area51novel Chapter 201: The Show II
Chapter 201: The Show II
The air buzzed.
The girls stood near the CoC’s front steps, sipping iced drinks. Marisol had her sunglasses on. Sarah had her arms folded and was tapping her foot.
Their beauty alone turned heads.
But without Bharath?
It was like two thunderclouds hovering over Atlanta’s social barometer.
A freshman passed by and whispered, “They’re too hot to be sad. That means something bad is about to happen.”
Near the steps, one guy whispered, “I heard they’re going to leave him for Ravi. Ravi’s been bulking.”
Another muttered, “Dude. They’re lesbians now. You can see it.”
“Why are they still on campus if it’s over?” someone asked.
“For the drama,” said a journalism major solemnly. “They know what they’re doing.”
And then-
A ripple.
Like wind through a wheat field.
Someone near the bookstore turned.
Pointed.
He had arrived.
Bharath walked across the quad in slow motion - or at least, that’s how it felt.
Jorge and Ravi flanked him like backup dancers in a boy band music video. His hoodie was loose, his hair slightly windblown, and his backpack bounced with every confident step.
The air seemed to pulse.
Was that the Baywatch theme faintly playing from someone’s boom box?
No one could confirm.
It didn’t matter.
Because they saw him.
Marisol’s sunglasses dropped an inch.
Sarah’s breath caught.
And in a heartbeat - they moved.
They weren’t walking. They were running.
“OH MY GOD IT’S HAPPENING. IT’S HAPPENING!” someone screamed.
One girl fainted. The crowd leaned in. People stood on benches. One guy dropped his Walkman trying to rewind for dramatic tension.
Baywatch: Georgia Tech Edition had begun.
Their hair flowed. Their hips swayed. Their not-exactly-practical push-up bra enhanced breasts bounced with each graceful stride. They looked like slow-motion sprinting angels - if angels wore crop tops and academic urgency.
Bharath blinked.
“Oh no,” Jorge said.
“Oh yes,” Ravi grinned.
Before Bharath could react, they were on him.
Sarah jumped first, arms wrapping around his neck, kissing his cheek with force.
Marisol collided second, burying her face in his chest with a groan that was somehow both relieved and possessive.
Their arms tangled. Their kisses landed.
One on his lips. One at his throat. Both of them muttering things like, “We missed you” and “Never again” and “Don’t you ever disappear like that.”
He staggered back a step, laughing helplessly as the crowd erupted.
People clapped.
Someone whistled.
From the bench, a marketing major whispered, “There’s gotta be a way to sell
this.”The poli-sci student wrote down: “Reunited, general public approval: 96%.”
The betting table updated the odds table to: “Everyone back together, stronger than ever - No one wins.”
The X-Files guy sighed. “They’re back. And hotter than before.”
Marisol finally pulled back, cupping Bharath’s cheeks with both hands. “You smell like Ravi’s cologne.”
“I borrowed his shirt,” Bharath gasped. “I just wanted to go to class.”
Sarah ruffled his hair. “You are never walking anywhere alone again.”
Jorge crossed his arms. “So what’s the plan, your highness?”
Ravi added, “Because y’all just upstaged an entire week of student elections.”
Bharath looked between the two women in his arms.
Sarah beamed. “We were making costumes. We just didn’t realize being apart would suck so much.”
Marisol nodded. “Next time we’ll send Mia as a decoy. She’s got the curves and the hair for it.”
Someone in the crowd yelled, “WE LOVE YOU, KING BHARATH.”
He blinked. “Okay. I need to sit down.”
Sarah took his backpack. Marisol linked her fingers with his.
As they walked toward the stairs, the crowd slowly dispersed - some in relief, others in disappointment.
The show was over.
But the legend?
That had just begun.
Sarah was feeling magnanimous.
She’d done her duty. Kissed her man with enough heat to steam up windows. Reclaimed her throne and caused at least one freshman to faint and silenced the rumor-mongering horde with a performance worthy of a daytime Emmy.
Now it was time for her dramatic exit.
She turned to Bharath, sunglasses sliding down her nose just enough to reveal a devilish twinkle in her eyes.
“You’ll be okay without me?” she asked, cupping his jaw like he was a soldier heading to war.
“I’ll try,” Bharath whispered, dazed.
She leaned in and gave him one last volcanic kiss - a slow, molten thing that left bystanders speechless and Bharath visibly short-circuited. As she stepped back, he actually wobbled slightly.
Sarah smiled sweetly, turned on her heel, and began walking toward her engineering building.
With purpose.
With hips.
And with every ounce of dramatic sway a woman could muster while carrying a messenger bag with thermodynamics notes.
The crowd parted instinctively.
A girl near the steps whispered, “I think I’m straight, but also… maybe not?”
Someone else muttered, “She walks like a Bond girl in a Dr. Dre remix.”
Marisol stared after her, blinking. “Did she practice that exit?”
Bharath coughed into his hand. “She doesn't practice. She just is.”
Sarah stood on the steps like a goddess surveying the kingdom she had just reclaimed.
Her lipstick was slightly smudged from the volcanic kisses she’d just delivered to Bharath’s face, but somehow that only made her look more powerful - like a warrior leaving a battlefield victorious and glowing.
And then she turned and winked.
And walked away.
And it was not a normal walk.
It was a performance.
Hips swaying with mathematical precision. Ankles pivoting like a metronome. Her oversized sweatshirt slipped just enough to reveal one elegant shoulder - a fashion accident too perfect to be real.
The crowd parted like she was Moses with 90s sneakers.
Somewhere, someone dropped a pencil and forgot to pick it up.
The guy behind the betting table slowly turned his chalkboard around and erased all the odds.
“Show’s over,” he muttered, elated. No one guessed correctly! They had made a fortune!
By the vending machines, someone sighed, “She walks like Alanis sings.”
“She walks like Aaliyah dances,” someone else replied, almost reverently.
“She walks like she broke his spine and gave it back better,” said a dazed mechanical engineer.
As Sarah rounded the corner and vanished from sight, the entire CoC courtyard seemed to exhale.