The caller ID on my phone read “Akshay”. I pushed the little green button and spoke into it.
‘What?’ I said, feeling frustrated.
‘Hello!’ he said cheerfully.
‘Dude, quit fooling around. What do you want?’ I yelled at him.
‘Jeez man…’ Akshay replied, sounding serious. ‘What’s up your ass… Anyway, the guys and I were thinking of going to a movie tomorrow. Wanna go with us?’
‘Yeah. Ok,’ I replied, much more calmly now.
‘And you also have to bring Navya with you,’ came the instruction.
I looked up at Navya. She was getting the plates out and setting up the lunch.
‘I’ll try,’ I said. ‘But I can’t promise anything.’
‘Dude! You’ve got to make her come! If she doesn’t come, then none of our girlfriends are gonna come. And if our girlfriends don’t come, then it’ll be 4 guys watching a sappy Bollywood flick. You don’t want that to happen, do you?’ he asked me in all seriousness.
‘Wait…’ I said. ‘So I’m just pimping for you?’ I asked in confusion.
‘That’s what friends are for, mate.’ He said. I could bet he was smiling on the other side. ‘The show begins at 10:30 tomorrow. Don’t be late,’ he said and cut the call.
‘You wanna go to a movie tomorrow?’ I asked Navya, turning towards her.
‘I’m sorry?!’ she said, trying to hide the excitement in her eyes.
‘Hey, it was Akshay’s idea. The guys are taking their girlfriends to a movie, and their girlfriends want you there,’ I said matter-of-factly.
‘Oh,’ she said with a slight look of disappointment on her face.
‘I’m going with you,’ I said, and she just smiled at me.
We spent the rest of the afternoon talking. We spoke throughout lunch, we spoke after lunch, until it was time for her to leave. There wasn’t a single moment of awkward silence that made us feel uncomfortable. We chatted about school, college, the time we spent as kids — we talked about everything except our relationship. We were just like old friends catching up and nothing more.
NEXT DAY
‘Wake up!’ Navya whispered into my ear in the movie hall the next day.
‘What?!’ I said, waking up from a deep slumber. ‘Is the movie over?’ I asked her.
‘No. It’s almost time for the interval,’ she replied.
I had rested my head on Navya’s shoulder. She was caressing my hair lovingly. I looked around the dark hall. Though my friends had brought their girlfriends, we weren’t sitting in the same row. We had spread out to avoid embarrassing looks from each other. My friends were busy fondling their girlfriends.
It was mid-week, and the movie hall was nearly empty — partly because it was mid-week, but mostly because the movie was bad.
‘Can you get me some popcorn?’ Navya asked me when the lights came back on.
‘Sure,’ I said, and left my seat.
Akshay, Monty, and Ravi were already buying stuff at the snacks counter.
‘Hey!’ I greeted them.
‘Hey Romeo!’ Akshay yelled at me. ‘What’s up with you and Navya, huh?’ he asked.
I gave him a confused look.
‘Lying on her shoulder, now buying her popcorn. What’s up, boss?’ Monty asked matter-of-factly.
‘The movie’s like crap, you idiots,’ I retorted. ‘Of course I fell asleep. And this one’s for me,’ I said, indicating my popcorn and cool drink.
‘Alright man! Chill. You don’t have to get all excited,’ Monty calmed me down. We went back into the movie hall just in time for the movie to start.
‘Here’s your popcorn… and your cool drink,’ I said, placing both in her hands.
‘Where’s your drink?’ she asked, taking a sip of her cool drink.
‘I don’t mind sharing,’ I said, taking the bottle from her and drinking from it.
About ten minutes into the movie, I placed my head on her shoulder, pretending to sleep.
‘You’re not sleeping, are you?’ she whispered into my ear.
‘Nope,’ I said.
‘You’re not watching the movie either?’
‘Nope.’
‘You just want to sleep on my shoulder then?’ she asked after a short pause.
‘Yup.’
I slept on her shoulder for the rest of the movie, and she played with my hair, gently caressing it. Occasionally, when she fed me popcorn, I would kiss her hands.
I didn’t really like the movie, so I just ended up playing with her hand.
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