Camera

24 - Broken Bridge

 LOOK IT'S AN UPDATE BUT I WON'T TALK LET'S JUST JUMP INTO THE CHAPTER NOW SHALL WE

--------------------------------------------------------------------

24 - Broken Bridge

Maya Sumedh

After my talk with Zayn, it felt like a considerable load had been lifted off my shoulders. As I walked out of the coffee shop, I felt a smile on my face at the prospect of the next day – Luke’s birthday (and the stupid performance for Arjun, but I would worry about that later).

 Rounding the corner, I saw Sam and Luke standing outside the music store. They turned; Sam stuffed his phone back in his pocket upon seeing me. They both looked rather morose; Sam probably because of the gorgeous guitars in their display and Luke because I guess it rubbed off on him.

 “Hey guys,” I chirped, coming to a halt in front of them. “Can we leave?”

 “Where were you?” Sam asked.

 In that moment my mind literally considered a hundred ways to answer – the truth – I met Zayn for a coffee – but then I immediately thought of the reaction that might elicit from Luke – I met a friend for coffee – but that would bring a round of who’s this friend from Sam – and before I knew it I was lying.

 “I just needed some stuff for school.”

 Sam nodded.

 “Oh.”

 We started walking towards the car – I looked up at Luke and was surprised to see him looking straight ahead, a slight frown on his face.

 In the back of my mind there was a niggling paranoid doubt that what I was doing was wrong, that maybe he saw me and maybe I shouldn’t have lied, but I brushed it off. He didn’t know where I was. And he was with Sam when I came back.

 I slipped my hand into his, wanting to share this newfound light feeling with him, but as he grasped mine it was loose, I found that I was the only one holding on, really. And my heart started to beat a little faster – what was wrong?

*

 We reached home exactly when Ma had started to put out lunch (she was taking the day off work) – we were back to dal and roti after a week of experimentation.

 “Smells great, Mrs. Sumedh,” Luke said, with his usual charm as we trooped into the dining room. Ma smiled at him fondly.

 “Why thank you, Luke.”

 “Dal is exotic for Luke, Ma,” Sam muttered, pulling a chair and sitting down. “It smells like crap to me.”

 Ma scowled at him and chucked a napkin at his head.

 “Eat.”

 Sam saluted her.

 “Yes, ma’am.”

 I sat in between Luke and Sam.

 And I wasn’t stupid – there was definitely something off with Luke. It was like that day on the overbridge all over again. Only this time he didn’t seem to be responding even to me, which freaked me out a little. I didn’t know whether to confront him or to leave him be – but after lunch I had to wrap up his presents and ask Sam what he got for him anyway. Excitement bubbled up in me at the prospect of his birthday the next day, I was really, really hoping it would be a surprise.

 So after lunch, the boys retreated to their respective rooms. I went to mine and it took me almost an hour to wrap Luke’s stuff in plain blue wrapping paper I found in Ma and Dad’s stationery stash in Dad’s study. The lens was in a square box, and I rolled up the kurta and put it beside that. The shape of the parcel made it harder to wrap, but eventually I was done, despite having done a pretty shabby job of it.