Speechless...

"Sims?” questioned the shaggy raven-haired boy sitting on the plush cream armchair in the living area of the cozy apartment.
“Yes, Collin?” she answered from her position at his feet, her back resting against his legs as she perused Gone with the wind for what was sure to have been the hundredth time.
“How long have we known each other?” Collin queried.
Simi Elizabeth John swiveled on her bottom so that she was facing him. Tilting her head up, she did a few quick calculations.
“Well, we are 19, yes?” When he nodded in the affirmative, she continued. “We’ve known each other since we were 14, so that would mean we’ve known each other for five years.”
“Hmmm,” Collin murmured. “It feels like we’ve known each other for way longer. Forever, even.”
She merely nodded and resumed her previous position, her head now resting next to Collin’s feet on the comfortable chaise sofa.
She couldn’t help but agree with him, although forever didn’t seem long enough to her.
She suddenly felt the movement of his bulk on the lounge and turned around to see his eyes widening at an alarming pace and watch his mouth form a silent “SHIT.”
He stood up on the armchair, wobbled a bit, then jumped over the back of the chair. She watched as he raced into his bedroom faster than the speed of light.
She glanced at her watch, 4:30 – he had an hour until he had to meet his date at the newly refurbished 'H2O'.
She sighed, heaving herself off the floor in time for his, “Simmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii?”
She knew what would happen now. He would ask her for her opinion on what he should wear, get him to fix his shoes and then shoo him out the door so he couldn’t run away at the last moment.
Another whine emitted from his room. “Simmiiiiiiiiiii, what do I wear? Who knows what Anju will like… Stupid designers and their stupid fashion.” he muttered.
Ah, Anju Joseph,. Beautiful, smart and a great personality. She had it all, and when he had revealed that he was planning on asking her out on a date, Simi couldn’t have acted more convincingly that she was explicitly happy for his new relationship prospect.
To tell the truth, Simi dreaded when Collin told her about his new dates.
Why? She loved him. Plain and simple, why should it be anything complex and difficult? Everything she felt about the Man-Who-Conquered summed up in three monosyllabic words.
“Wear the black dress pants and the blue shirt.”
“That blue one should be fine, yeah?”she said pointing to the one at the extreme right of the wardrobe.
“Well, you’re the expert, love.” Her heart stuttered, even though she should be used to his pet names after five years of friendship and three of loving him.
Yep, that’s right. She’d loved him since she was 16 . She scoffed at the prospect of her loving Albin-her other best friend, how anyone thought she felt anything more than platonic affection for him was ridiculous…
Collin emerged from the room to her left looking handsome, as always, and she automatically moved forward to adjust the collar he had donned incorrectly.
As she did so, he smiled down at the brunette fussing over him like a mother, or a loving wife. His heart beat an unhealthy tattoo against his chest at the thought of Simi as his wife, but he passed it off as a product of over-exertion. Stupid excuse? He knew that.
She smiled up at him. “All ready to go..”
He surveyed his surroundings intently, and grinned impishly when Simi held out the wallet he had been subtly looking for. He crossed to the door after giving her a chaste kiss on the cheek that sent tingles to her toes, and waved to her as he strode briskly out of sight. sunk down onto the couch and put her head in her hands. Putting up the supportive best friend act was wearing her out. It took so much energy to pretend you weren’t in love with someone you were with almost every second of every day.
She laid her sore body down onto the two-seater, which was – thankfully – big enough to fit her body from head to toe. She closed her eyes and drifted off into what she wanted to be a peaceful slumber.
However, what she wanted was usually far from what she got. Recently, when she was alone in the apartment – if Collin was on a date or something to that effect – she would have nightmares. Nightmares about disasters – or, more specifically, Collin’s death.
Tonight she was alone, and she knew that the nightmares would come as equally terrifying and heart-breaking as the ones before.

