The Wrong Number

60

"This jacket reeks of 'Smelly Indian'."

Ruhan looked at Alankrita, who was being helped into her jacket by one of the employees at SlayzerLayzer. She wrinkled her nose at the man fastening the straps and said, "Do these get washed?"

The employee, whose nametag read 'Puneet', smirked at her and said, "Periodically," and patted her shoulder before moving on to help Anu strap her jacket. Alankrita gave Ruhan a bewildered look and he laughed. "Will you chill?" he said, swinging his plastic laser gun as he walked towards her, "You won't contract an incurable disease from polyester chafing against your armpit, okay?" Alankrita rolled her eyes and raised her gun, turning it over to examine it.

After a lot of convincing, she had agreed to go laser-tagging (or as Dev insisted, 'Tasering') with Ruhan. She'd invited Anu along and Ruhan had invited Dev, who in turn had brought his girlfriend and half a dozen other tenth graders. Now, as he stared at Alankrita pretend to shoot Sarah, Dev's girlfriend, in the chest, he realized he was probably the only person who had the slightest idea how to play. Luckily, Puneet McSmirkydude guessed they needed instructions on how to play and asked everyone to huddle around him as he explained the rules to the teens.

As he was wrapping up by explaining the point system, Dhruv, a tenth grader and one of Sarah's friends, felt the need to ask, "What about the groin region? Do we get any points if we hit them down there?" A couple of kids giggled including Alankrita, and Puneet forced a smile and said, "Points are only counted if you hit a person on the torso," and opened the door behind which was the Laser Tag arena. Ruhan could almost hear him sigh as the teenagers shuffled through the door into the dark room, relieving him of his duty. Ruhan looked to his left at Alankrita who was looking at the glow-in-the-dark paint splattered on the walls and the boxes and tires on the ground in awe along with the others. "Right," Dev said, pulling them out of their stupor, "My team stays here. And Ruhan's team goes to the other side of the arena. That's your home base, got it?" Everyone nodded and Ruhan's teammates followed him as he walked to the far side of the room, navigating through the maze of obstacles. His team consisted of Alankrita, who was holding her gun upside down, Shruthi, a tenth grader with spectacles that kept falling of her face every time she sniffed, and twins named Amit and Mohit who were on his team because Dev believed they were telepathic and would flinch when either of them spoke. Not exactly a troop of Spartans.

"Fall in, guys," he said once they were at their base, "Here's the plan- Amit and Mohit, you guys are our defence. Stay behind the barricades and shoot anyone who comes through. Shruthi you be our close range shooter and take out anyone who gets past the twins. Alankrita and I will play offense. Got it?" everyone nodded excitedly, and Ruhan smiled, satisfied. He made a pretty good leader, he thought. Just then the buzzer indicating the start of their match sounded, and a collective yell came from the other end of the arena. "Good luck," Ruhan said, and he and Alankrita headed off in the direction of the other team.

"That was some pretty sweet ordering about you did there," Alankrita said between breaths as the two stealthily moved towards the opponent base. Ruhan felt his ego inflate. He was so busy grinning that he didn't notice Dev was right in front of him until it was too late.

"YES! Straight shot to the heart, that's fifty points baby!" Dev whooped and pumped the air with his fist. Ruhan scowled as the LED lights on his jacket and his gun lit up in white. "I will wipe the floor with you when my ten seconds are over," he muttered as Dev ran off in search of any more of Ruhan's teammates. When he was out of earshot, Ruhan looked around him. "Alankrita?" he whispered, afraid he would get her caught if he spoke too loudly. He heard Dev yell loudly in the distance and heard two laughs in unison which could only come from the twins. He shuddered and suddenly didn't think Dev wasn't irrationally paranoid about them.

The lights on his jacket turned red, indicating his ten seconds of inactivity were over and that he could shoot again. He resumed manoeuvring through the obstacle course, this time keeping an eye out for any shooters from the opponent team. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the tip of a white shoe poking out from behind a stack of tires slathered in orange glow up paint. He smiled, almost pitying the poor sucker who was going to get 'tasered' in the face, and leapt in front of them.

"AAAAACK!"

Alankrita stared down at Ruhan lying on the floor, his hands cupping his mouth. "What the hell?!" He screeched through his fingers. Alankrita was kneeling down next to him in a flash, apologising profusely.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to hit you with my gun you just scared the wits out of me and I thought you were Dev I'm sorry oh my god oh my god re you bleeding?" she spluttered out. Ruhan muttered incoherently and at that moment Anu chose to show up.

"Done and done!" she squealed, "You guys are so bad at- whoa, Ruhan are you okay?" she said, noticing he was hurt. Ruhan brought his hand up to give her a thumbs up but saw it was covered by a dark liquid. "Uhh.." he said shakily and Alankrita gulped audibly. She helped him up and said, "I think I'd better get him some ice. Just tell everyone to keep playing, okay?" Anu nodded, giggling slightly.

Once they were outside and in a room with proper lighting, Alankrita sat Ruhan down on a chair in the adjoining lounge and asked an employee for a first aid kit. Ruhan groaned as stuffed a tissue up his bleeding nostril.

"Sorry, heh," Alankrita mumbled sheepishly as she took a seat next to him on the sofa. Ruhan tried scowling at her but gave up when his nose throbbed. "Its fine," he said watching a family walk into the lounge and start playing pool, "I shouldn't have scared you. I just wanted this to be, well," he shrugged, "I wanted it to be kind of perfect, you know? I wanted you to have fun since it's your first time here and I made you come." Alankrita smiled and leaned on his shoulder. "You're so sappy. I was having a good time. Until you ruined it," She laughed at his comically offended look and patted his thigh, making his heart jump to his throat. He leaned in and took his hand off his nose. Alankrita raised an eyebrow.

"You look like your face is on its period, it's super attractive," she deadpanned. Ruhan shut his eyes in defeat and pursed his lips. "I was trying to have a moment with you," he muttered, smiling despite himself. She sunk back into the sofa and sighed loudly. Lazily lolling her head to side she said, "This isn't a Romedy Now 'Sunday Special', da. Sorry to disappoint."
"You are a bad person."
"Mm hmm."
"I am going to block you in real life, Alankrita."
"Oho."

*****