Not your Romeo

Chapter 54

I come to the hallway and see Aby and Josh arguing with each other regarding some matter. I immediately come near them and when they see me, they become quiet. 

"What's wrong Aby?", I ask looking at Aby. She is pissed and angry at Josh. Her lips are drawn into a thin line and I can sense the tension between them. 

"Jazz, you need to stay out of it", Aby says and I am shocked at her words. What happened between Josh and Aby?

"Aby...I"

"Please!", she yells and I flinch slightly. I look at Josh and he is fuming with anger. The only perfect relationship I thought was Aby and Josh's. I hate to see them fight like this. Aby walks away from us and Josh heads to the other direction. I look at both of them and they are no less than enemies. 

The entire day, I see Aby and Josh fighting and pointing an accusing finger at each other. I've never seen them this angry before. Misunderstandings are common in a relationship, but you don't let it to end the relationship forever.

The day comes to an end. Aby and I walk towards the main gate. Josh always picks us up from there. Aby and I wait for Josh at our usual spots. Twenty minutes passes by and the crowd slowly starts disappearing. 

"Where is Josh?", I ask Aby. She rolls her eyes and sighs. 

"Let's go!", Aby grabs my hand and pulls me with her. "Josh is not going to come", she says as we walk on the busy streets. 

Once we reach the apartment, Aby slams the door behind her and barges into her room. I stay frozen in my spot and don't really know how to react. 

I slowly open the door. Aby looks at me through the mirror placed on her dresser. She turns around as I enter the room and walk towards her. 

"Aby... what's wrong?", I ask and place my hands on her shoulders.

"Jazz.. I am so sorry. I am just so pissed at Josh", she says and sighs.

"What happened between you and Josh?", I ask. 

"Josh helped......", Aby stops at her words and her eyes searches mine. She is worried and her face reflects that.

"Helped whom?", I ask unsure. If Josh helped somebody, then what's wrong in that? Helping others is a good trait indeed.

"Derek!", Aby blurts out in frustration. Josh helped Derek? I cant even think of Derek asking help from Josh. He couldn't ask anyone for any sort of help. That's just not Derek.

"Derek?", I raise an eyebrow at her. Does Aby know what she is talking about? Derek and help!?

"Yeah.. Jazz.. I think its high time you know what's going around you", Aby says and holds my hands in hers.

"What... what!?", I am startled. What is going on around me?

"Actually... Josh gave your phone number to Derek and he also told him the apartment address. Out of all people, stupid Josh went and gave your details to Derek! Doesn't he know about him!?, Aby is practically yelling.

"Josh was so casual about the entire thing when he was telling me about it", Aby continues to say.

I try to register the piece of information that Aby has thrown in the air. I remember Derek crashing into the apartment and when I asked him about how he knew the address, he didn't have a perfect answer. Then, when I was in Texas, he called me and still I didn't know how he actually got my phone number. I had assumed it to be Aby all this time. But then when she warned me, it was pretty clear that she didn't like me hanging around with Derek. I never had a thought of Josh helping Derek. Why would he do that? Why didn't he tell me?

During the initial days, Josh had told me to stay away from Derek and I don't understand why he kept it as a secret from me and Aby. Giving Derek, my phone number or address is not a problem at all, but Josh shouldn't have broken our trusts by hiding it from us.

"And that's the reason I am angry with him", Aby sighs and sits on the bed.  Aby's words, Doesn't he know about him! plays behind my mind. What did she mean by saying that? 

I turn to look at Aby, "Is there something I need to know?", I ask. Aby looks up at me with a concerned look on her face. I sit next to her and look straight into her eyes. 

"About Derek", I make it clear. There is something I am missing and ignoring. If Josh gave my number to Derek then why is Aby so worried?

"Yes", Aby says and sighs. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breathe, before speaking. 

"Jazz.. you're new to NYU. This is your freshmen year and you are so naïve. You have no idea what happened last year and it is about Derek", Aby says firmly and I swallow my nervousness. I am sure this is something I don't want to hear about.

"There was a girl named- Iris. She was very beautiful and always got good grades. She was my classmate and most of the time I didn't speak to her at all. Well.. when you're in your second year, college definitely starts feeling different. Josh and I got really serious, so there was no time to actually concentrate on anything else", Aby says and I carefully listen to each and every detail.

"Then, one day the news broke out that Iris loves Derek. So.. as you know Derek is so handsome and every girl's dream boy.. blah blah blah.., most of them were upset and hoped that Derek would reject Iris. So, he did it. He rejected her and broke her heart so badly. After a week, Iris jumped off from the campus building and killed herself....", Aby's eyes fills with tears and I am fixed in my position. 

"It is the most dreadful incident I've ever seen in my life... the ground was covered in blood and my eyes kept on searching for Derek....", Aby sobs and I realize that I have become numb. I can feel how disastrous the whole situation must have been.