A flash of light whizzed past her head with frightening speed. She dodged it swiftly and nimbly, before halting in front of a masked figure e, terrorists with their guns outstretched, walked towards her and muttered half-heartedly, “Al Jiha...-“
She scrunched her eyes up, waiting for the last word to be uttered and her fate to be sealed, but she neither felt nor heard anything.
Instead, she saw the remnants of a red light as the bullet cast towards the terrorist hit him square in the chest and she turned to see Collin smile quickly before he disappeared from her sight.
She felt an odd sense of déjà vu as she looked down and saw Collin sprawled on the ground, his eyes blank and empty.
What felt like an eternity passed before she could comprehend what she was seeing, and upon the realization that the man she loved had been killed, she crumpled beside his motionless form and shook his shoulders vigorously.
“Colli. Come on, Colli. Wake up!” she wailed. “I love you, you have to wake up!”
Her heart-wrenching sobs grew louder and drew attention from everyone around them, until a pair of large, warm hands wrapped themselves around her and gently pulled her away.
“Simmi… Simmi,” a voice whispered. “Wake up, love. Come on, wake up.”

Collin couldn’t have been less pleased about the outcome of his date with Anju. They had both arrived at the H2O at roughly 8:25, which gave them plenty of time to get seated.
The date was fine for the first few minutes, until a young woman and her boyfriend sauntered up to their table to ask Anju for an autograph. She wasn’t “Indian Idol's” most famous contestant for nothing, you know.
Anyway, as Collin observed the scene playing out before him, he noticed Anju’s subtle flirtatious glances towards the boy and the way the boy returned them with hidden fervor.
When the couple meandered away, finally, Anju began to discuss her business.
Now, any man would know that the male specimen’s idea of the perfect date does not include a discussion on the pros and cons of ways to keep one's voice intact, techniques to cancel out pitch glitches and most tediously how male fans fantasize over her.
Shuddered.
Fortunately,Anju received an urgent call from her sister, who was leaving that evening , and they had to cut the date short. Collin almost jumped for joy, but it was short-lived after the waiter delivered the bill.
He had promptly paid and walked as fast as possible away from the scene of the crime.
And now, here he was, about to open his door and walk in to the comfort of his home.
He opened the door, and sighed contentedly. There’s no place like home.
That is, there’s no place like home until you notice the figure sleeping on the lounge, thrashing around and whimpering.
“Sims” he thought.
Rushing to her side, he knelt down beside her head. He could barely make out the words she was whispering painfully into the darkness. He wondered fleetingly what she could be dreaming about, before lifting the upper part of her body up off the lounge and sat in its place. Cradling her body like a child, he whispered, “Sims… Sims. Wake up, love. Come on, wake up.”

