I Knew You Were Trouble- Part 1 [Rohan]

"Gosh, I am so nervous. I haven't been on a date in so long," Ru confessed, walking into the living room, hands still fixing his hair.

His eyes fell on Aarav, and for a moment, he forgot to breathe. The dark Adonis was shirtless, sitting on the floor and fixing the hardware of his CPU. Aarav was sweating for some reason, hair all matted, skin glistening, body all thick and muscly. There was something primal about him, sitting shirtless, surrounded by all the tools and gadgets.

Ru shivered from head to toe. Thankfully, Aarav did not notice, but he did note the silence.

"You were saying?" He asked, eyes still fixed on the machine part that he was securing with a screwdriver.

Ru unfroze. "Umm, no,….just saying I hope I don't get awkward."

He crossed the room, clacking loudly in his shiny red, knee-high lacy boots with generous heels. The sound caught Aarav's attention.

"Do you like the outfit?" Ru asked when he saw Aarav staring. He gave him a full spin, including a view of his tight ass, made tighter by his black leather pants.

"Not bad," Aarav replied casually, and returned his gaze to the task at hand. "A little more eyeliner maybe."

"Ha, ha. Sarcasm!" Ru walked over to the sofa and sat behind Aarav, waiting for his date to arrive. "Took me forever to find a shirt that matches my boots. Speaking of shirts, why are you without one?" He asked and immediately regretted it.

Aarav shrugged his perfect, round shoulders. "Thought you might use some cheering up." Ru heard the smirk in Aarav's voice and smacked him on the back. Gosh! His muscles are so hard.

"I am adequately cheered. Thank you."

It had been almost a week since they platonically slept together on Ru's bed. Ru had to admit since then, he missed the warmth and being wrapped in those strong arms. He even contemplated inviting Aarav back to his bed, but he would hate being heartbroken and miserable again, and he was so proud when he didn't give in to the temptation.

"Just waiting for my date to pick me up," Ru shared to clear the awkward silence.

Aarav gave an indifferent grunt, but Ru continued. "How is Maria, now? I heard she has resumed her shoots."

Aarav took out one of the covers from the CPU he was working on and laid it on the floor. "She is doing well. I will see her tomorrow. She asked me to thank you."

Ru brushed it off. "Was just lending my support, doing my duty as a friend—no big deal. I am surprised no one reported on what happened. But, I guess we have the host of the party to thank for that. It is never good to have bad publicity."

Aarav chuckled, the muscles of his back rising as fall as he unscrewed another piece of the CPU. "There is no bad publicity."

Ru nodded. "True, and I must thank you, too. If it wasn't for your invitation, I would probably be spending this beautiful Saturday evening, alone in my room, watching music videos."

For a second, Aarav's arms stopped moving, but then he continued as before. Right then, Ru's phone pinged.

"Oops, my date is here. Will see you later," Ru said, grabbing his bag on the way out and closing the door behind him. He heard another grunt; that's all. Mr. Grumpy, Ru thought.

"You look nice," Shyam complimented as soon as Ru settled inside the car. Ru smiled and thanked him. He could not decide if he should compliment Shyam on his nerdy glasses or his plaid t-shirt; so, instead, he settled on his spacious car.

Ru and Shyam had been texting back and forth since Ru had returned from the party that night. Ru almost laughed at how shy Shyam was when he asked him out.

[Do you want to check out the new food court at Mani mall?] was all his text had said.

But Ru thought it was adorable, just like his big, round glasses and his well-oiled hair parted on the right. If Shyam took off his glasses, Ru was sure he would look very handsome with his bumped nose and strong jaw, and Ru had no doubt the body under that plaid shirt was something to die for, tall and broad, just the way Ru liked them. He could not wait to get that shirt off the guy. Suddenly, the image of shirtless Aarav floated before Ru, and his heart skipped a beat.

"Have you been to the Mani mall before?" Shyam asked, taking the car off parking.

"No. It has been years since I have been to one."

"Really?" Shyam sounded surprised, "I thought you must visit the mall every week."

