Pervade and Faint

Chapter 17

Consequences
The consequences of going to the beach were that I got sick and I couldn't attend a single class for a few days. My nose and head hurt a lot and I could still feel the salty water lingering in my throat and head. Cindy came over and suggested that I should see a doctor but I wasn't in the mood of it. Medicines were always a great enemy of mine. Cindy made sure that I was taking care of my health. Despite the fact that I hated medicine, she compelled me to take a few pills and I have to confess that if it wasn't for those pills, the water would've never made its way out of my head. I was alone in my room for two days. Everyone was in class, and me, in bed.

Although, Cindy was taking utmost care of me, almost pampering. But I missed my mom. I remembered when I was sick in Pakistan and she didn't leave my bed for a single second. I remember that Sophia also came over to tell me that I needed to attend the college. I even remember that I didn't even feel sick anymore after Sophia had entered my room. And I missed her, and my mom. I knew that my mom was worried about me. But the guilt kept building and the distance as well.
I also lost my phone at the beach, during the incident at the beach. That phone had moms number in it, and dads. I felt as if I lost them, along with their numbers. I hadn't called them a single time. And, bitter but honest, I almost forgot my dad's voice.

_________________

Phones
Cindy and I were both in need of a phone. We decided to go on Saturday. We got a cab and we went straight to the mall. Cindy told me that a friend of hers worked in the mall and she would be willing to assist.
The mall was large. The tiles were refulgent and wiped perfectly. I saw my own reflection in a glass and I despised seeing my own self for some reason.

We entered a small phone shop. It looked much more like an old hardware store. Walls with nails partially penetrated through and paint reeling off like a branch being segregated from a tree. There were broken phones everywhere. A girl, just in her early twenties was standing with a man, who seemed a bit pale. Harsh day probably, I considered. All of us can have those, I thought, thinking about a very close previous day. She smiled as soon as she saw Cindy and I figured out after a while that they were class fellows. The girl, Amanda, talked with Cindy for a while I listened to their conversation, which according to me was utter argot. They talked about another girl, whose name was something like...Stephanie or something. Cindy talked a lot about her. As a matter of fact, she knew much about her. But that was strange, because I never saw her talking to a lot of girls.

Amanda showed us a couple of phones after a while and we checked them out meticulously. Some of them were broken and some of them pristine. I picked up a black phone. I turned it on and it came to life. It worked perfect and I decided to buy it. Cindy instigated a bargain and we bought two phones at the price of a single one. Cindy was glad that she made a bodacious deal and I was also glad that I didn't have to spend much money. Although, I had enough money, but dad stopped sending me money after the time period of one week. In lieu, he started sending money after twelve or thirteen days. At first, I thought that he was mad at me. And I probably might have been right. Either way, he never stopped sending, generous of him.

We walked out of the shop. Cindy was twisting the bag around her fingers.
"Just another stop", she said and waved her hand at a taxi.
"And where's that?" I asked, opening the door for her. I sat in the backseat with her. She told the taxi driver to take us to some place. I didn't know what it was.
"I have to buy a car", she said and opened the bag, revealing her new phone (it was light pink). I wondered how she had enough money to just buy a new car like candy.
"How do you afford it?" I asked, wanting to know what her father did for a living. She must be affiliated with an affluent and aristocratic family in order to profligately spend money like that, I thought. She shrugged nonchalantly, still dissolved in her phone.
"My dad is a mayor in Virginia", she said and proved that she was affluent.
"North or..." I asked
"Richmond, actually", she replied, just a bit condescendingly. Or it was just my mind which was emanating a different picture of her.

The ride stretched for a whole hour or so, and it was devoted to mere silence. I pictured her father as mayor the whole entire time. And the only thing that came in my mind was, inevitably a juvenile thought. But I couldn't think of anything else. A man in a tuxedo, busy in a phone call, is all I could have envisaged. And yes, that's literally all I had thought.
_____________