Simi felt her eyes flutter open and it took her a few seconds to get her bearings and realize that she was being held close to a very warm body.
She stared into the bottle-brown, sparkling eyes and gasped.
“Oh, God. What did I say in my sleep? What did he hear?”
Jumping up as quickly as possible, she laughed almost hysterically and said, “Colli! What are you doing home so early? I thought Anju would have captivated you for another few hours, surely!”
He sat there dumbfounded. A few moments passed where Simi was standing , chest heaving from the effort of talking so quickly, and Collin looking at her like she had grown a second head from her bellybutton and started dancing around a Beach hat.
Simi broke the silence. “Well? How was the date?”
Collin shook his head. “Didn’t go so well, we had to cut it short.” He patted the space next to him and when Simi sighed and sat down, he said, “Are you okay?”
A nervous, almost manic giggle escaped her. “Why would you think otherwise, Colli?”
“Maybe because when I walked in you were thrashing and writhing around in your sleep, and then when I woke you up you had tears streaming down your face and you were shaking.” he said, rather bluntly.
Simi’s eyes widened and she retorted shakily, “Well, I can’t really remember it that well. It mustn’t have been that bad if I can’t remember it, right?” She was surprised at how easily and fluidly the lies spilled from her lips.
“Uh, yeah, sure. Whatever.”
Collin stood up and walked solemnly into his room.
“I’m her best friend, am I not? How can she act like nothing is wrong, when it is so blatantly obvious that there is? Why doesn’t she think that she can talk to me about anything? We've been through hell crying out loud! How can she think that she can’t trust me after all that?” he mused. He suddenly felt depressed for some odd reason.
By this time, he had situated himself on his bed, and was on his back staring at the ceiling. He only sat up when he felt the pressure of a second person on his mattress. He raised himself up onto his elbows, and upon seeing the curly-haired brunette sitting next to him, collapsed back onto his back and placed his forearm over his eyes.
“Colli?”
He grunted in reply.
She continued. “Are you alright? You don’t have to answer me, but it would be nice if you did. I am your best friend, yeah? So you can tell me anything.”
Collin mumbled something under his breath that Simi didn’t catch, so she asked, “Sorry, what?”
He took a deep breath. “I said: Exactly, so why don’t you tell me anything?”
“It’s different…?” She meant it as a concrete statement, but his proximity and the desperation in his hypnotizing eyes shook her to the core, and it came out as a question – a shaky one, at that.
Collin stood up, fury blazing in his eyes and turning them a dark brown – almost black. “No, Sims. No, it’s not. It’s exactly the same, and you don’t get it!”
Simi stood up too, and cautiously moved over to where he was now standing, head and arms resting on the mantle. Placing a cautious hand on his back, and ignoring the spasms of fire running down her fingertips and through her arm, she rubbed her hand in soothing circles.
He shrugged it off, and missed the disappointed and hurt expression that marred her features. He missed the salty tears that welled up incessantly in her eyes and he missed the silent sob that racked her body.
He paid no attention to her when she didn’t try to replace the hand, and tried to figure out why he, all of a sudden, missed the comforting pattern Simi’s hands gave and the warmth she exuded.
He expected her to have returned to sitting down on his bed, and expected her to have been waiting for him, ready to comfort him when he sat down beside her.
But, when he finally turned around, she was gone.

He paid no attention to her when she didn’t try to replace the hand, and tried to figure out why he, all of a sudden, missed the comforting pattern Simi’s hands gave and the warmth she exuded.
He expected her to have returned to sitting down on his bed, and expected her to have been waiting for him, ready to comfort him when he sat down beside her.
But, when he finally turned around, she was gone.

There it was -the inevitable, albeit silent rejection that could bring any woman to tears.
And that’s what it did.
She bit her lip so hard she could feel the blood seep out of it and a silent sob shook her whole frame. Was it meant to hurt this much? She contemplated sitting back on the bed and waiting for all the stupid emotions to pass, or for Collin to realize his mistake and comfort her like she’d always dreamed he would, but instead she fled through the open door.
She paused just before she reached the front door of the apartment, hoping Collin would run out of the bedroom after her, but he didn’t, so she ran as fast as she could down the stairs and towards her Activa parked at the other side of the building and blasted away from that place.
She landed with a loud screech in the lawn of Albin Dev and his wife, Shreya Nair-well Shreya Albin now ,of course , and fell to the ground – she was too distraught to even balance herself properly.
She didn’t notice the small, frightened child with pale skin,and dark brown hair and bright eyes on the tricycle next to her until the boy began wailing at the top of his lungs.
A woman raced in from the house, with her husband following close behind. They snatched up the boy and turned to her, thinking she was a criminal. They recognized who she was almost immediately though, and Albin breathed, “Simi, what are you doing here?”
Shreya elbowed him for his insensitive behaviour. “Shut up, Albin.” She gave their now quiet son, Vishnu, to him and walked over to where Simi was hurled up on the grass. “Hey, Simi… What’s wrong?” she soothed.
Simi felt all of the unshed tears spill forth from her eyes and her breath caught in her throat. “V-Varrun d-doesn’t love me!” she wailed, sounding strikingly similar to Vishnu during his frightened state. Shreya looked at Albin pleadingly and Albin understood what she meant, because he nodded and took Vishnu up to his room.
“What makes you think that, Simi? Colli loves you…” Shreya pulled her up onto the lounge.
“H-He – I just know he doesn’t!”
When Simi’s sobs had subsided, Shreya asked her to explain what happened.
“W-Well… He went on a date with Anju ,” – she sniffled – “and when he came back I was asleep and I was having a nightmare. He asked what was wrong and I wouldn’t tell him because it was that dream – you know the one…” – Shreya nodded – “… and then he went all weird on me and walked into his room.
“I followed him because I was worried and when I told him he could tell me anything, he started yelling at me saying that I never tell him anything. I tried to comfort him like I always do, but he got mad and then I ran away…” She promptly dissolved into sobs.
“And you think that means he doesn’t love you?”
Simi nodded.
Shreya shook her head. “You silly girl, he was only a little bit mad because you wouldn’t tell him what was wrong.”
“But he never gets mad at me.” Simi whispered sadly. “What am I supposed to do? He doesn’t get it, no matter how hard I try to tell him. I basically blurted it out the other day… But he just didn’t get it.”

