ZAP and Lisa..
This story is about three guys who were good friends from time unknown. And then things between them got sore cause of a Girl. So what’s difference? Well I would just say, get over it, it’s just a story!
So there were 3 guys called Zeith, Awesome, and Polly. Well yea, Polly is name of a Guy.
The story started when Zeith met Polly at his college where he had joined for his MBA.
Zeith was in Delhi for years, I should say for 4 years, doing his graduation from the university, It was a 3 year course, but extracurricular activities held him there for one more year, and he finally pulled himself out in 4th year to pass with respectable score. He was known in his college among girls for being charming, and handsome. I would not say that he was as handsome as Greek Gods!! And neither had he had an eight pack body. But that’s not where the secret lies. Girls appreciate a lot more in guys than just a body. And Zeith knew it well. Girls being an emotional creature look more for support on the emotional side than physical, and any girl would fall for a guy who really explores this basic trait of girls.
But there are exceptions to the rule, and sometimes there are more exceptions than those who follow the rule. That was what exactly happened with Zeith when he was in love with Sonia. Sonia was the first girl in Zeith’s life. He loved her like nobody else. And one fine day Sonia broke up with him for a guy a bit better looking than Zeith but a lot more to show than him. Sonia later regretted a lot when she saw her semi clad pictures being circulated in the college!
Zeith was not always like he became. He learnt a lot from the fast life in speed lanes of Delhi. He leant to move on faster after heart break. He learnt money matters a lot when it comes to love, and he learnt you can break up for anything, for guys from not shaving to caring a lot for the girl, for girls from being fully clad to wearing a revealing dress. Anything and everything can be reason for a break up.
For Zeith it was not about having an 8 pack body and not enough biceps to show. Zeith never gave up. And he moved on and became a well known guy in demand when he showed the real talent of how and where to apply the information, and that’s when a guy from medium class family turned into a sweetheart flirt!
Polly as Zeith never knew was in Delhi too, the whole time Zeith was there. He was from a small town in MP and most of the people had not even heard about it, when it came to explaining his origin. He had come to Delhi 4 years back for preparing for CBSE PMT exam and after struggling for a year it was sheer bad luck that he couldn't make it. All I knew was that he deserved but still didn't make it seeing the dedication he worked with! Luck had it all. He was a very simple guy kept to himself. Worked for what he dreamt of and amazingly he kept himself away from Girls though he had the opportunity. So when he got to know that he didn’t make it to the exam he was devastated. He locked up himself in his room for 2 days without food and cried day and night. He knew he can't go back to his home a looser.
So he joined a biotech course, the best that he can have thought of at the university and passed it with good scores. And the next thing he could think of was MBA. And he went ahead to pursue his dreams to Bangalore.
Awesome as the name says was always awesome. He was driven by himself, never cared about anything else! He was a Handsome and Sweet guy who knew how to make friends, was good with girls and never had a problem he couldn't get out of. He did his BE, having a jolly time, never missing any opportunity to enjoy life. He was a guy girls couldn't resist. But he was never serious about any one of them. His only motto was to live life and never miss fun out of it. And the common thing about him, Zeith and Polly was he too came to Bangalore from Jaipur to do his MBA, and as luck had it, it was the same college as Zeith and Polly. And I would say that, as there were lot of things common about Zeith and Awesome, one thing being girls, they eventually had to meet sometime.
So it was first day at college where these 3 guys met, but they didn't talk. Cause they didn't have to. All of them met officially for the first time while giving intro to seniors. And Zeith couldn't believe himself that he never met Polly, while he was studying in the same college as him at the university at Delhi. But then he didn't meet a lot more guys. To Zeith Polly was like ancient him. So he instantly liked the guy. He never interfered in what others had to do and never dug into their personal life. He made for a good choice for room-mate.
About Awesome, He liked Polly because he was always to the point and no non-sense guy. He was always true, and most important, He wanted someone to help him with notes and studies. So was with Zeith, he too didn't want this time to be hanging in the college for more than needed..! And this is how Zeith met Awesome, after a month the college started. Zeith liked Awesome, they were more like mirror images of one another.
During the whole time of college for Zeith, Awesome was a good company for party, be it Pub, Disc or New Year’s Eve. Awesome would pick the place. And Zeith liked his taste. They both were considerate about needs of Polly and never forced him for anything, more over they at times supported him for staying clean, and that’s when they would go for late night ice-cream or coffee, and sometimes break away from parties and go to fun parks like Wonder La or Fun city. Though it felt kiddish to them, but on the other side they had fun because even such places would be filled with girls on weekends. Wet clothes hugging their body and seeing them scream like crazy was fun for them!
