Neil began to move inside the flight and saw from two blocks away that he was supposed to share his seat with the grumpy girl. 'Oh this is going to be interesting', he  thought to himself. 

He placed his bag in the compartment above removed his jacket and sat down beside her with a huff.

***

Once she made herself comfortable in her seat, she saw the same guy, and with a big huff he landed his ass on the seat next to her. 'It is a cute ass she thought'. And then chided herself mentally to be focused.  She had greater things to do in life than check out people.

He looked here and there and then straight into her kohl lined eyes, and said with a warm smile, " Hi, I am Neil, and you are?"

Taken aback at the sudden intrusion by a complete stranger,  avni moved a little back in her seat, and after a long pause, replied in a single word, " Ananya "

"oh, that is a lovely name! So are you going to London too?"

He asked. 

She shook her head and said, " boston,  I have a layover at london". And then turned away.  

' god!  I hate small talks. Why???' she thought in her mind. ' but turning away should give him a hint enough. NOT INTERESTED in capitals'

But to her dismay, the guy continued. " oh! Boston. Damn, a known face in London would have helped. I am going there for an MBA degree. They are going to be long two years. Just like this flight. Phew"

She sighed to herself and thought, ' indeed it is going to be a long flight' and rolled her eyes. 

***

Half an hour into the air, and avni realized that the guy could chat. He had talked with her continuously,  bitting her ears off to say the least. And now she was aware about his mum, dad and bebe. 

Later, While Neil was telling her something about business administrations,  she thought to herself,  ' what is he going on about for the past hour. I have no bloody idea. Sure he is decent to look at. Boyish charm and all. But that mouth. It has no pause button. What was his name anyway?  It had to do something with a colour. Sky? Akash. No... Umm blue? Neel. Yes, Neil. How silly just like neela ma.'

She stopped him mid sentence and said, "umm.. Neil, hope you don't mind,but I'd like to sleep now."

And the guy nodded politely and didn't disturb her for a while.

****

Neil thought to himself as he saw her sleeping, ' how can people be so boring.  In the past 2 hours she has not even said a complete sentence to me. Yes she is beautiful but a little too harsh. Anyway,  ananya,  hmm, that is a nice name. But she certainly is not as nice.' he then decided to uplift his mood by listening to some Nirvana music and lifted his headphones from his shoulder and placed them on his ears. One song in and his happiness and excitement was back.

****

Nearly 7 hours later, she found herself again talking to him.

When he suddenly said, " you know, every one has a secret. Every one. So how about, I'll tell you my secrets in exchange of yours?" and raised his one perfect eyebrow

"what?" Avni all but shouted. "no way".

"common yaar ananya,  I mean, we both are definitely not going to meet ever ever again. What harm will it cause? Let's do it"

As soon as he had finished saying this, the entire plane jerked with a turbulence. all the lights started blinking and the oxygen masks came down fromthe ceiling .  He suddenly held avni's hand in a vice like grip and said, " ye kya hora hai?" 

Avni, concerned and a little scared too looked at him blankly. 

A voice was heard over the console.  " hey this is your captain speaking. Seems like we have hit a little bit of turbulence. I request you all to put on your seatbelts back on and be seated till further notice. "

"oh my god! Oh my god! We are going to die".  Neil panicked.  the plane was jerking violently.

" I don't want to die, I am barely 21.I don't want to die," he gasped.

Avni squeezed his hand and said, " chill, nothing is going to happen." 

"No, he replied,  we are going to die. Omg! I have so many secrets. I don't want to die with them on my chest. I Feel So Burdened." And As if he had no control he Started Saying 

"I,  umm, my mum makes the worst, the worst upma, but I pretend to like it. 

And dad, when he suspected that I had smoked a cigarette,  he was correct. But that was once. Never touched a cigarette again. The first time ended in bouts of major cough...so promised myself, never ever do it again.

Every morning when bebe, hands me a glass of milk, I throw it out in the drain" he blurted in his panic. Not being able to control himself, he continued. 

"God! I don't want to die. his secrets kept on coming out at a faster rate as the jerks turned more and more violent .

"I cheated on my 10 th board exam history test. Had carried a chit. But every one was doing the same. History sucks

I am just 21. Still a virgin.god I don't want to die a virgin. I so Damn Don't Wanna Die A  Virgin .

My first ever kiss was with a girl called mona in the engineering college. It was gross. Only saliva. Yuck

My best friend, dd, he gave me his pet goldfish when he went to travel, it is not the same fish he got back. It  had died. Just like we are going to!!" 

He added. 

The plane was still jolting and his grip on avni's hand had tightened. Avni had no idea what to make of the situation .whether to be amused that a big ass man beside her was panicking so much that he had lost the filter and tge cintrol to his mouth. or to herself panic for the safety of her life. 

d 

" the 25 year old whisky bottle, my father had saved for a special occasion, Let's say it has apple juice in it now.

Dd wanted to date mona. Yes, the same saliva mona. I lied to him and said, she is into voodoo. The guy could never look at her in the same way."

The captain took the mike again and asked every one to be calm and be seated but this further agitated Neil. and probably as an automatic defense mechanism he continued telling avni all his deep down buried secrets.e 

"I sometimes keep my comic books in my study books and pretend to study in front of my mum.

I, even though a guy, believe in true love. And am waiting for her.

I once had a very scary night mare on communal riots. I was 10.  Didn't know how. But it has still stuck with me even after all these years.

I secretly like heart breaking sappy music. Even though i put up a extreme rock love face up."

Now a little emotional , he added "I just want my dad to be really really proud of me. He is my everything.w BUT Can't Do That If I AM DEAD!!" He Screamed . 

He kept on pouring his so called secrets one after the other, when an announcement was made " due to the disturbance we are landing at Amsterdam airport. You all will be given free accommodation and connecting flights tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience.  today, you have a day at leisure. "

As soon as the announcement stopped, Neil's cheek turned a deep shade of crimson red out of embarrassment. His eyes flushed and mouth dry  he turned to avni and said, " let's just pretend that the last one hour never happened.  Please.  It was not very manly. Was it? Don't answer that. Let's just... "

She stopped him by a gentle squeeze and said," it never happened " and gave him a true smile. A first true smile.

He nodded and said," umm. so, if that part is ( clears his throat ) is dried and dusted, Amsterdam. huh?  do you want to see it together?  No pressure though,  I mean ...".

" sure," avni replied. In a single word to ensure that he no longer felt embarrassed .

******

So, the next part is a day in Amsterdam. 

How did you find this childish Neil? Do you relate to any of his secret?? Tell me few of your. And ill let you know mine. 

PS. few of his secrets are my secrets too!! 

Ps. I know Amsterdam travel would require a visa. Let's just skip that part. Sorry for being a little illogical ;)