Destiny's Play!!

Chapter - 22

Avni was filled with trepidation and a strange anxiety as she stepped out of the taxi. The driver left to park the car somewhere. She looked around at the young crowd of people thronging the place. Some were married and some weren't. While there were a lot of young boys who were roaming around trying to act smart with girls who seemed to be alone. It wasn't as if she was some old hag but she was so uncomfortable she didn't know how she was going to survive the remainder of this spree. Manya however had no problem. She was wearing a tank top with a skinny jeans and high heels. She looked really pretty with her hair open and danglers and make up. Avni saw excitement and enthusiasm for enjoyment. Something she herself wasn't too good at feeling. Then Manya lightly clasped her wrist and pulled her forward towards the door. Avni followed Manya as close as possible. What was she afraid of? She was old enough to not get lost. But she never did well in a crowd and here it seemed the entire state was present in terms of numbers. And then as they entered. Avni found she had to revise her thinking. If she had thought the place was crowded from outside there was not an inch to move inside. People were stepping all over each other. The music was so loud and thrumming. She could barely hear Manya above the noise. The smell of smoke filled her lungs as she inhaled the air to release some tension and she coughed a little. What was she doing here? She was a quiet girl this was not a place for her. And yet she was here. So she should have said no, said a tiny voice inside her head. But she hadn't. Now she had no option but to go through this for the next couple of hours. She hoped Manya would soon get bored and will leave. Though that didn't seem possible as of now as she watched the girl let go of her hand and move towards the dance floor waving at someone. As she left Avni felt like slapping her forehead for agreeing to come to a place like this.

Strangers were bumping into her, some apologized some asked her to watch where she was going. Avni looked around to find a quiet corner as she kept an eye on Manya so as not to lose her in this dense crowd though as Manya moved deeper she found it difficult to see where she was. They both had their cellphones Avni wasn't sure if they had signal inside or even if they could hear anything above the noise. She found a corner and sat down on the step watching Manya dance. She couldn't help but smile. So what if she wasn't enjoying, Manya was. The girl seemed to have a penchant for fun. But Avni had yet to see her act irresponsibly. So far Manya had taken care of everything. She had even brought the house keys with her so they could get back inside undetected. Avni hoped they could safely reach home and that her belief in Manya being sensible stayed put. She watched as girls downed liquor as if the world was ending and then go out of control. Avni had never understood the reason for drinking so much that you lose control. Didn't people know they could be taken advantage of? There could be several accidents? One could get hurt or seriously injured or even die?

Sahil had been an avid drinker too. He had loved to party and he had loved to lose control. Once he started there was no stopping him. He rarely took Avni with him to his friends' place for get togethers or parties. It wasn't as if she had complained. He had spent a lot of time in Canada, studying there, working there and then he had come back to Ludhiana for a while when she had met him. Her thought process was shattered when she heard a loud noise. She turned her head and realized it was just a bottle that had fallen and had broken near her foot. She actually sighed with relief. She didn't want to journey down the memory lane again.

She turned her head towards where Manya was dancing and frowned. There was a group of boys surrounding her now and Avni wasn't sure if that was good. She was alone on the dance floor amongst strangers. She rose and slowly made her way towards her friend. But even as she did she realized she would be late by the time she would reach her. She couldn't really see what was happening as she descended the stairs towards where Manya was but it seemed something had already gone wrong. Avni just reached the scene as Manya slapped one of the boys who had been dancing around her. And Avni clapped her hands to her mouth. Her instinct about this being a bad idea was just coming true. What she didn't know was it was only going to get worst.

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