"I am going to order Buttered Toasts for a change and a Masala Dosa for Khush," Anjali informed everyone at the table, placing her fork next to the spoon after having played with it for some time. She laughed when she stared at the confused faces of Nikhil, Naina, Akash and Payal. "Alright! I know Khush doesn't quite like Dosa. But we both got into an argument today morning. After knowing I've taken the liberty to order Idli for her —" She smiled, "— she is definitely going to order something else altogether. My intuition says she will go for a Dosa."
The late morning sun filtered through the overhead wooden lattice in the garden area of their regular Udupi restaurant, throwing squarish patterns of light onto the table where the gang was seated for an impromptu brunch plan to discuss the travel arrangements for their Lonavla trip the next day. And as expected, the conversations were about anything else but that. And as if nothing had changed over the years, Akash was once again getting agitated by the minute for only half of them had turned up at the agreed time.
"I think she will still go for Idli." Payal challenged, handing over the menu card to Naina.
Anjali's eyes twinkled. "I give you fifty bucks if she sticks to it. Else you double up and give me a hundred."
"Abey!" Payal gasped. "Why double?"
"Because I am the one betting on the impossible!" Anjali argued, and Akash laughed.
"Okay." Payal agreed with a shrug. "Done."
"Where are Khush, Arnav and Kabir? And where is Rajiv, Anjali?" Nikhil had to bend over the table to look at Anjali who was seated next to Naina. "Is he back from Mumbai?"
"Arnav and Kabir are apparently with the X-Men for a game of football. They should join us soon, hopefully." She said, staring at the menu card in her hands. "And yes, Rajiv got back from Mumbai this morning and was meant to leave home half an hour ago. The fact that he is not here yet means one of the giant potholes on FC Road has probably swallowed him whole along with his bike. Good riddance, I say." Anjali said, biting her tongue between her teeth.
Nikhil stared at her for a moment before bursting out into a hearty laugh. "Tu paagal hain, hamesha rahegi."
"I will take that as a compliment," Anjali said with a grin.
Akash glanced at his watch for the umpteenth time, the expression on his face a mere hair's breadth away from a meltdown. "There is a long queue for tables outside the restaurant. I feel guilty holding this one when we aren't ordering anything else besides drinks." Akash frowned. "Where are these people? Punctuality is a word they haven't heard of! I'll be damned if I—"
"They say punctuality is a virtue of the bored, Mathur." Arnav sneaked in behind Akash, dressed in sports shorts and a sweatshirt wearing a big smirk on his face, his face bathed in a thin film of sweat. He pulled a chair next to him and nudged him with his elbow. "Order Vada Saambaar and lemonade for me, please. I am starving and truly apologetic, Mathur."
Akash glared at him. "What the hell, man! Its almost noon!" He snapped at him and finally placed their order with the waiter after deciding not to wait for anyone else.
"Sorry, Dulhe miyaan! I was busy kicking Kabir's ass and got carried away with it." Arnav winked. "How is everyone today, and what is everyone having?"
"Same old," Anjali said with a wry face. "--although I am ordering something different for Khushi and me." Anjali chuckled as she sipped on her Thumbs Up. "Khushi is going to have Masala Dosa today!" She declared with an impish grin on her lips.
Arnav gulped down the last dregs of water from his glass, his brow raised upwards in surprise. "Khushi and Masala Dosa? Has Mother Earth decided to spin the other way round today?"
"We argued, and I am expecting friction on all levels with her today." Anjali grinned and then looked into his eyes. "What do you think she will choose, Khushi's friend? Dosa or Idli?" She lifted one of her eyebrow in question.
In response, Arnav simply smiled back at her, folding his hands over his chest. "Hmm." He relaxed back into his chair. "How much money is involved and who all are in?"
"Payal gives me hundred if she orders Dosa and I give her fifty is she sticks to Idli."
Arnav kept looking at her with a cool, calm and inscrutable face as if his mind had wandered off on a different thought. Then he smiled as he scratched the stubble on his chin. "Fine. I am in too. But only because I believe she will order Vada Sambaar."
"What rubbish!" Payal's perplexed face made him break into a chuckle. "She is not at all fond of—"
"Stranger things have happened in the world, Dulhan ji." He smiled as he placed his keys and sunglass case on the table. "So, here's the deal. I give you both two hundred each if she sticks to either of your choices. But if she chooses what I have ordered, you pay me what you were going to pay each other."
"Ghaate ka sauda?!" Anjali and Payal both erupted in confusion.
