Gossip, Weddings, and Manipulation

Chapter 13 - Copley Square

It had been three weeks since the Diwali party and I’d kept my distance from Tara.  I can’t believe what I had said to her about making love in the shower.  Watching her in the spaghetti strapped churidar and the Blue Label scotch going to my head had made me say things out loud that should best have remained in my head.  Luckily I hadn’t added that it was her image that I had floating in my mind when I imagined all of those scenes from Best Buy to shower. 

Breaking through my trance was my phone ringing.

“Hello.”

“Hey man, how are you?” Armaan asked.

“I’m fine.  Better question is how are you? How’s married life?”

“It’s great! You should try it.” Armaan teased.

“Oh no, Et tu Brutus?” I jested back.

“Okay I’ll lay off, I’m sure between my mom and your mom you already hear enough of it.”

“Thank you for small favors,” I respond sarcastically.

“Listen, I only have a few minutes.  I’m going to be in Boston tomorrow for a conference and I was hoping we could meet up.  I’m a last minute replacement for an associate.  I’m bringing Sandra with me too and we’ll probably stay the weekend.”

“That’s great! Where are you staying?”

“We’re in the Marriot at Copley Square.”

“What time does your conference end tomorrow evening?”

“I should be done around 6pm.”

“Why don’t I meet you around 6:30pm for drinks and then we can take it from there?”

“Sounds good.  I’ll see you tomorrow night.” Armaan said before hanging up.

Friday evening at a bar in Copley Square

I walked quickly to meet Armaan and Sandra.  The T had been packed and I was of course running late to top it off.  I entered the bar looking all around for Armaan and Sandra.

Finally in the back corner of the bar I saw what looked like Armaan and Sandra but there was a third person with them.  Maybe someone from the conference had decided to join them.

As I walked closer to them, my heart started to beat faster.  A pit in my stomach started to form.  The third person seemed so familiar to me.  Like I should know who it was.  The person was wearing a backwards Red Sox baseball cap a red t-shirt and jeans.  It almost looked like the person had been to a Sox game but that wasn’t possible since baseball season had ended a few months back.

Or maybe Armaan was trying to set me up with someone and thought we could do a double date.  I was going to personally kill him if he had joined my mom and cha chi’s schemes to set me up.  Why did I feel like I should turn around and run?

Finally, I reached them and I took a deep breath in.

“Hey Armaan and Sandra,” I said and quickly all three people got out of their seats.

“Hi Vivek.” Sandra gushed as she rushed to me and kissed me on the cheek. 

“Hi Sandra,” I said as I kissed her back.

I looked at the mystery person as Armaan pulled me into a bear hug, “It’s so great to see you man!”

“Yeah it’s so great to see you too.” I said as my stomach did a complete belly flop.

My nightmare had come true.  The mystery person’s familiar hazel eyes looked at me puzzled.

“Hi Vivek, what a surprise to see you here.  How do you know Armaan and Sandra?” Tara asked.

What the hell was Tara doing meeting Armaan and Sandra for drinks?

“What do you mean how does he know me? Vivek’s my cousin, our dads are brothers.” Armaan said so I didn’t have to answer.

“Really?” Tara said her temper hiding near the surface of what I knew was a fake smile.

“Funny, he never mentioned that to me.” She continued.

“Tara, how do you know Vivek?” Sandra asked.

“We work together.” She said slightly laced with acid as she stared at me.

“Yup we work together.  Shall we order drinks because I sure could use one right now.” I said as I took a seat thinking sitting down would somehow ease the tension I was feeling from Tara.

“How was the conference?” I asked Armaan.

“Wow, this is wild that you work with Tara.  I know you mentioned that you were working with a female Director of Engineering but you didn’t say anything else.  I mean if you’d mentioned she was Indian I would have at least guessed it was Tara.  I mean how many Indian women are Director of Engineering at a gaming company in Boston.”  Armaan said completely ignoring my question.

I shrugged my shoulders “I didn’t think it was relevant.”

“Tara why didn’t you mention you were working with my cousin?”

“I didn’t know he was your cousin,” Tara replied without taking her eyes off of me.

“You don’t remember meeting him at the engagement?” Armaan asked.

“I met a million people that night Armaan, do you really expect me to remember everyone.  Because it seems like he didn’t remember me either.” Tara said icily.

“I’m a little surprised to see you here with Armaan and Sandra.” I say defensively as I look first at Tara and then at Sandra waiting to see her reaction. 

“Look, Vivek, actually, I probably should have said something sooner, but, …” Armaan started saying.

“That we patched things up.  I know it seems odd for me to be meeting Armaan and Sandra, but Armaan and I have been friends since childhood and neither of us wanted to throw away a lifelong friendship because of what happened between us.  I miss my friend.  And that’s why I’m here to meet Sandra, the woman who I know will do a much better job keeping Armaan happy than I ever could have.” Tara says as she looks at Sandra while holding on to Armaan’s hand.

“I know this seems odd, Vivek, but I’m cool with this.  I know there’s nothing left between Tara and Armaan and it would be a tragedy to throw away a friendship just because they weren’t compatible as a couple.” Sandra said as she looked directly at me.

Before I could say anything our drinks arrived.

“In fact, I feel like I’ve gained a friend.” Sandra grabbed her drink first and lifted it in the air as to give a toast, “To friendship.”

“To friendship.” We all chimed in.

___________________________________________________________________

Sorry this is a short chapter - but I wanted to finally bring the truth out and I wanted to let is stand on it's own.  Hopefully you'll enjoy.  Because, this is a short chapter I will be posting the next one very soon!