《Short Recap》
Frowning, I made my way to my friends to find Lara and Neel embracing, and Roshni huffing at their blatant PDA. But I guess I just lost my right to say anything.
Everyone was absolutely charged with zeal. Excited students scurried around us, most of them patting Neel's back and congratulating him before going back to chattering about their plans for Goa.
Everything seemed perfect.
●○●
"I think I just caught a glimpse of the sea!" Lara squealed, jumping in front seat as we passed a milestone that said our destination was three miles away.
"What?" Roshni opened one eye, still resting her head against the headrest.
The poor girl suffered from severe motion sickness and had spent a large part of the eight hour drive napping in the backseat of her parents SUV that we had borrowed for the weekend. Since Roshni was absolutely sloshed and Lara hadn't slept well the previous night, Neel, Vinay and I had taken turns at the wheel.
"Don't you dare get up, Rosh!" Neel called out from the driver's seat, glancing at her through the rear-view mirror, "Hang on for just ten more minutes."
Thankfully, she nodded back to sleep without a single word of protest and Vinay and I sighed in our seats in the middle row of the car since we were the closest to her. The last time I tried to get her to enjoy the ride, I'd ended up with vomit on my right leg, looking at which had made me sick too.
Humming the song playing on the radio, I rolled down the window and let fresh air into the car. Despite the air conditioning, it was getting stuffy and humid.
A red jeep whizzed past using a blue, the students inside blasting loud music as they laughed without a care. Most people had decided to take the early morning train since it was cheaper and more convenient, but we'd decided to drive down to the coast since we wanted to explore the area a bit and car rentals were expensive.
When we reached our resort, Neel parked the car in the shade of a giant coconut tree to prevent it from heating up. We made our way inside to check in, each carrying their own luggage.
"Here are your key cards, Sir," the receptionist said in a bored tone as she handed them to Vinay, "The high tide sets in at seven thirty so you are not allowed to enter the water after that. Have a great stay."
He nodded, flashing her a smirk that made her sit up straight instantly and smiled coyly.
Rolling my eyes, I snatched my key card and followed the corridor signs to my room. Roshni and I were sharing a room, Vinay and Neel in the one adjacent to ours and Lara had decided to get one entirely for herself, but it was obvious that it was so that she and Neel could you know...
The moment we reached our room, Roshni flung herself onto the bed and sighed, "This is heaven!"
"Get your dirty ass off the bed Rosh!" I shouted, "Go get cleaned up first. And eat something, you haven't eaten anything since morning."
"Ugh yeah, my stomach's growling." She sat up, scrunching her nose, "Where's that bag of fruit that Mumma packed?"
Shaking my head, I rummaged through her luggage and took out the fruit bag and grabbed a banana before tossing it to her.
"I'm really looking forward to going to the beach you know," Roshni said, jumping off the bed and opening the windows, letting in the salty oven breeze wash into the room, "Also there's a bonfire tonight! Oh my God, I've always wanted to do this!"
"I thought you were feeling sick." I raised my brow questioningly.
"I was," she shrugged and took a bite from her apple before running to her bags and pulling out a couple of sundresses and her swimsuit, "I'm perfectly fine now. Let's go get some vitamin sea!"
"Yes!" I shrieked, the excitement inside me surfacing again, "Let me just splatter some sunscreen on my arms and legs before we go."
We got changed in a blur, chattering away incessantly as we applied sunscreen and put some extra in a bag to take with us. When we finally stepped out of our room, Roshni had on a short orange kaftan like sundress over her swimsuit and I wore a cropped top and blue denim high waist shorts.
"Should we wait for the others?" Roshni paused, glancing at their closed doors in the corridor.
"No!" I frowned, "God knows how much time they'll take. Besides, I really want to take a swim before everyone comes to the beach."
Dropping the key card at the reception, we made our way to white sandy beach through the back door of the resort, the cool shade from the mighty palms and coconuts shielding us from the wrath of the burning sun.
"Race you to the water!" Roshni called out suddenly and began running, "Loser buys food for both!"
"Hey, we're not kids anymore!" I shouted, but kicked off my slippers and dropped the bag in hand onto a beach chair hastily and began running after her nevertheless.
The sand was burning hot under my feet, and it was much harder to run than I expected but I caught up with her as she reached the edge of the lazy waves hitting the shore.
"You..." I panted, doubling over, "Bozo!"
Roshni laughed, unfazed, and skipped into the water until it skirted her stomach and the waves leapt just over her head. I watched for a few moments as she jumped with each wave, trying to keep her head above water.
"Look who's already here!" Neel called out from the back entrance of the resort as he, Lara and Vinay entered the beach.
I waved at them, squinting my eyes to see. The two boys were shirtless, obviously not letting go of a chance to flaunt their abs and Lara was wearing her new swimsuit with a white sarong on top.
