She asked me, "Date me?" She looked at me with innocence in her eyes, and they were sparkling.

She continued, "I'm up for anything. What do you want? Date?" (I coughed.) "Kiss?" (I coughed twice.) "Love?" (I coughed a third time.) "Sex?" (I coughed 6-7 times.) "I have everything. Find out your sexuality. Do what you like."

It felt like my soul left my body hearing that. I took a towel and wiped her face, and then I finally broke the silence. "Shit, shit, are you crazy?"

"No, I'm dead serious. You need to experiment for your sexuality. Do it with me."

"This is not a game. Are... are you on drugs?"

"Why? You don't find me attractive? Come on, I'm just jobless... okay, I'll get a job too. Does that sound serious now?"

"Really? You'd start working?"

"Mm."

"Then it's fine."

I knew Bhoomi would yell at me when I will tell her that I wanna break things with her. We were just dating, not exactly girlfriends yet. If getting a job would make her happy, it might keep her busy. She had always been capable but so lazy. Maybe this would give her purpose. I knew she was just doing this to keep me with her. She ditched everyone else in school and spent all her time with me. I hadn't had any other friends since she became my friend.

"Let's go," she said.

"Where?"

"Oh, I forgot. I also need to get ready."

"Aadhira! Aadhira! what are you trying to do? Don't mess with me. You're lying, right?"

"No, we're going on a date. I asked my mom if I could join her company."

"Wait, really?"

"Yes, I did it. Remember in school? You said you like people who are successful. I'll do my best."

"You really want to date me? And you joined your mom's company? Did you forgive her for what she did?" 

"No, I can't. But maybe I need a fresh start. I can't spend my whole life in a room."

"So, motivation? Okay, do you have money now for the date, or am I paying?"

"I have money. My mom gave me an advance of 70,000 as my salary."

"Damn! You're such a pro."

"Yes, I am!"

I called Bhoomi and lied that I couldn't come because my bestie wasn't feeling well, so I was staying home. I could not find courage to say truth.

We went on our date and sat in a movie theater.

"So, what do you want to do on your date?" Aadhira asked.

"I ....don't..... know."

"I've never done this either, so I have no idea."

"What do we talk about?"

"We're friends. We talk all the time."

"So, what do we do?"

"Maybe we should google it because we've watched plenty of movies together already. Nothing new."

"Yes, we've done everything... except had sex. Let's do that."

"Are you mad? We shouldn't. I'm not ready."

"But you wanted to try things, right?"

"Yes, but not with you now." Dating my best friend feels like a headache. We watched the movie. It felt so awkward holding hands, even blushing, though we'd done it a million times. Dating your best friend is hard, especially when you've hidden your feelings for them since school. I remember those days.

Flashback to School Time

 A guy from Class F called me, saying Yogesh Sir wanted to see me in the staff room. It was early, no teachers had arrived yet. Why was he calling me?

"May I come in, sir?"

"Come in, Kiara," he said. Yogesh Sir, our new math teacher, closed the door. "AC is on."

"Sit, Kiara. I checked your test."

"Did I do something wrong?"

"Yes, you need extra classes. You did really bad. I'll need to tell your parents."

"No, sir! My mom will kill me."

"Oh, don't be scared." (He held my hand.)

I forced a smile and stood up. "Maybe I should go."

"Why? We'll discuss the test. You know, I've seen you in the classroom. You have a pretty smile."

"Thanks, sir." I felt scared and looked at the door, which was locked. 

"Sir, I think someone is calling me."

Yogesh Sir called me back and put a hand on my shoulder. "Sit down!" I felt terrified and sat down. He touched my cheek. "You're cheeks are so cute." His hand started moving toward my chest when someone knocked.

"Who is it? Busy, we'll talk later."

The knocking continued until he opened the door. Aadhira was there. "I told you to always tell me where you go." she shouted.

I looked scared. I did not stop myself to cry. I hugged her first time.

"What happened?" she asked me in anger.

I just looked at Yogesh Sir and kept crying like something bad had happened. She seemed to understand. She grabbed a chair and hit him with it. She reported him to her mom. Her mom didn't believe her at first, but when told the whole story, she had him fired. That day, Aadhira became my hero and won my heart.

Back to the present, 

She looked at me and said, "Google is weird."

"So, what do we do now? We're both dumb when it comes to this," I replied.

"How about a kiss?" she suggested, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

"What? In the theater?" I asked, incredulous.

"Yes, lots of people do that. We have the back row and..."

"No more adventures! It's not that easy. First of all, I need to know what you like."

"You already know everything about me," she said, rolling her eyes.

"That's the problem. Dating is about discovering new things about a person. That's the first stage."

"We've already cleared two stages," she pointed out. "The second one was kissing."

"Shit Shit!"

"Let do sex-sux talk?" She asked, eyebrows raised.

I sighed, leaning back in my seat. "Aadhira, maybe dating isn't just about physical stuff. It's about understanding each other, seeing if we fit together in a different way."

She pouted playfully. "We already fit. We've been best friends forever. We know each other's secrets, dreams, and fears."

"Yeah, but dating changes things," I said, looking into her eyes. "It's about seeing if there's more than just friendship. If there's... you know that spark."

Aadhira's gaze softened. "I get it. But why can't we just... experiment? Figure things out as we go?"

I shook my head. "Because I don't want to mess up what we have. You're too important to me."

She was quiet for a moment, then leaned closer. "Maybe that's why we should try. Because we know we're important to each other."

I bit my lip, unsure. "What if it ruins everything?"

"Or what if it makes everything better?" she countered, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Hmm," I said, feeling a mixture of excitement and nervousness. 

"Let's do the kiss first." she said.

Slowly slowly, my heart pounding with excitement. It felt like everything else disappeared, leaving just the two of us in this moment. We are getting closer to each other and..