"Why? Because my dad owns several of them?" Ru gave a short laugh. "To be honest, that's the reason I avoid them as much as I can."

"Sorry, I didn't realize. If you want to go somewhere else…." Shyam suddenly became concerned.

"It's cool. I am actually excited since I haven't been to one in so long. I am vegan, though. Do you think they have vegan food there?"

"They better." Shyam sounded confident. They soon entered the main street.

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The traffic was thankfully very light for a Saturday evening, and the ride only took half an hour. Even though it was September, it was hot and muggy outside. So, Ru was glad they chose the mall for the date. And apparently, everybody else chose the mall too. The place was teeming with casual visitors, more than actual shoppers, mostly families and a lot of couples, too. The kids could not have enough of the plain marble floor on which they could run and slide. The aunties and grannies sat on the benches and shared whatever gossip they had collected over the day, and the girls were pulling the guys into the beauty shops and the lovely boutiques.

When Ru came out of the walk through metal detector, he found Shyam waiting for him by a bench.

"What floor?" Ru asked, putting on his jacket. Shyam helped him with the sleeves.

"Third."

The food court was amazing indeed! There were the usual ones, Chinese, Mediterranean, Momo shop, Kebab stall, Paani puri stall, and whatnot; and some unique ones too, a French Patisserie, an Italian shop, and a German chocolate stall. If Ru was on a speaking terms with his dad, he would congratulate him for doing a decent job with the food courts at those malls.

"Fancy anything?" Shyam asked, looking around.

"Yeah, you," Ru muttered glibly.

"Hmm?"

"I mean the Punjabi stall," Ru quickly added, "let's go there. I am craving for some chhole bhature."

As they waited for their food to be prepared, Ru's phone pinged. He ignored and continued telling Shyam about how malls are bad for the environment, but his father never saw eye to eye with him and would never consider any of his business suggestions. But then, his phone pinged again. And again.

Ru apologized and fished out his phone, annoyed to no end.

[Where are you? I saw that there was an accident at the WE highway.] It was Aarav's text.

[Says on TV, there is a huge roadblock.]

[Just wondering. That's all.]

Ru sighed and typed. [We r ok, in d mall.] and hit send.

He smiled sheepishly at Shyam. "My mom," he explained.

Shyam did not mind, and soon enough, their food was ready. They found a relatively empty spot in the court, and Ru could not wait to dig into his delicious meal, fingers and all. Alas, his phone pinged again!

[What mall?]

Ru almost rolled his eyes and left the message on seen, without answering. Would be a good lesson for the idiot, he thought.

"How long have you been working for Maria?" He asked Shyam before gobbling up a spoonful of the delicious chhole.

Shyam put a finger on his mouth as he swallowed his food and then answered, "Six months. Before that, I worked with another actor. But he became too big to handle." He gave an awkward grin. "Maria is easy to work with."

Ru nodded. "I understand."

"Before that, I was in college, mass communication. Graduated and then decided to join the industry. My aunt has a PR firm and works with a few media clients," Shyam offered before taking another bite of his egg roll. "What about you?" He asked around his mouthful. "Your family is in Delhi?"

"Mm, hmm. My behemoth of a Punjabi family is in Delhi. But I hate business and wanted to pursue music. So, I moved here two years ago."

Shyam looked as if something clicked for him. "Is that why….?" He gestured about the karaoke, and Ru shamefully nodded.

"Yuppp, I admit I am not the best singer in town. But I am willing to learn and work hard."

"Something that can't be said for everyone in the industry, unfortunately." Shyam made an honest comment.

Ru saw Shyam's empty plate and offered his half of the bhature. When Shyam refused, Ru tore a piece, dipped in the tasty chhole sauce, and forced it into his mouth. The guy happily accepted it and couldn't stop smiling as he chewed the morsel.

Ru's phone pinged once again. He took a peek.

[Can you bring me dinner?] It was Aarav.

"Ughhhh," Ru could not hold his frustration anymore.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's my mom," Ru said and then typed into the chatbox [No. I am busy.] with a tongue-out emoji and hit send.

Thankfully, there were no more untimely pings for the rest of his date.