14 Let's karaoke!
I've officially become a creep.
Right at the moment, I was busy staring at my roommate slash best friend, um, and also the guy I happen to like (yep, I was finally admitting it) as we were both busy doing Trig homework. Well, Rohan busy doing Trig. I was busy staring at how his hair fell onto his eyes, how he was biting his lower lip and how intense his eyes looked as he worked on his paper.
It all felt too familiar and normal. Yeah, I was used to being with Rohan and seeing him do these tiny gestures. His eyebrows crinkled a little as he erased the last two steps of the sum and started again. To be honest, it was startling how much I knew him and how well I could read him. I knew when he was thinking because his lips became pressed together and he got this distant look. I knew when he was flustered because he kept breathing heavy and his eyes didn't focus on anything. I knew when he was happy because he had this calm, sweet, and content smile on his face.
God, I could write a freaking book on him!
"Uthra?" a slightly worried voice pulled me from my let's-recollect-things-we-know-about-Rohan session.
"Y—yeah buddy?"
Rohan's black eyes ran over my face. "I've said your name more than ten times."
"Oh."
His warm eyes softened and he ruffled my hair.
"Tell me if something bothers you, okay?"
And though I wanted to scream at him that it was Rohan himself who was bothering me, I shut my mouth and gave him a grin. Just a few days to go. Then I wouldn't be able to even sit opposite him as we did boring Trigonometry. Trying to refocus and actually finish my homework somehow since Rohan never let me copy his homework, I took a deep breath and got ready to tackle math.
When I was about halfway through the homework, the door burst open, Ryan's right foot on air, a wide silly grin on his face. Rohit stood behind him, and though he didn't have a vile grin like Ryan's, he had a huge, not at all angelic grin on his face.
O-kay...
"We're having a karaoke session!"
Cue four sweaty bodies, lot of snacks, cans of carbonated drinks and water. How did they even get so many treats? And I seriously didn't even understand why Karan-anna always came here when all he did was whine about us.
"Karaoke?" Rohan asked. "And how are we doing that when we have no karaoke machine?"
"Oh, you'll see," Rohit said, smiling mysteriously.
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If you were looking for some super awesome music system the guys somehow managed to smuggle into the dorm walls which then led to an awesome let's-scream-at-the-top-of-our-voices experience, then get ready to be disappointed. Since we didn't have anything (background music, lyrics, or even crappy party lights) except for our super awesome (not exactly) voices, all we did was sing. It wasn't even karaoke but I didn't want to point that out. But we did have a let's-scream-at-the-top-of-our-voices session. So right now, we were all yelling (yep, even I couldn't sugarcoat it as singing) “Burn it to the Ground” by Nickelback while holding coke cans as if it was beer or tequila.
"I'VE GOT A FIST FULL OF WHISKEY, THE BOTTLE JUST BIT ME!!"
"OOOOHHHH!" It was more like we were all howling in pain rather than a sensual “oh” like in the original song.
"That shit makes me batshit crazy We've got no fear, no doubt, all in balls out!!"
We all started bumping hips against each other as we raised our hands, trying to sway, but it looked more like a bunch of drunks walking. Hrithik-anna and Karan-anna sung the main part while we all stuck to the background “hey” part. What was priceless was how even Rohan was singing without no care, a giant slap-happy (or more like drunk happy) smile on his face and like that, a huge smile grew on my face.
"We're going off tonight—HEY!
To kick out every light—HEY!
Take anything we want—HEY!
Drink everything in sight—HEY!"
We all stopped for a second with cheeky grins, all having the same thought, and chugged our Coke down as if it was alcohol, winking at each other as we started dancing clumsily and singing the next lines.
"We're going till the world stops turning While we burn it to the ground tonight!!"
I wolf-whistled as the song continued and seeing me, Ryan wolf-whistled too. I smirked at Rohan, knowing very well he couldn't whistle, let alone a wolf whistle, and bumped my hips hard on his, or more like a hip bumping thigh thing but hey, I didn't want to think of depressing thoughts like my height right now. I was drunk (well, sort of) and happy, so no worries just for these few minutes. Rohan slightly blushed when I urged him to whistle, all of us still jerking our hips, hands and legs like jellyfish would (and mind, jellyfish don’t have hips, so imagine how much we sucked at it).
"Well, I can't whistle like how you can't have a hoarse, manly voice..." Rohan said loudly and stuck his tongue at me as all the guys halted to laugh at me.
And when did he get mischievous?
The singing started once again but Rohan got my head in a headlock, his lips near my ear. "Since," he continued his previous statement, "you're a girl."
Breathe, Uthra. Slowly breathe. It's just lips near ear. Nothing big.
And how do you breathe again? Wait—what’s breathing again?
It's the art of taking a deep breath and exhaling it, you dumb girl!
Right.
I punched his stomach before jumping towards the centre of our small room were the guys were now yelling “Can You Hear Me?” by Enrique Iglesias. What was with this party mood?
"Let the party begin!!
Hey, hey, all the way DJ, let it play Hey, hey can you hear me?
Ooohhhhh Hey, hey, all the way DJ let it play Hey, hey can you hear me?
Ooohhhhh Can you hear me?
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me?
Ooohhh."
A grin tugged at my lips when I felt Rohan's presence behind me yet again, his voice also shouting “Can you hear me?” We all started shoving each other and laughed as we sung broken verses of the song. I had the guy I loved near me, my best friends surrounding me, and we were being silly and—simply being teenage boys. So yeah, I would be leaving them in a few days. But... but, this was where I belonged. And though the thought of leaving was sad and heart wrenching, right now, right here, I was happy and to me,and that’s what mattered.