Two Tickets, Please

11: espresso

Nila tucked in a smile. "I have a double hour class on the most boring subject. I hate the professor too. So trust me, you are doing me a favour."

"I'll see you, then." With that, he hung up. Only later, she realised they had called each other over the phone for the first time. It had been restricted to texts all this while. It seemed like a step ahead on the ladder.

"Ew, look at your face," Sanjay cooed, leaning against the doorway. "So in love."

She smacked him.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Farah was the most beautiful woman Nila had ever seen. She was blown away when she saw her — fair skin shimmered golden under the sunlight and the faint blush on her cheeks darkened, adding a pop of colour. She wore a pale pink scarf around her head that rested around her shoulders, matching her printed cotton kurta paired with jeans. Farah looked at her from the driver's seat when she got in the backseat next to Vijay. "Hi, I'm Farah. You are so—"

"Beautiful," Nila said.

Farah's eyes crinkled. "I was about to say the same thing. I'm glad you could join us. I've heard so much about you but Vijay wasn't making any attempts to introduce us. So, I took it upon myself."

"Thanks for inviting me," she said. Even though she only received warm smiles, the attention made her unconsciously inch towards Vijay. "Hey, Krish."

Krish grinned. "Hey. Nila called me fun, guys," he bragged, making Farah roll her eyes as she spun the wheel effortlessly to take a left turn.

Nila didn't realise she was sitting at the edge of the seat until Vijay grabbed her arm. She didn't even look at him properly until he demanded attention. She had gotten so carried away. "Plans to launch yourself through the window when Farah presses the brakes?" he whispered.

Nila scowled and leaned back so her back hit the warm leather of the seat. She had sat with Vijay in a crampier space than this, even accidentally dozed off on his shoulders (the worst part being not remembering the feeling) but this was different. Krish and Farah were making her conscious and hyper-aware of the distance between Vijay and her. She didn't know what Vijay had told them about her but she didn't want to convey something false. "Is something wrong, silver?"

"Silver?" Nila narrowed her eyes.

"You woke up from your nap only when I called you silver. Figured you like it," he shrugged.

"I don't even remember it!"

"What don't you remember?" Krish asked.

"Nothing," Vijay quickly dismissed him.

When they were in the mall, Krish and Vijay kept bullying Farah into making promises that they'd be there for no more than two hours. "I can't believe I'm shopping for Aadil. I would have been excited if it was Ahmed," Krish said. "It's not too late, you know."

"I don't trust your opinion. I'll ask Nila. Aadil is a nice name, isn't it?" she asked.

"Um, yes, it's very nice," she said.

"End of conversation." Farah entered a store, asking for directions to the men's section. All of them followed. It was funny to watch how Krish and Vijay kept poking fun at her and trying to get a reaction out of her but Farah seemed like she had better things to do than entertain these men. The only time she listened to them was when she asked for their opinions when she picked out shirts.

Krish halted at a book shop on the way to the next store. Nila had flashbacks to when Maya had done the same. He had a similar hungry look as he stayed transfixed. Vijay grabbed his arm before he could step into it. "Don't even think about it, nerd. If you step into it, we'll leave you there. We won't spend half an hour trying to find you like last time."