others hand. She couldn't believe her sight. It felt like the most impossible thing that could ever happen. She felt betrayed and ripped. She felt cheated. She was with them all morning and none of them spoke absolutely nothing about this.Let alone speak they didn't even give away any hint for her to believe they are seeing each other.  She hated them both at this very second. Nothing else seemed important to her any more. She felt like throwing away her new iphone. For all the love and faith she had on them she gets this? betrayal? Just then she saw Shriya looking at her. A look of surprise and guilt on her face. She said something to Jai and he turned around too. They both released each others hands. Jai was looking at her with a look of sorry in his eyes. She thought no number of sorry can ever wipe out her pain.She felt deserted. She felt something stabbing her heart and ripping it apart. She looked away. Not being able to stand the sight anymore. She controlled her tears. She said to herself they do not deserve her tears. They do not even deserve her hatred. She wanted to leave the place. She wanted to scream. Her parents noticed the change in her. They saw the pain in her eyes. But they dared not ask her. They thought they will give her sometime before asking. They were all ready to leave.They paid the check and left the place. On the way home everyone was silent. That lively spirit that existed all day is no more. They hoped that Laya is alright and that things will settle down. For they can't see this sadness on Laya's face.

Laya felt sorry for her parents. She felt she is not being fair to them. They did so much for her all day and all they wanted in return was for  her to be happy. She shouldn't be giving them pain for all their love. She hugged them good night and said that this was the most memorable birthday ever for her. In a way it was. She left for her room and closed the door. She said to herself she is not going to cry. NO! NO!NO! But she couldn't stop. Rain of tears started pouring down her cheeks.She lied down on bed.She was not going to make the usual goodnight call to Jai. She wondered if she would ever talk to him again. Or even Shriya. The very thought hurt her. She felt disabled, like she had lost some important parts of her body. It felt like her world fell apart. What a turn her life took today. The day that started with a happy note seemed to be so far away in past. She cried the whole night. She didn't know when she slipped to sleep.

It was the next morning. She saw in the mirror that her eyes were swollen. She spent as much time as she could to get rid of the signs of sorrow on her face. She prolonged her breakfast for as long as she could because she dreaded going to college. When she realized she can't do it anymore she started for college.

The first class started and although she was in the classroom she couldn't hear anything. She felt the whole world's muted. Just then her phone vibrated. She saw it was a text, from Shriya saying, Sorry. Please give me a chance to explain. Without any reaction she put the phone aside. The phone vibrated again. This time it was Jai. Please Laya, it hurts to see you react like this. Please give us a chance to explain… Hurts my foot. You have no right to even utter that word she thought. She turned the phone off and kept it aside. Shriya and Jai waited for next 2 classes until it was lunch time. They couldn’t hold it any longer. They couldn’t see her falling apart. They both held her hand and dragged her out of the classroom.

Laya turned her face around but Shriya continued.Laya,  remember this semester summer break when you went for vacation… that is when we realized how much we were a part of each other all the while hating one another. You were the only person who was bringing us together, without you around, there was no  reason for us to even talk to each other. That is when we started missing each other. We didn’t dare call each other the first few weeks, but we were missing each other terribly. Finally one day Jai called me and asked me if I could get his library book from your house and give it to him.  I agreed. We met and it was an amalgamation of emotions. We were each seeing  other in different perspective. We felt great being together, at the same time we felt weird for what we were feeling for each other. The next day my cousin Rohan and I went to movies and on the way home our car broke. Fortunately Jai was passing by, I introduced the 2 guys to each other and they just got together so well. As usual Jai was all over Rohan behaving as though he was already thick friends with him. He offered help and the two guys started pushing the car to garage. The act that seemed so rude and impolite all these years started seeming special. He looked like a confident go-getter. I absolutely fell for him. Jai also started understanding me better and within no time we were seeing each other. I know we should have let you know about all this, but I couldn't dare do that. I was afraid my parents would some how find out. You know how strict they are. They would stop my education and lock me in a room if they came to know about it. I was very afraid and wanted to keep this to only us both. I know how hard this hit you but we never had any intention to hurt you. Our conversations are always around you even though you are not with us. Please forgive us. I wish this was not the way you found out about this. 

Laya looked at them both. They were almost crying and begging like babies. She couldn't see their sad faces any more. She knows they both like her and can go to any extent to keep her happy. All they did was fall in love with each other, which was not a crime. They were helpless and had their own fears. I should be there for them. I should stand for them and feel happy for them. In fact I should be the happiest ever, they are my two best friends and I have not left any stone unturned to bring them together. Is this not what I wanted? To see them closer? Then why am I reacting like this? I am just not being fair on them. I love them both. Now they are going to be my responsibility. Laya wiped her tears and hugged them both. You know what ...I am going to kick you both if you ever neglect me. I have two best friends but I am the only best friend you guys have. she said.
" silly Lay..." Shriya said.They all hugged each other and walked back to classroom.