Andy
1311 Words
Between the hospital duties and studies, Mia had very little time to herself. Whatever extra time she could manage, she would spend either exercising or catching up with her family. It had been a long time since she had spoken to any friend.
One morning before sunrise their doorbell rang. Jenny opened the door and couldn’t place a name to the smiling face of the man standing at her door.
“Hi! You must be Jenny! Nice to meet you. I am Anand. Friends call me Andy,” he shook her hand and asked, "is Mia here?"
“Oh! Mia… she is still in bed. Wait a minute.” Jenny turned around and called out, “MIA!!”
Jenny's voice was loud enough to wake up the dead from their slumber. Mia woke up with a start, all alert.
Their internship had trained them to be very alert while sleeping. A single call was enough for her to be wide awake and ready to work. She pulled on her pjs and went into the living room, "what is it? An emergency?”
“No silly, you have a guest”
“Guest?” With a question mark on her face, she turned around and squealed in happiness, "Andy! Oh my god, I can't believe this!"
She bear-hugged him, and he lifted her off the ground still hugging.
After a few minutes of ‘how are you and missed you greetings’, they finally remembered that there was someone else in the room, who was scowling at them.
“I didn’t know you had a boyfriend,” said Jenny incredulously, with a raised eyebrow and an angry frown. Why did she lead Raj on when she was already seeing someone? She should have declared it right away when she saw Raj getting attracted to her. She couldn't be so naive as to not notice Raj's interest in her. Jenny's thoughts were clear on her face, at least that's what Mia felt. Thankfully Jenny did not voice her bitter opinion.
“He is not. Andy is my best friend, my BFF,” replied Mia almost jumping up and down in excitement.
“Looks like your friend is upset at me for some reason, babe. As my apology, I will cook breakfast for you girls today,” Andy replied with his boyish charm.
No one could be annoyed with him for long. His friendly ways and warm nature made him instantly likeable.
He prepared sausages & eggs for them and managed to make some exotic fritters for late afternoon snacks. The guy loved cooking and by evening he had befriended everyone.
Jenny and Dane invited him and Mia for dinner. They went to the same dhaba and enjoyed a scrumptious meal in a cozy cabana.
As they laughed and let their hair down, Jenny took a selfie of them having fun and posted it on social media with the caption ‘a fun evening with my friend’s BFF. We love you Andy’.
***
Raj
Raj wasn’t very active on social media, but he did browse through his notifications sometimes.
Who the hell is ‘Andy’? He saw the photo that Jenny had posted.
Mia looked Oh so sexy! in her pink crop top embellished by sequins. Her short denim skirt rode up her caramel thighs a little... A slight skin showed between the gap of the top’s hem and the skirt. So hot and chic.
She had done something with her eyes. The dark brown irises looked playful and happy. Her smile reached her eyes as they twinkled into the camera, making them extraordinarily bewitching.
Wish I could be the reason behind that happiness, he sighed. The longing for the girl growing in his chest making him want to drive back to that sleepy town.
In the pic, Dane and Andy sat in the middle with huge mugs of beer in their hands. The girls sat on either side of the men.
Jenny was almost sitting on Dane's lap with her glass of white wine. On the other side, Mia had a glass of red in her hand. Her other hand rested on Andy’s thigh, as she laughed at the camera. Andy's eyes were on Mia's face.
All rational thoughts were out of his mind and he could only think of murder.
He hadn’t spoken to Mia for over a week now. He had been very busy, but whenever he had free time, Mia sneaked into his thoughts. All his fantasies revolving around how he would get to know Mia intimately. Although he had taken Mia's number from Jenny the same day, he had restrained calling her as he wanted to give her time. He needed to know right now who Andy was and didn't care that it was almost midnight.
Unable to control his impulse, he called Mia and heard a male voice answer.
Annoyed he barked into the handset, 'Hello, is this Mia’s number?'
'Yes. Sorry, she is a little busy. Would you like to leave a message for her?' the male voice replied, stifling a yawn.
'That’s alright. I will call her back.' Raj said and disconnected the call.
For a few minutes, he sat staring at the phone. What have I done? Why was her phone with him? Is Andy sleeping with Mia? Is that why he sounded tired? He wondered what he should do next. With the overwhelming feeling of loss and jealousy he called his hospital, informed about his leave and drove out.
***
Andy
Andy was six feet tall with a round face, dark black eyes, and his silky hair was cut in a way that gave him a boyish look. He was an IT professional working with Capgemini, an IT firm for almost a year now. Mia and Andy studied in the same junior college and were best friends.
He had seen Mia go through hell and return. The worst time being the time when she actually broke up with the misogynist a*sshole.
Her subsequent battle with depression and surviving suicide had been very scary. Thankfully, things had changed. He was so proud of the way his friend had handled her life.
He had provided whatever support was necessary from juggling his work and managing her illness to beating the s**t out of the cheating S.O.B. an excuse for a boyfriend that she had in college. The bastard had constantly cheated on her. It broke her heart and wrecked her personality to see that, and when she stood up to him, he had actually tried to force himself on her.
Even today when Andy remembered how she had called him from the middle of a busy street in tattered clothes, totally disoriented, on a run from that bastard, he felt like punching the guy again.
He liked Jenny. She was warm, friendly and cared for Mia. They had such a fun evening. It was almost midnight now, and he lay on the couch in the living room musing, happy with the turn of events for Mia. He had been too busy the whole month to interact with her, so the moment he could take time off, he was here.
She needed to know about his feelings for Anya, the super-cop he had fallen head over heels in love with.
Tomorrow he would tell Mia. Although Anya wasn’t aware of it yet. But then Anya would know when the time is right.
While he sat thinking, Mia’s phone rang. She was at the hospital for a patient and had left the phone here. Typical of her, most of the time, the girl wasn’t aware of where her phone was! He attended the call from an unknown number and heard a man ask for Mia. Well, he would call back.
Disconnecting the call Andy fell back into his not- so- innocent thoughts about Anya, the cop girl.
***
- Writer