Polly would also accompany Zeith and Awesome to some parties but never had drinks. And it was good for Both Awesome and Zeith cause they had someone dependable who could drive them back to hostel safely after a wild night! It was on one such trip to a Pub that shocked both Zeith and Awesome.
Years flew by and Zeith, Awesome and Polly passed their MBA and got placed in the same company dealing with Banking and Finance. Life was easy and the three of them. Known in college as ZAP they stayed roommates.
It was in summer of 2009 was a 3 day weekend and all three of them decided it be good for a pub visit. Awesome got to choose which he liked to do, be it on him or not. And they walked in at about 9 at night. Awesome and Zeith got busy. There they were trying to hit on girls and Polly was sitting having his cranberry juice, a girl walked to him, modestly dressed a little bit of makeup, she wasn't drunk yet. She asked if he would like to dance with her.
Polly was shocked and his cold feet never rose. He had to decline, and the girl felt offended. Seeing that he tried to explain it to her and she gave it a chance. In the course of time when he lived with Awesome and Zeith, Polly did improve on personal skills and now did have more friends than he could imagine.
So this girl sat at the table and listened to him. Polly though plain was interesting guy and full of knowledge. Now this girl was in a discussion with him and couldn't escape. Polly won over her in the time she couldn't imagine. And she was so impressed by him that she gave him her phone number and asked if they ever come again to the bar, he should call her. Awesome and Zeith were standing in shock and watched all this happen. All the alcohol that went down their throat had got washed out of their head. As she was about to leave Polly introduced her to his friends Awesome and Zeith. And then he wished her goodnight.
It was for more than a month that they didn’t go to bar, and then finally Zeith one day developed nervous feet. Polly had completely forgotten about the girl, he didn't even ask the name off. But Awesome remembered. He knew there was something different about that girl and she was not like those easy lay. So he just asked Polly casually if he is going to call her or not. Polly said why would he? Because they anyway would find someone over there and he was not interested getting into anything with a girl right now. So Awesome said that maybe he should call her then and Polly gave him the number. She picked up the phone and it took some time for her to recall may be there was a little alcohol effect on her but then she remembered Polly. She said that she could not understand why he won’t call her. And that was the time when Awesome handed over the phone to Polly and Polly did invite her.
This time it was different. Polly and Lisa both were sitting and having Cranberry juice at the bar. Lisa at the second meeting told Polly a bit more details about her. She was from Pune and that was the place from where she did her Degree of Management from a reputed college. After which she moved to Bangalore for job and was here since 2 years, she was an year elder to Polly but she didn’t mind that. She would get frustrated at times because of her Boss and at weekends would break in to any pub with few girlfriends and relax.
She took interest in knowing the fact that how Polly managed living with Awesome and Zeith cause they were so different. Not just the personality but including the interests. It was about that time that Polly told her the 3 years of MBA life and how Zeith and Awesome helped him out Financially and Personally, and how he improved, How they screwed their interview one after the other until Polly got into one company and then broke their back for getting into the same company.
Though different on several planes he liked them both and was thankful to have found such friends. So as the night was at its peak Lisa asked him again if Polly wanted to dance with her and this time they did hit the Dance floor though not for long and Lisa did get to know why. Polly really didn’t know how to dance.
She was not ashamed and offered if Polly would like to join her for dance class. Lisa loved to learn new things and had joined Salsa classes 6 months back. She told Polly that she will accept to be his partner if he was not comfortable with anyone else. Though it will take her back 6 months in the course but it was worth the effort for Polly.
One thing that I will never understand about life is that you never know when will you start liking someone. And all such moments come when least expected. It was such a moment that Polly liked Lisa, and over the course of time he will fall in love with her!
The offer for the dance class was just the beginning and Lisa became the 4th guy in the group. She would dress Tom Boyish and would hang around with the three guys most of the times. Having a Girl in the group did come as advantage to Awesome and Zeith as they would now have access to the restricted areas and she would give them hints on girls to be hit on to.
She would also join them for their highway trips, to the late night ice-cream, at times for coffee and the fun park trips. She had good sense of humor and it would not bore anyone of them. Sometimes she will get her friends to come along with for a few of the trips and more girls was more fun for Zeith and Awesome.