Dropping their stuff on the beach chair I'd kept my bag on, they jogged towards us. Vinay's skin glittered in the sunlight, reflecting off all the sharp angles and planes of his toned torso making him look almost u real. I let out a dreamy sigh, but I think it had more to do with the heat level than his external beauty.
Before Vinay could enter the water, I splashed with a large shower of saltiness. Satisfied that I'd done a good job, I started running away from him.
"You did not just do that Akira!" he shouted, "Wait until I get hold of you!"
Giggling, I fastened my pace but somehow Vinay caught up with me easily. Grasping my shoulders he pushed me into the water and held me under for a couple of seconds.
"Argh!" I spluttered, when he let go of me.
I proceeded to have a fake coughing fit and I sniffled.
"Fuck!" Vinay panicked, "Akira are you all right?"
I started at his face for a few seconds blankly, watching the inner turmoil surfacing before I snorted and burst into massive fit of laughter.
"You're so easy to fool!" I teased, running away again.
With a comical war cry, Vinay charged after me and I screamed when he began to drag me into the water.
"Hail Hydra!" I said, before wrapping my legs around his waist just as he submerge me so that he went under the water with me.
My eyes were closed, but I'm pretty sure I felt something brush my lips. Instinctively, I let go of his torso and tried to move away but Vinay held me in place as we rose from the waves.
Click!
I whipped my head in the direction of the sound to see Lara with her DSLR positioned in front of her face.
My face flushed, as I let go of Vinay's shoulders and laughed nervously as he slung her arm around my waist and our shoulders bumped.
"It's an adorable picture." Lara grinned, adjusting the camera sling, "I'll send it to both of you, don't worry."
When she was finally out of earshot I chuckled.
"Did you just kiss me underwater?!"
"Hail Hydra! Are you serious?"
Vinay and I said at the same time before bursting into a laughing fit simultaneously.
"I think they've set up a volleyball net," I said after some time had passed, "We should to check it out."
●○●
We spent most part of the afternoon playing beach volleyball and getting a tan. Reminiscing our childhood memories, Roshni and I had even made a sandcastle complete with a crab king and shells for soldiers. Lara sat by us the entire time, filming us as we acted completely bonkers and sang weird parodies of songs to hail our crustacean monarch.
At around five, the three of us headed back to our rooms for some rest while the boys stayed to play a game of football.
Since Lara was alone in her room, she came into ours for the evening.
"Akira? Did you notice that there are a lot of red things in this room and hearts here and there?" Roshni asked, plopping down on the large bouncy bed.
Lara and I snorted.
"I think we got the honeymoon suite." I laughed as Roshni threw me a disgruntled look, "All their other rooms are probably occupied."
"Well, the mini fridge is loaded with chocolate and strawberries," Lara stated, "I've heard they're effective aphrodisiacs."
"Whoops," Roshni shrugged, "You're taking me on your honeymoon though, okay. I don't care who you marry or where you go, I'm going with you. You too Lara."
"That's a bizarre thing to ask for!" I pulled my lips into a thin line.
"Relax, it's not like I want to make a sex tape and make money out of it!" Roshni feigned hurt, "I just want free food and okay. Now enough talk, let me get some beauty sleep."
Lara and I followed, utterly exhausted from our long drive that had started at five in the morning. We curled up onto the bed, the three of us fitting comfortably and drifted to sleep.
Ring.
I groaned. My hand reached out of its own accord and switched off my phone alarm.
"Is it six thirty already?" Lara asked groggily as she rolled out of bed, "Oh my gosh! It's so dark. Where's the switchboard?"
"Near the entrance." Roshni mumbled, "Can you also switch on the geyser Lara?"
"Wake up lazy bum!" I shook her shoulder, "The bonfire is at seven thirty and if you want to bathe before that you should get out of bed now."
Pulling her hair into a bun, Lara asked, "I guess I'll go get cleaned up in my room. Come and get me if you guys need any help."
I nodded, "Sure."
After she left, I stripped down to my underwear and made my way to the bathroom for a quick shower before Roshni woke up. Unlike her, I didn't need hot water when it was more than thirty degrees outside.
The cold water rained onto my skin leisurely, clearing my pores and lifting my fatigue in a gentle lilt.
When I stepped out of the shower, Roshni was already up and humming to herself as she decided her outfit for the evening.
"Wear that baby blue shirt dress with the silver belt you bought." She stated, before I even opened my bag, "And keep your hair loose."
"What about you?" I asked, pulling out the blue dress and setting it on the bed.
"I'm wearing my black shorts and red crop top." She replied, "I'm going to shower now. Don't leave without me."
"I obviously wouldn't do that!" I feigned hurt.
"Oh come on, every time you're in Vinay's dazzling presence you start swooning and forget everything else." She called out over her shoulder.
