lipstick on, making her lips appear fuller than usual. I couldn't believe
I had kissed these same lips a week ago.
She hugged me like she always did. It felt odd to embrace in front
of so many people.
‘Why so late?’ she said.
‘Took a while to figure out the bus routes.’
‘I told you I would send the car. You and your ego hassles’ she
said. ‘Anyway, come.’
She held my wrist and pulled me towards the crowd. We walked
towards the pool where her friends stood.
‘Garima, Ayesha and Rachita.You know them, right?’ Riya said.
‘Yes, from the cafe.’
‘Of course,’ Ayesha said. She brushed her hair away from her
forehead.The three girls wore expensive dresses and giggled at regular
intervals for no apparent reason. Riya introduced me to another girl in
a black dress.
‘This is Yamini. We were best friends in Modern School,’ Riya
said, hugging Yamini.
‘We were. I hear you are the best friend now, my competition,’ said
Yamini, blowing a curly fringe out of her eyes.
‘Shoo, Yamini,’ Riya said and turned to me. ‘She’s teasing you.
Both of you are my buddies.’
I hated that word—buddies. Buddies felt like a pair of stuffed toys
placed next to each other, with no romantic spark whatsoever. I had
thought after our first kiss that Riya would be more open about us.
I handed over a present to Riya.
‘Oh, thank you,’ she said.‘But my birthday isn’t until next month.’
She opened the present without asking me.
‘What is it?’ she said as she fingered the fabric inside, trying to
make sense of it.
‘It’s a shawl,’ I said. I didn’t have much money to afford a big gift.
With winter coining, I thought this would be a nice present. Besides, it
was within my budget of five hundred bucks.