Zeith never changed, and He was the one Lisa liked the least in the group, though funny and easy going guy, but Lisa never liked that he never cared about anyone else’s feelings. He was just to himself.
But as the time passed Awesome and Lisa did use to get along well. Now Awesome would flirt less at the clubs. He would pay more attention to her; at times he would just sit with Polly and Lisa and share Cranberry juice. Lisa started to like Awesome as she got to know more and more about him. Though he wouldn’t show but Awesome had a sensitive side, he was emotional, sympathetic and cared how others feel. And Lisa knew that he was longing for love.
Few months passed and it was about time when things started getting a little complicated. Polly was in love with Lisa, and Awesome and Lisa were in love with each other. Sometimes Awesome and Lisa would go out on a date and Polly and Zeith would not know of it.
Finally it was on his Birthday treat that Awesome proposed Lisa. Knowing all about his past and a lot about his personal life, Lisa still agreed. Guess Awesome would have been the happiest man on earth that day. And on the other side Polly had his first heartbreak. Zeith was busy hitting on chicks like ever, so he didn’t pay attention to what just happened. Lisa and Awesome were sharing dinner near pool side table and heartbroken Polly was getting drunk, Guess the pain might have been too much for him. He left early from the place, went home, puked some 3-4 times and his loneliness made him to feel that no one cares about him anymore.
He was not jealous ever of Lisa being with Awesome, because they would still go out together, Lisa still was his partner at the Salsa classes and she still appreciated Polly for being the most responsible guy. But Polly knew he was slowly changing; now he would easily get irritated, at times he would drink, and he would hit on girls with Zeith.
No one noticed what happened to Polly. They all took it as a long awaited change.
Later on after sometime Lisa once went on vacation to her home which she was missing. And the Guys again got to get their night out without a girl. Polly was a bit more comfortable and was back to his cranberry juice. He would rather see the other 2 guys play the game.
Tonight was different, Zeith introduced Awesome to a hot girl whose name was Sana. Sana had been out with Zeith few times and she meant business. And it was after long times that they were really so free that drinks were going beyond limits. Late night Zeith went along with someone new and never got to know who and Awesome went out with Sana. The only thing Awesome didn’t do right was he slept with Sana and Sana was an associate working at the Office where Lisa did.
No one ever found it out not even Zeith and one day Lisa had called Sana along with some other friends to a visit to fun park, that’s were Awesome realized what he has got himself into. Though he found a moment where he almost convinced Sana not to tell Lisa about what had happened between them, to which Sana agreed. But Sana felt a moral responsibility towards Lisa and about a week or two later she confided in her about the incident.
Lisa tried to keep her cool for long, but she was really hurt and asked Polly if they can meet in person. Polly didn’t realize what the problem was. But when he reached her flat and saw her sobbing he got the idea that he won’t be able to solve the matter not on his own. Before he could even think of calling Awesome, Lisa said, don’t call that Bastard! And now Polly was completely dazed.
All Lisa could do was hug Polly and she cried for about an hour, and all Polly could do was feel her intense pain with tears flowing down his face which Lisa didn’t realize. When she felt a little better, she told Polly of what had happened and Polly was shocked. He didn’t believe that Awesome can do it. Why will he break her heart, but at the same time he knew that Lisa won’t lie not in the state he is seeing her. It felt like she has grown old overnight, there was no shine on her face and though she tried hard to smile, she still couldn’t get it right.
Polly was outraged. After he made sure that Lisa was fine, he went back to his flat and called Zeith and Awesome. Awesome knew it will happen someday, and Zeith didn’t care about it as it was not his matter to solve. Polly went on swearing at Awesome, and he was ashamed of what he did. Awesome felt that he had nothing in his favor.
Polly was getting on Zeith’s nerves and finally he spoke, what crime had Awesome done? He just slept with someone else that doesn’t mean that his love for Lisa has grown less. Things happen and take it light, why are you making such big fuss of it. And anyways it wouldn’t have happened if Sana was not working at the same office as Lisa, and they could have never known as she never mentioned. But it was not Zeith who saw Lisa cry, it was not Zeith who felt her pain, but it was Zeith who had introduced that girl to Awesome. After hearing Zeith say all that Awesome looked a bit comforted. And Polly felt that he won’t be sorry for what he has done.