"I most certainly do not!" I gasped.
"Keeping telling yourself that Akira," she chuckled, "Maybe someday it'll be true."
When we entered the beach, the sun had already set. It's last rays piercing the purple and blue of the twilight sky like dying attempts to spearhead the impending darkness.
Some students had already lit up the bonfire and the resort had been kind enough to arrange some logs around the fire to sit on. Peppy music played from a pair of bluetooth speakers, that instantly set the mood for the evening.
"What would you girls like to drink?" Neel asked.
"I'll have a beer." Roshni replied immediately.
"Me too." Said Lara.
"Is there lemonade?" I asked hopefully.
Neel smiled, "There's breezer. It has only about four percent alcohol."
"Fine, I'll take the cranberry flavour." I conceded with a sigh.
I couldn't help but notice Vinay's absence when the dancing began. Did he fall down a crab hole or something?!
"Hey Pooh." Vinay whispered huskily in my ear as he hugged me from behind.
"The Pooh ruined the vibe." I snorted, craning my neck to the side to see him, "Where were you?"
"Presiding over the shellfish parliament, of course," he replied solemnly.
"Passing laws about predator control and the rights of sea plankton?" I played along.
"Something like that." He nodded, "And I might have fallen asleep in a hammock while I was at it."
Shaking my head, I hit his arm lightly, "Let's dance, you dork."
I kept by breezer on a long with Roshni and Lara's stuff and hurried back. Vinay and I swayed with the electronic music, the beats of my thudding heart syncing with the loud music as we got lost in the rhapsodic feeling.
Before I knew it, Vinay wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close to his body and leaned in, "You have no idea how hot you look right now, you'd probably put global warming to shame."
"Why thank you," I grinned, before shimmying out of his hands, "Like I said, you need to work on charm."
"Come on, that was a great one okay." He protested.
"Uhuh," I raised my brow, "I'll be right back. Why don't you find us something to eat until then."
I shrugged, going back to retrieve my drink since the dancing had made me thirsty. Bringing the bottle to my lips, I took a long sip of the bright pink juice. It tasted kind of odd but I suppose that's just how it was supposed to.
A wave of euphoria washed over me, making me feel light headed and weirdly heavy at the same time. Frowning slightly, I drank the rest in a single gulp and tossed the bottle into a dustbin set up a few yards away.
Feeling extraordinarily bold all of a sudden, I marched over to Roshni who was standing some distance away talking animatedly to Siri, one of her friends from calculus class.
"Do you think I can get a banana somewhere around here?" I asked earnestly.
"You can eat bananas some other time. How about you try some seafood for a change." She replied, "Wait, what's wrong with your eyes?"
"Uh, nothing." I frowned slightly, "Anyway, I'll go find the banana salad myself."
"Wait, Akira." Roshni stopped me, "Are you high or something?"
"Me?" I laughed in a rebuking tone, "Do you think I would ever even try drugs?"
"Umm Siri," Roshni said turning to her friend, "I'll come and find you later. I need to take Akira back to our room so that she can sleep this off."
I shook her hand off my shoulder.
"Oh come on Rosh, I was just concerned about people's dying love for bananas." I rolled my eyes, "I'm sure Vinay will find me the banana salad and maybe some strawberry smoothie to go along with it."
Vinay who was making his way towards me with a plate of food looked at me quizzically when I sauntered over to him and placed a hand on his chest, all thoughts of banana variants flying out as quickly as they came. I suddenly felt my body heat up.
"What's wrong with your eyes?" he asked, "Your pupils look dilated."
"Why is everyone asking me that?" I pouted, "Anyway Vinay I was thinking, now that I've seen your dance moves, it's time to see your moves in the bedroom."
He stifled a cough.
"Are you high?" he asked, leaning closer and inspecting me.
"No, I'm horny." I blurted.
"Fuck!" he cursed, "I think someone spiked your drink Akira."
"Bullshit." I scoffed, "Is this your way of turning me down? Because I have other ways I can..."
"Fuck no!" he yelled exasperatedly, pulling me close to himself.
I smiled, content at my master manipulation, my body's ecstasy rising as he led me away from the bonfire area and towards the resort.
"You have a condom right?" I asked, as we entered his room.
"Yeah." he huffed.
He lay me down on his bed and took out a tablet from his bag, breaking it into half and handed it to me with a glass of water.
"Here, have this." He said softly, "I'll be back."
I swallowed the pill and sighed. Was this actually happening? A wave of fear and carnal desire rushed through my veins.
I stared at the ceiling as I waited, and slowly my vision went dark and I plunged into a dark abyss of nothingness.
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Yikes, that wasn't something I had in mind! Anyway....
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QOTD: What would you do if the world was free of men for 24 hours?
I'd probably go dance on the road in my pajama shorts at midnight.