The Long Trip to Goodbye - 6. Chapter 6

“So your Mom won’t see reason. What else is new?”

Within half an hour of meeting each other, Priya and I were at a bar. It was early afternoon and the place had just opened with the two of us as its only patrons. Our server was clearly filling in for someone and gave us a judgmental smirk after placing the Bloody Maries on the table. Priya paused to take a sip of her drink before continuing.

“You really need to see what your priority in life is. Getting their approval or being happy.”

I played with the straw in my glass; stirring the contents.

“Listen to me”, she continued, “I know how tough it is for you. How much grief do you think my parents are giving me over not getting married?”

“I know that you understand, but…”

“You just have to - at some point – say ‘fuck off’ to all that drama. There really is no other way.”

I knew she was mostly right about this. I do not know why I still carry the hope that Mother and Father will see things my way. It was futile. I sighed. Then with a vigorous shake of my head I said a loud, “Fuck off”. We clinked glasses and I drew a long sip of my cocktail. I cried out immediately, making a disgusted face. “Fuck! This is awful!”

Priya laughed. “I don’t think their real bartender is in yet.”

“I hope that’s the reason for this shitty drink. Let’s stick to beer after this" I stuck out my tongue and made a pukey face. "Alright fill me in. What’s new since last month? Any latest boy stories? I need some cheering up.”

“No boy stories. No time. Work is keeping me busy these days.”

“Really? It is exciting I hope?”

“It is. I told you I'm in charge of entire Maharashtra’s sales for our brand. We just opened four new stores and I have been busy taking care of all that. If we register profits this year I have a good chance of making VP soon.”

“Atta Boy!” I was genuinely happy for her. I slapped her back buddy style and she shoved me away rudely.

We went on to talk about life. Although we texted and called each other frequently, it was no substitute to hanging out in person. I told her about Steve and my break up, how I felt he wasn't the one despite having strong feeling for him. I also mentioned a little about my fuck buddy, Jake who was fast becoming a good friend. Things were mostly calm in her life except her father who had gotten really sick recently. I had known about it but was surprised to hear more,

“Apparently his health is deteriorating due to shame. A grown up daughter living freely like a man is too much for his constitution.”

I looked at her with compassion. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Why? I’m not like you. I don’t carry the cross of humanity on my shoulder like you do. I’m sure of what I am, and that is a responsible, successful and well respected person. If that doesn’t please my parents then ‘they’ need to work on it. Not me. Man! It’s tough enough to tackle our society’s chauvinism at work and on the streets. Don’t have time for that at home.”

“You’re telling me there’s not a moment when it gets to you? You don’t wish they’d just try and understand?”

“Sure I do. But it passes. Priorities take over. Life is short. I’m not holding my breath for the light to shine on them any time soon.”

“Guess you’re right. I normally don’t think about it so much. Just these holidays, being here, they're getting to me.”

“No fear, next three days at least are going to be fun!”

“I don’t know about that. I haven’t even seen most of these guys in years. There's a lot of potential for awkwardness.”

“Exactly! We’ll judge them all. Cheers!!” We were onto a third pitcher and our mug clinking had gotten rough. A couple of others who had trickled into the bar looked our way.

"I heard Nakul is coming."

"I know." Her face clouded a little at that.

He was the man we liked the least among those in the wedding party. Only person in our friends’ circle who tolerated him was Darshan, the groom. In school he had made Priya's life extremely uncomfortable. Apparently he had had this giant crush on her. He sent her love letters and sang cheesy songs, all in presence of the entire class. It was the biggest running joke of our time. Not of course for Priya and consequently me, her best friend. It was impossible not to get caught in the cross hairs and things came to a head one day when I confronted him.

"If you think you have even the slightest chance with her, you're delusional. Just stop with this filmy courtship, please. I'm so tired of you that I feel like throwing up every time I see your Rat Face." I knew I had crossed the line but held my ground in the staring match. To drive my point home I repeated loudly, "Yes, Rat Face. A pimply, acne-ed, revolting, Rat Face! She's way out of your league so why don't you do yourself a favor and get lost."

He walked up to me and promptly punched me in the face. Others got involved immediately and pulled us apart. But from that day on his antics stopped. And he and we (meaning Priya and I) never acknowledged each other, ever again.

…………………………………

At about five in the evening Priya and I were completely sloshed and decided it was best to get back to the Hotel. As luck would have it, who would be checking-in just as we passed the lobby on unsteady feet? He spotted us right away and I could see the quick dawn of recognition on his face.