"You don't know that yet, do you?" Arnav countered.
"Okay, done." Anjali yielded and bent over the table to whisper close to his ear. "This is one bet you will lose, Chauhan. Not because she doesn't like Vada, but because it's you." She finished with a grin.
Rajiv walked in a moment later and let out an agitated breath. "Goddamn the traffic! I am sorry, I am really late." He grimaced as he glanced at Arnav.
"Rajiv..Arnav," Arnav proffered his hand to Rajiv, and he took it in a firm grip with a smile.
Suddenly Rajiv's attention shifted towards someone behind him. He was still holding Arnav's hand, but he seemed to have been profoundly distracted by a girl with a beautiful face walking towards their table wearing a yellow and white summer dress, it's length an inch above her knees, her long hair bouncing and her rich brown coloured eyes glittering in the sunlight. Rajiv's entire being was focussed on her, and a sigh ripped from him. "Good God!" He whispered and tore his eyes away from her and looked at Arnav apologetically. "Sorry, I - I got a bit ...err distracted!" His face flamed. "Good to finally meet you Arnav, have heard a lot of good things about you from Anjali."
"Don't believe all the lies," Arnav said with a grin.
Their food arrived at the same time Khushi walked around the table to stand next to Anjali. Arnav glanced at Anjali and watched her mouth take on a devious smirk.
"Come eat, Khush, I have already ordered Idli for you." Anjali suggested quickly.
Khushi's brown eyes hardened into slits. "No, I don't feel like Idli today. I am ordering something else." She glanced at Payal. "I feel like—"
"Mmmm!" Arnav moaned loudly when the taste of Vada sambaar hit his taste buds, distracting Khushi who was now looking at him with a frown on her face. "Khush, try this —" He said while dipping his spoon into the bowl. "—these guys have really upped their quality from what it used to be years ago!" He held his spoon in front of her and watched the expression on her face freeze instantly. "Try it! I bet my money on it that you will order this once you taste it."
Khushi kept staring at the spoon and then at Arnav intermittently, her heart throbbing wildly against her chest. Valiantly, she locked the single brain cell that seemed to be functioning right now on what he was saying to her. She bent towards him and opened her mouth to receive the spoonful Arnav was feeding her and then stepped away from the table as if it had caught fire.
"So? What do you think?"
Baffled by his behaviour, Khushi quickly glanced at Anjali and Payal's expressions and realised something fishy was going on between the three. Arnav kept looking at her with expectant eyes, but she straightened her shoulders and stared at him to show him the cold cast of defiance on her taut face. Their eyes met and held. "I don't think I want to—"
"And Khush, –" He cleared his throat." — about that video cassette lying on Rajiv's coffee table yesterday night—" Arnav cut in smoothly and then closed his mouth, turning on a rakish smile on her the moment he saw realisation hit her big brown eyes.
Khushi's eyes widened in horror, heat streaked across her cheekbones, and her lips quivered out a constricted gasp as she continued to stand there staring at him in stunned disbelief. The insufferable man! She wanted to empty that entire bowl of sambaar over his head! She sucked in a shaky breath and saw a twinkle of victory in those eyes. "I— it's nice. I'll have the Vada Sambaar too." She said in an angry surrender.
If looks could kill, he'd be dead now, and Arnav knew it. However, he raised his glass of lemonade to her in a silent toast meant to convey that he didn't give a damn if she hated him right now. Payal covered her mouth with her hand as she watched the whole exchange happen between them as if in slow motion. She then glanced at Anjali's shocked face and wanted to burst out laughing.
Confused facial expressions went caroming around the table wondering what had just happened between these two. Akash smiled and decided to divert everyone's attention away from the long-dormant flame, which had finally flickered to life between two of his closest friends after many years. "So, Arnav, should I assume from the exultant look on your face you've won the game today as well?" He asked while biting into his Idli. "And where's Kabir miyaan?"
"Chhotu's team lost again. Give him some time. He is grieving." Arnav grinned and saw Khushi, seething, still standing next to Anjali without a chair. "He had to make a phone call, should be here soon."
Arnav was about to get up to offer his chair to her when Rajiv beat him to it. "Please— have a seat, I'll grab another one—" He hesitated. "Sorry, we haven't been introduced. I am Rajiv." He smiled and offered his hand to Khushi.
"Oh!" Khushi glanced at Anjali and back at him again. "You are a great host, Rajiv. I had a great time at the party at your place yesterday night." She grinned, and he laughed. "And I am Khushi." She took his hand and flashed a brilliant smile that almost blinded Rajiv.