Polly just left from there still he could not find a way to settle his rage. He knew he can’t just sit quiet about it and he can’t stay calm. At times when rage controls one’s mind one doesn’t know what’s right and wrong. Had he stayed calm for sometime things might have been different. Neither did Awesome or Zeith tried to calm him down. They believed that they have solved the matter and only hurdle was Lisa which Awesome believed can be won over easily.
Awesome might have made a mistake for his fling with Sana, but is love for Lisa was true. And now it will be very difficult for him to prove it to Lisa. So he thought that let some time pass. And time is a great healer. Even if it doesn't heal the wounds, it atleast covers the wound with enough sand and dust that people eventually forget about it, or they learn living with them.
On the the other hand it was Polly who felt betrayed by his dear friends. He grew bitter on the inside. Now he wont go out with them. He would loose his cool very easily, and would be abusive for no reason.
Finally it happened what was waiting for long. It was the day when Zeith returned from a club with some random girl to which Polly disapproved. Zeith was drunk and pushed away Polly. He yelled at him that it was his life and he will do what he wants to. And he better keep of from his life. Awesome was not yet back, and the girl already escaped watching the guys argue about her being there.
It only helped Polly go mad about the incidences happening between them. Polly went to a black market where he bought a pack of cartridge for the vintage shotgun they had bought for decoration at their flat. Polly felt he might be over reacting but he could not find any other way to settle it down.
He went back to his flat at night, Awesome was sleeping in his room. Polly took out the gun from showcase, loaded it with the shots. He opened door to Zeith's room, and didn’t think twice before shooting Zeith. The sound of shot waked up Awesome and it didn’t take him long time to make out what just happened! He screamed at Polly, What the hell do you think you are doing! And Polly screamed back at him, It’s all because of you bastard. And Zeith lay there soaked in his own blood dying, but had a smile on his face. His last words were, Polly you did it right!
And next was Awesome. Before he could have tried to escape Polly took a shot at him and then one more. It didn’t take much time for Awesome to collapse. He said to Polly, I am sorry man. Tell Lisa I really loved her, and I am so sorry to have broke her heart.
Polly stayed there for some time. Now he didn’t know what to do. He was in dark, more on the inside than out. And what ever he does now, he cant change what he already did. He took the car and went to Lisa. He told her what all happened and that he has killed Zeith and Awesome. Lisa was shocked more than ever; she thrashed Polly, screaming do you know what you’ve done? Are you insane?
Polly couldn’t hold it any longer, he was frustrated enough and he told Lisa how much he loved her and he could never express it to her, Lisa really couldn’t believe what was happening. But she gathered some courage and tried to sooth him. She was making some sense now.
She started speaking, Polly, we’ve been good friends all this while and you’ve done a lot for me than anyone else can do. I’ve always respected you and love is something that you can’t force on me, and right now you are in bigger problem. You need to understand that I can’t love you, and you need to go now and protect yourself. Just go from here Polly, I will always be your friend. She kissed him on his cheek and closed the door.
Polly was in tears when he was climbing down the stairs of her flat. And now he was more confused than ever. He felt he has lost everything, and while driving back to his flat he went through flash back of so many memories that his head seemed to explode. He remembered the old good days he had with the guys before he met Lisa. He started to feel that all what happened was his mistake and not of Awesome or Zeith or anyone else. Now he was really getting insane! With nothing around him making sense.
What have I done! Oh God, what have I done!
He reached his flat, nothing had happened till now. He saw bodies of Awesome and Zeith and blood all around him, rage was coming back to him. He sat there crying, howling why the hell did he do it!
His eyes reached the gun which he had threw before going to Lisa. He took it and ran down the stair. Got into his car and raced it back towards Lisa’s place. He almost broke into her house only to find Lisa packing her stuff. She could barely scream before he shot 2 rounds and Lisa almost instantaneously fell to the ground, she was in pain and was losing her consciousness. And then Polly shot himself in the chest and fell close to Lisa, facing her, she was as beautiful as ever. Polly tried to get close to her and she resisted.
Polly said his last words to her, I am sorry Lisa, I am really sorry.
It was not long when both of them succumbed. They died along each other’s side, though it was a moment when they didn’t have love for each other. They didn’t even share friendship. They were just acquaintances like they were at the beginning.
Everyone lost what they had, trust, love, friendship, but it was only Zeith who was happy in the end. It was Awesome who lost the most. And I am not sure what did Lisa loose.
And all the while I was asking myself why it had to happen to Polly! He was the guy whom I compared the most with myself. But it was the most plausible end. I couldn’t think of anything else. And only could pray for their soul to rest in peace.
