|The secrets we take to grave|✔︎

15|Wherever the course takes|

Song for the chapter: Another love by Tom Odell

"It's 11 now"

I was barely speaking, it was a muffled yell. I demanded answers from the man who smelled like he had been dipped in a tub of whiskey.

"I. Know." He said breaking each syllable. That night was going to be the worst and the following morning he would wake up with little recollection.

"How much?"

Astonishingly he dropped his satchel on the floor which he never did. Gaurav had always been the cleanliness freak rather it was I who did the mess.

He tripped a little next to the water purifier as he went to fetch a glass, I stood next to him as I had taken the glass from his hands which in all probability would be dropped by him. I tap the switch and let the glass fill in.

"I asked you how much you drank?" The resolve in my voice was firm.

"I am not gonna say that" He put a finger on his mouth. Gaurav hasn't been much of a drinker. Occasional and just a few glasses. And even if intoxicated he wasn't much of a talker.

"Gaurav, what has happened to you?" The plea in my voice was real. "It has been a month and you have been behaving so unlike you"

The annoyance in his face was vivid. "Please don't ruin the high by your nonsense nags. I bear with it every day". He paddled away from the spot.

"Oh Gaurav I would have not nagged you so much, had you not hidden everything from me." I get back to yank his arm again.

He hushed me off. "This is an anesthesia"

"What?"

"This drink and all it has numbed me. Just let me enjoy this numbness" He inhaled, squeezing his eyes shut, feigning some deep sleep. "My mind would be calm. I am relaxed. Let's fight tomorrow but please..please let me relish this.."

"This is an unhealthy coping mechanism and you know that"

He snickered at me, fetching his satchel from the floor.

"Fine. You don't wanna talk to me then don't. You can still ask for help. Maybe talk to a friend?A therapist?"

He sneered wickedly. "Do you need to see a therapist too because you have been thinking its your job to fix me?"

That was it.

I tap on his shoulder to make him face me. "You have lost your fucking mind. Here I am all adamant to help you and you.."

The pitch of my voice seemed to have steered his intoxication a little. "Did I ask for your help"

He pushed me a little. "Stop Gaurav"

"I told you right there is nothing wrong. Just a night when I had gone with my friends and had a little drink." His hands tousled his already messy and uncombed hair.

"A little?" I chuckle mockingly. "And both you and I know that I am not referring today. It is a cumulation of everything that has happened over the month"

The annoyance grew darker as I saw his face go redder.

I shake his shoulders subtly. "Every fucking thing that we have built over the past three years can be destroyed in a month?" I raise his chin. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO US. YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME"

He tried to break free of the grip but my hold had been too strong.

"THEN JUST LET ME BE" His push had been stronger however. I hadn't realised that we had been standing too close to the bedside table until I found myself knocked close to it.