Collin and Simi sat together on the lounge, Simi’s feet in Collin’s lap. Collin massaged them absent-mindedly while they watched television.
Simi felt tingles spread like wildfire up and down her legs – and she wasn’t ticklish at all.
I have to tell him, she thought. I have to tell him – it’s now or never.
“Collin?” she asked.
“Yes, SUEY MUEY?” He mockingly returned.
She seemed to battle with herself for a while, her mouth opening and closing rapidly. She took a deep breath and blurted it out.
“Collin, I love you.”
Collin smiled. “I love you, too, Sims.” He turned his head back to watch the screen.
Simi deflated. Well, that was a bust.

“You know what? I think you should go back to the apartment and show him how much you love him.” Shreya stated bluntly.
“Show him?”
“Yeah, show him.” Shreya said. Before Simi could ask how to show him, Shreya had pulled her off the lounge and pushed her out the door. “Just remember, Simi… Well, I don’t really know – just show him!”
Shreya left Her gaping on the front step of the little house. Albin came down the stairs and asked, “She’s going to tell him properly tonight, isn’t she?”
“Yes, she is. You know, sometimes I wonder if those two are the daftest people that God ever made.”
They sat down on the lounge and Albin pulled Shreya in for a kiss. “Sometimes, I wonder the exact same thing.” He chuckled.

She couldn’t believe it! All Shreya had said was, “Just show him!”
Too bad she didn’t know how.
Sighing dejectedly, she turned on the spot and apparated outside the Skyline apartment block. She greeted the doorman and started climbing the stairs – the elevator was undergoing repairs.
Puffed, she finally made it to the fourteenth floor and wrenched open the door of 14C.
Collin was alone on the lounge, head in his hands. Her heart gave a crushing squeeze and she plunked herself down beside him.
He made no attempt to acknowledge her presence, so she caught his attention.
“Sims, what are you – mmpppph!”
Sharp volts of something ran blindly from her lips to her toes and back. She held his head against hers with her small hands, entwining them in his raven locks. His lips brushed hers once, twice, before he pulled away and rested his forehead against hers, breathless.
“Sims – what was that?”
“Shut up, Collin.”
Instead of being offended like she thought he would, he simply smiled and brushed his lips against hers again. He whispered against them, “I love you, Miss Elizabeth John.”
She pulled away, and he looked shocked – and almost afraid. He stuttered, “I mean, I don’t expect you to say it back or anything, I just had to tell you – and I’d made up my mind while you were gone and I had to say it, even if you didn’t fee-“
She pinched his lips together to stop him from talking. She laughed, “I’m not mad at you. Well, I am, but not because of what you said.” He raised an eyebrow – something she had never managed to learn how to do. “I’m mad because I wanted to say it first…”
“Mhuu firidd?” She let his lips go. He cleared his throat, which he suddenly found rather dry. “You did?”
She hummed her yes. Collin beamed. “Good.”
He leant down once more and captured her lips in a kiss.