Trinkets - Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Mahika's bloodstone ring touches her cup and makes a clicking sound; one that's audible enough for Keerti to turn and give her a 'okay, now stop' look every few seconds, but still mild enough that none of her other friends bother telling her to stop.
It's another one of her fidgeting habits. The irony of the fact that the gemstone is supposed to calm her — her mother's words, not her own — isn't lost on her either.
"Is it weird that I still haven't been able to wrap my head around the fact that Naina is married now?" Sakshi comments, opening her mouth to say more but stopping with her mouth forming an 'o' when she gets a subtle, warning look from Mahika. Remember to not go too far, it says.
They both look at Dhruv, who hasn't talked much all morning, currently sipping on his tea with way more concentration than deemed normal. His eyes aren't focused on anything in particular, and to anyone that doesn't know him, it would look like he's thinking really, really hard on something. But to Mahika, it looks exactly how it is.
He's just trying to deal with his hangover and terribly failing at it.
Samay, who is sitting beside him, snaps his fingers in front of him and gets smacked at the back of his head by Keerti.
"Are we forgetting that Naina is older than us? And well, she doesn't really like to overthink," Mahika says with a shrug, the one that was closest to Naina out of them all. She taps her ring against the china again."They have been together for a while. Plus, they're both aiming for similar things in life. I think it's nice that you get to pursue something you've always wanted to with someone by your side." Clink. Clink, clink. At this point, she's tapping the metal and the china together with the beat of some vague song without realizing it.
Keerti leans back in her seat with a sigh. "You're right. She's done so well in life, too. I could never."
The clinking comes to a halt as Mahika gives her the stink eye. "You can praise other people without putting yourself down.. You know that, right?"
"I'm sorry, what was that? I didn't hear you over all of my struggles."
Dhruv snorts around the rim of his cup.
Pressing her lips together in a thin line, Mahika rolls a tissue up and tosses it at Keerti's head, watching it bounce off her temple and land pathetically on the table. It's a mere centimetre away from Keerti's now empty coffee mug and Mahika has to resist the urge to pick the crumpled tissue back up and throw it at the mug until it lands inside.
She holds back an amused grin at Keerti's deadpan stare.
"All of this wedding talk is making me wish I was there last night," Sakshi says with a pout, reaching over to flick the same tissue to the other end of the table. It stops at the edge. "I can't believe I had to miss it. I hate being a student."
"It's not because you're a student, Sak. It's called being a coward. A chicken, if you may." Samay snickers and leans back when Sakshi threatens to scratch him with her nails.
Mahika flicks the tissue back in Sakshi's direction, accidentally making it tap Dhruv's head that was now resting on the table.
"I had a presentation due early morning, okay?" Sakshi defends, crossing her arms across her chest. "Some of us are responsible adults."
"I don't know if you remember this or not," Keerti interjects, leaning over to give Sakshi a look. "But we share that class. You forgot to turn the projector on for the first three minutes."
"Did anyone ask?"
Keerti scoffs and leans back.
They begin to bicker playfully, Samay popping in once in a while to fan the fire.
It's then that Mahika begins to zone out. Again. But of course it's not the first time she's been distracted since the morning started. Her body is right there, plopped on the chair in front of her friends but her head? It's miles away.
Far, far away, back at the hotel they were at less than a day ago.
It's as if her soul has transported back to the hotel room with the noise from last night nothing but a mere distant hum at the back of her mind, the ghost of Amoli's fingertips caressing her cheekbone as light as a feather but still managing to send shivers down her spine.
This isn't even the first time the scene has played in her head.
And every time it does, Mahika recalls a new, very minute but very important detail about it that makes her heart grow three sizes bigger in her chest.
I'm going insane.
Her hand subconsciously reaches behind to rub at the back of her neck in a feeble attempt to make the recently risen goosebumps go back down. She quickly flinches and drops her hand because of how sensitive her skin feels, unintentionally pulling her loose hair to the front and patting it down to cover both the sides of her neck.
"...Mahi?"
She blinks up at Samay.
He pulls his hand back, which means he was probably snapping his fingers in front of her face while she was completely zoned out of her head.
"What's wrong with you today?"
Her eyes widen a little before she blinks a few times, her voice coming out strangled when she says, "Huh?"
Samay narrows his eyes at her, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms across his chest.
"Hm, there's something different about you today."
Fighting back the urge to get defensive, she purposely blanks her face out and asks, "Really? How?"
"Hm," he repeats in a drawl, just to be dramatic, and Keerti rolls her eyes in that here we fucking go again way that only she can pull off. Especially where Samay is concerned. He continues to stare at Mahika with his eyebrows raised, waiting for her to give in.
"You guys need to shut up," Dhruv announces, raising his head with his eyes barely open. Pointed ignorance is all he gets in return.
"I had expected you to be... I don't know, more dramatic about your best friend going away?" Samay points out, and the thing that almost gets Mahika is that he's right. Although she manages to keep her deadpan face intact, she internally does wonder why the longing hasn't settled in yet. "You seem distracted," he continues, eyebrows moving up and down. "Has it not settled in yet? Are you worried about something? Was your tea poisoned? Are you on your period? So many possibilities."
Mahika makes a face at him but chooses to not say anything since she knows he's just messing around.
"Don't joke about that," Dhruv mumbles, closing his eyes and letting out a deep, relaxed breath when Sakshi cards her fingers through his hair. "My sister gets headaches and shit when she's on her period, man. I don't know how they deal with it." Then he frowns to himself before he adds, "Not that she deals with it on her own. She yells at everyone in the house. Teenagers are kinda scary."
Mahika pinches the bridge of her nose. "I'm not on my period. Can we stop talking about this, please? Thanks."
"No, I don't think Samay was making a joke. Mahi is awfully quiet when she's —"
"I really don't know why we're discussing my PMS when I obviously don't want to," Mahika interrupts Keerti, tapping her knuckles on the table. "Can we talk about something else?"
"Yeah, like Dhruv and his issues," Samay jokes. Sakshi and Keerti both shake their heads at him.
"I'm going to order another tea and throw it in your face."
Ignoring his threat, Samay reaches out to pat his head like a dog. "There, there, Devdas. How's your headache?"
"If you don't take your hand off my hair right this instant, you'll have one too."
As much as Mahika enjoys their banter, her hand reaches for her phone lying face down on the table, tapping the screen twice and watching it light up. The hope in her eyes dims with the screen when there's still no sign of Amoli.
Maybe the paper got misplaced? she wonders, the corners of her lips turned downward. Did she leave the hotel in a hurry this morning and missed it?
I wasn't the only one that confessed last night... right?. She looks up, but her eyes are unfocused. Only able to make out Dhruv holding Samay in a headlock while the girls try to calm them down, Mahika looks down at the table again, this time her eyebrows drawing together in a frown.
Finding herself unable to pinpoint what exactly it is here that she's hoping for here is slowly driving her up against a wall.
If Amoli doesn't try to reach out, there's no way Mahika is going to be able to talk to her again. Or at least, that's what she believes.
Not to mention, Mahika has already made her move. If Amoli chooses to ignore it, there's nothing Mahika is going to be able to do about it. As much as it makes an ache appear in the middle of her chest, Mahika isn't going to try to reach out again when Amoli probably doesn't want her to.
A tap against her leg under the table brings her out of her reverie.
She meets Keerti's eyes, and the other girl tips her chin up, then down, and mouths, "You okay?"
And because for Mahika, it's always been the norm to lie about how she truly feels, she just tries to smile the best she can and nods.