Wedding Vibes

Chapter 13

We end up walking on the jogging track in the garden, Siddharth trailing behind me with his hands stuffed in his pockets. I'm trying to come up with things that can count as fun, but nothing is coming to mind; this resort, for all its beauty and extravagance, is not designed for the kind of fun two bored teenagers want to have. There's barely even a game room or anything.

"I'm telling you this is dumb," Siddharth complains, pushing the toe of his sneaker into the ground. "We can use this time to rehearse for the sangeet! We'll be so much better after-"

"No," I interrupt him firmly. "Siddharth, this is a wedding; we're here to have fun! And stop treating the sangeet like some kind of competition. It's just something we're doing for fun." I lean closer to him. "Fun. F-u-n. What provides amusement or enjoyment to oneself and others."

He stops. "Did you just tell me the dictionary definition of fun?"

"Yes, but that's not the point! The point, Siddharth Thakur, is that we're going to enjoy ourselves for the next two to three hours like the party-loving, boisterous teens we're supposed to be before going back to the...slightly boring kind of fun."

"Was that a paradox-"

"Ohmygoodnessquitit," I say in one breath. "And can you please be enthusiastic about this? I'll have a plan soon. We'll have fun, maa kasam."

"Okay, fine." He makes a sweeping gesture with his hand. "(O?) Kalki, Queen of Fun, tell me how you plan on turning this boring resort into a Fun Zone™."

"You got it," I say, going over the resort's layout in my mind. I think back to the first day, when we arrived at the resort; apart from some grocery shops and a couple of paan stalls lining the main road, the surroundings had been pretty bare. And as desperate as I am to have some kind of entertainment, I don't want to do something lame like play cards in one of our rooms. I'm running out of ideas and enthusiasm to think up anything; and with Siddharth shooting me knowing looks every now and then, I'm quickly losing motivation too. As a last ditch effort, I pull out my phone. "Alexa, show me something interesting around here," I mumble, half expecting something random to pop up. I'm scrolling through a list of fun places hours away from here when something catches my eye.

Maybe I do know how we can have fun after all.

Siddharth must have noticed my smile, because he asks, "What is it?" I hold up a finger as I close the app, opening up the caller app and pressing call on Sheetal di's contact. "What-" starts Siddharth, but Sheetal di picks up the phone right then.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Sheetal di. Have I told you how awesome a sister you are? You're, like, my bestest friend in the whole-"

"What have you done?"

"Nothing!"

"What are you going to do?"

"Have fun."

"Where are you going?"

"Somewhere."

"Kalki, if I am to cover for you, I need to know where you are."

"Okay, fine." I fill her in on the details. When I'm done, Sheetal di whistles.

"Wow, didn't even know that existed. How long?"

"A couple of hours, max. Thank you so-"

"Not so fast, chomu. There's a price for everything."

I wince at the nickname. "Okay, fine. What do you want?"

"You at my beck and call for rest of the wedding. I get three favors. Also, details about what happens this afternoon."