“Fuck! Did we have to run into this asshole when we’re drunk out of our minds?”, was Priya’s stage whispered comment as he turned towards us. He was obviously unsure if we would be civil to him, and it showed in his stops and starts.

Summoning my now-honed Worldy sophistication, I reached out with a fake smile, “Hey, Nakul! How are you?”

He took my hands with a surprised smile.

“Hi! I’m good. You look Good, Shekhar. You still look the same as you did in School. So do you, Priya.” There was no hint of a leer in his address of her.

“You’ve changed”, was Priya’s retort. “Hopefully”, she added, not going for subtlety.

I could do without a fist fight right now. “We’re heading back to our rooms, had a few drinks actually”, I said and made a funny face. “Nice seeing you again. I’m sure we’ll catch up.”

Nakul smiled at my joke and with a genuine,“I hope so”, he waved us off on the perilous walk back to our room.

In the elevator, besides us, there was a middle aged couple. Neither Priya nor I acknowledged them.

“Rat Face as always”, was Priya’s opening comment on our encounter.

“What are you talking about? He’s looking good.”

“Oh no! Is that desperation I smell?”

“Come on! Granted we don’t like the guy but you couldn’t honestly have missed those awesome pecs and how well that skinny jeans fit him. Not to mention he's rocking the stubble.”

The couple next to us shifted their feet, no doubt uncomfortable with our conversation. It was relief for them when we arrived at our floor and exited into the corridor.

Priya jabbed at me, “What am I missing? Didn’t we come up with the name nickname together?”

“No. ‘You’ did and I concurred as I always do with anything you say.” We continued walking, me at her elbow to keep her steady.

“Oh my Sweet Lamb. Blame it on the Bitch why don’t you." She shook her head, "I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“Why?”

We had to stop her room’s door so she could fish the key out of her bag. With a flourish she pushed the door open and replied, “I think you wanna get into his pants.”

I rolled my eyes, which she missed given I was following her. “I don’t do straights. You know that. Besides, I said he looks good, which doesn’t guarantee his personality has improved.”

“Thank God! You speak reason, finally.”

“Of course! I haven’t forgotten how obnoxious he was to you; or to me for that matter. But Like I said at the bar, we were kids then. People grow up.”

“Whatever”, she kicked her shoes off and flopped onto the bed. “I don’t believe in forgive and forget, not until someone apologizes at least.”

“Brilliant, hold onto that grudge and sulk. Suits you. I’m gonna drink tons of water and then I’m gonna take a nice long shower.”

“Hopefully not in the water you drink.”

“Ha ha. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried.”

“Gross! Get out, I want to nap.”

Flipping her off, I picked up my luggage that I had left in her room earlier and took my leave. When I reached my door, surprise-surprise, Nakul was there. Well, not at my door exactly. We were going to be staying in adjacent rooms. We both laughed as that fact became apparent.

“Hey neighbor!”

“Hi again”, he said bashfully. I was a little surprised at his shyness. This was not the Nakul from school days.

“I’m gonna head in now”, I said as I opened the door. There was nothing to be said between us, really. “See you later" I added.

I barely caught his “See you” as my door shut behind me.

Once inside the room I chuckled wryly at the coincidence. Opening the blinds I noticed there was a nice balcony outside with a view to the pool. I stopped myself from stepping out though. It looked like the balcon, though not shared, wasn't entirely private either and chances were that Nakul would also be checking it out. I wanted to avoid a third meet cute between us in a half hour period.

I picked up a bottle of water and connected my phone to the wifi. There was a text from Jake. With a smile I sat down on the bed and replied to him.

Shekhar Karun: What's up?

Jake Ghellar: Gym

Shekhar Karun: Oh right. Morning person! Gross! No cute guys there? Thinking of me?

Jake Ghellar: Checking on you ass-hole. All good?

Shekhar Karun: Yea. Here at Bangalore for the wedding

Jake Ghellar: How did the thing with parents go?

Shekhar Karun: Badly. As expected

Jake Ghellar: Oh. I’m sorry :-(

Shekhar Karun: It’s ok. I’m over it

Jake Ghellar: You’re a brave man. Proud to be your friend

Shekhar Karun: Thanks. Gotta go, shower awaits

Jake Ghellar: Hot! Wish I could join

Shekhar Karun: So do I. ;-) Go work on that cute butt and keep it in shape for my return

Jake Ghellar: Aye captain. Laters!!

Just as I tossed the phone aside and gulped down some more water, it started ringing. I picked it up to see who it was and cutting the call, threw the phone back on the bed with vehemence.

“Yea right”, I said to myself. “So over it.”