"Of course, you are." He murmured as he held on to her hand a bit longer than was necessary. "And I have to say you have the prettiest smile, Khushi."
"And you the glibbest tongue, Rajiv." Khushi smiled coyly and removed her hand from his grip quickly.
Caught in an unexpected situation as she watched Nikhil frowning at the Rajiv openly flirting with Khushi, Anjali cleared her throat to claim Khushi's attention. "Khush, can we step outside for a moment? I need to talk to you."
***
"How the hell did Arnav know about the tape? How the fuck?! I had personally kept the tape in your bag after we had watched it, Anj!" Khushi exploded the moment they found a quiet spot next to Akash's car in the restaurant's car park.
"He knows it because he got it for us." Anjali deadpanned.
Khushi stood still in shock. "He what?"
"Were you expecting me to walk into a video library and ask for a KamaSutra tape, Khush?"
"So you asked him of all people to — I cannot believe this! What the hell is wrong with you, Anjali!?" Her brown eyes were now widening in scathing incredulity.
"Who else? He may not mean anything to you, but he is still my closest buddy! Anyway, woh sab bhaad mein gaya!" Anjali said in a dismissing tone. "Tell me what was going on inside between you two a few minutes ago, Khush? Because if this was the sizzling middle-ground, you both are seeking, I love it already!" She grinned. "I always told you, Khush, ek ladka aur ek ladki kabhi dost nahin ho sakte!"
"Don't you dare start with that dialogue—"
"Yeh toh ek parda hain parda... kapkapaati raaton mein, dhadakte huey dilon ki.. bhadakti hui aag ko bujhaane—"
"Anjali!" She cried out, irritation and frustration warring for space in her bright eyes.
"What else do you want me to say, Khush?" Anjali smiled. "You still don't have an answer for me when I asked you why you let Arnav diffuse the situation with some bullshit like that yesterday night! You let him off the hook too easy, girl!"
Bullshit? The words were enough to shoot the lid right off her temper. "What is wrong with what he proposed? It's a fair middle ground!" She scowled at her. "He was right when he said it would be futile digging into the past and crying or fighting over it! I do believe this is a sensible arrangement!"
"Sensible arrangement for whom?" Anjali flashed her a look of irritation.
"For Arnav and Naaz!" Hot tears began to gather in her eyes, acid burning in her chest and her throat. "Because honestly, which girl would want the man she is seeing to be stuck in some limbo with his ex-girlfriend? So this is his neat way out of it. And fair enough, I say!"
The name didn't ring any bells in Anjali's head. "Who the hell is Naaz?" She stared at her for a moment and then a bulb flickered in her head. "Oh! You mean —" She faltered, her face tautening in absolute shock. "Oh my god! Did he tell you he is seeing someone?"
"No. But he keeps getting these nauseously saccharine calls from her all the time." She grimaced. "I think they are colleagues."
"You are getting paranoid and jealous of some imaginary person, Khush! What has gotten into you, you crazy woman?" She said as she cupped her cheek as tenderness filled her heart for her friend. "You were never like this even when you were with him! For all you know, she might mean nothing to him!"
Khushi shrugged her hand off her cheek. "I am not jealous, Anj! And she is definitely not imaginary! I am just—" And she hated it when tears betrayed her once again. "Anj, trust me, he has moved on." Her lower lip quivered along with the words. "He has already suggested we don't even think about being together again because —"
"Was this after you told him you don't want to be with him or before?" She asked with an impassive face.
Khushi stared at her face as if that thought hadn't crossed her mind at all. But she shook her head and ignored her. "Anjali, he snaps easily at me! He is indifferent to me. He doesn't even look at me now! He cares but that doesn't mean he—"
Anjali sighed. "You know what? Both of you wanted pride, ego, bitterness and anger to come in between you. But guess what, they failed to turn up at the party! There is nothing left there now other than the essence of what you both have always felt for each other, Khush. But unfortunately, you both are too stubborn to see it! But now I want to believe that the final grain of hostility has probably dissolved in the spoonful of Vada sambaar he fed you a few minutes ago. There is hope!"
Khushi blushed profusely and huffed out a weak laugh as she wiped the tears on her cheek. "Shut up."
Anjali circled an arm around her and held her close. "Look, my only concern is your happiness, Chandramukhi. Khushi ki khushi. Bas. You've endured enough, my darling. And if you are confident you don't feel anything for him anymore, to hell with him! I am with you. We will drop this recurring boring topic and concentrate on flirting with other men around us, okay?" When Khushi smiled, she prodded. "By the way, did you notice that sexy guy sitting on the table behind me?"
"No."
"Did you watch Rajiv devour you with his eyes when you had walked in?"
Khushi paled. "What the hell—"
"I think the blind man sitting on the table next to us noticed it too!" Anjali laughed. "Okay, relax. You look stunning in this sundress, and he won't be a man if he didn't notice it! He did seem to skid off the surface rather noisily the moment he saw you."
Khushi held her gaze. "Would that be a bad thing, Anj?"
"Not at all! He is an amazing guy to be with! But he might ask you out thinking you are single and ready to mingle." She smiled. "Are you?"
Khushi pursed her lips as she glared at her and then suddenly as if she couldn't bear to think anymore, she turned on heel and walked back into the restaurant.
******
Arnav watched Kabir as he sipped on his lemonade, troubled and lost in thought. "Chhotu, you look dejected. Kuchh hua hain kya?" Arnav said playfully. "Oh! I remember! You lost the match! Again! I think the sun was blinding your eyes once again because you just couldn't see the ball flying over your head, right?"
"Alright, Bhai. You won. Everyone here knows it, happy?" Kabir snapped at him.
"You won because Kabir allowed you the goal, Arnav." Khushi's voice was a mere squeak, but it had all heads snapping in her direction at once.
"Allowed!" Arnav's eyebrows shot up, a smile playing on his lips. "Is that true?" He drawled and glanced at Kabir. "Chhotu, is that what you were whispering in her ears right now?" He asked him with an eyebrow arched.
Kabir grinned and winked at him, and Arnav shook his head with a smile on his lips.
"He doesn't have to tell me anything. I know how well he plays." Khushi said sharply. "And Kab's record for the last four years has been impeccable. He has not conceded a single goal in the matches he has played, right Kabir?" She said proudly and saw Kabir cover his face with his hands in pure mortification.
"Really? Did he tell you? That's so modest of him!" Arnav laughed. "But then again, that was because I wasn't around. You would know that I always score." He said with a teasing smile as he sipped on his lemonade.
Khushi cleared her throat. "Have you forgotten the match with Bishop's school team when there was no goal scored? Or maybe I imagined that match." She said while trying to fold a paper napkin into an aeroplane.
Arnav's golden eyes darkened by irritation and glanced at Khushi's head bent over the table. "I had scored the only goal in that match. The referee, for whatever reason, had disallowed it. But I know for a fact that it had been a clinical finish." He said with icy politeness.
"I have heard it's hard to eat up your own words." She pressed her lips together, swallowing a giggle.
His face hardened. "Oh! It's rich coming from a girl who was about to fling her badminton racket at the referee when he didn't allow her the match point!"
Khushi's eyes flew wide open. "That's because that short skirt girl — that damned referee was — alright fine, you've made your point!" She coloured. "He was biased just like your referee had been!"
Laughter followed and subsided as quickly when Payal joined the party. "I remember Khushi being so livid with your match referee, Arnav," She said with a grin. "She had gotten hold of—" She stopped abruptly when Khushi glared at her.
"Hold of?" Arnav asked her, his eyes narrowing at her in curiosity.
"The referee's bike. I had busted the tyres of his two-wheeler." Khushi said with a smug face.
"You did what?" He raised his eyebrows at her in disbelief.
Khushi didn't look at him, didn't want to know what was going on in those eyes as she made a mammoth effort in holding back the wave of laughter that was promising to buzz through her body. "I had flattened the tyres of his two-wheeler." She declared proudly. "And we pushed his bike off the road into the trees, didn't we, Akky?"
Heads swivelled, eyes growing curious as they flicked from her face to Arnav's and then back again. Their gazes clashed for those few brief moments as Arnav felt a wave of anger sweeping through him.
He glanced at Akash. "Were you a part of this, Mathur?"
Akash's cheeks mottled with embarrassment. "Bro, it was a long time ago. On that day, it mattered a lot because it was the final match! We would have won that damned cup if it hadn't been for that ass—!"
"Messing up bikes reminds me, someone had once run a blade over Jhumri,hain na, Khush?" Nikhil too joined the party. "But Arnav had handled him well, I must say."
"What does handled mean in this case?" Naina asked with an eyebrow arched upwards, making everyone laugh. "And someone had run a blade on a girl?!" She asked a moment later with a horrified expression on her face.
"Erm— it was Khushi's bike. I mean her bike was called Jhumri." Kabir explained, and Naina shook her head in disbelief.
"Was? The bike is called Jhumri!" Khushi snapped at him, adding emphasis on 'is'.
"There have been so many visits to the garage for repairs in the last few years, Khush!" Kabir smiled mischievously. "Pardon me if I don't know if she is —or was! Is there some other reason why you haven't ridden her even once since you've landed?" Kabir teased.
"Kabir, tu zyaada shhaanpatti mat kar, alright?" Khushi said, picking up a fork and knife in her hand and saw him pull his chair away from her quickly.
"Chhotu, it's called a muffler shop, mere bhai, not a garage!" Arnav cleared his throat. "Use the correct American words!" He cut in silkily, suppressing a smile.
Lifting her lashes, Khushi found herself looking into Arnav's warm, dark, amused eyes. He was throwing things at her that were designed to irritate her, she thought gritting her teeth. Why, she wondered. But irritated she was. In fact, she was so irritated that she was about to throw something at him and wipe that cheeky grin off his face. "And the wise Mr Scone speaks!" She snapped.
"It was too tempting, Miss Bagel!" He quipped with a grin.
"I don't think Arnav was wrong in handling those morons who had asked for it and—" Akash began but was cut by Naina.
"Aah. Yes! The handling again." Naina giggled.
"Dono bhai guunde hain, Naina!" Khushi informed her flatly.
"Threatened!" Arnav snapped. "Handled means threatened, Naina, unlike what your dear friend here is trying to imply! The guy—"
"Of course!" Khushi raised her arms in the air. "When His Highness reacts, it's supposed to be alright! He only threatens, and there is always a valid justification. Double bloody standards as usual!" She muttered through gritted teeth.
"You did not threaten! You busted the tyres of that moron's bike, Khush!" Arnav almost exploded.
Khushi's eyes lit up with fire instantly. "Different ways of protesting against injustice! Why should it matter if—"
"You call this protesting against injustice?!" The look of disbelief on his face was almost comical.
By now, everyone else had stopped talking and were busy watching a very familiar match going on between two dominant players of the game. Tight lips were now slowly beginning to ease into smiles watching the two argue like old times.
"Did you even for a moment stop to think that someone could have watched you do it? The man could have complained about you and got you expelled!" Arnav said with gritted impatience.
"Why are we arguing over the past? Akash was on a watch that day, okay?" Khushi glanced at Akash. "Hain na, Akky?" Her eyes were pleading so desperately that Akash nodded his head vigorously. She then glanced at Arnav. "And you know what Arnav—" Her angry gaze sliced his face. "I don't know why the hell are you making a big drama out of this now when you damn well know you would have never let anything happen to me because I was —"
And then she went pale and still. Because she had shocked herself with the outburst. And evidently, the man sitting across the table too.
Because I was. Was. Her own words pricked the depths of her heart. She wasn't anymore. She looked up at him and felt as if being gripped by the awful sensation of a lift swooping downwards in tremendous speed into a bottomless hole.
He wasn't there in her life anymore. Not to protect her. Not to guide her. Not to tease her. Not to argue or fight with her. Not to comfort her. Not to get her out of a tricky situation or defend her. Not to encourage her, challenge her. Not to share the good and the bad with her. Not to help her. And not to—love her in the way no one else ever could. He was —gone. And the worst part was, she had driven him away, let him go.
Pent-up emotions overwhelmed her, forcing her to close her eyes to hide them, draining her face of the last vestige of colour. It was getting harder by the minute being around Arnav as a friend in these familiar surroundings, with familiar things happening around them all the time. It had been better when they had been snapping at each other, she admitted painfully. She had somehow waded through the four years without him, but the last few days in Pune were flipping her whole world out of orbit. She was struggling to negotiate her feelings for him along with the distance that lay between them, and her heart was floundering somewhere deep inside her chest.
As the thoughts played with her mind, her eyes sought the beautiful brown ones of the man who was at this precise moment carefully pushing himself up on his chair, appearing unfazed, refusing to meet her eyes. And then she saw him glance at her for a fraction of a second, his stormy eyes burning with such intensity that she looked away shivering as though she was caught in a violent gale of emotions. She watched Arnav blink and look elsewhere quickly, leaving her heart aching, and her breath trapped in her chest.
Note: Thank you for the love, the lovely comments and the votes. Thank you for being here, have a good weekend! :)