Overrated (Part 2)

Life was boring.

My life, that is.

I definitely could not vouch for others'.

10 hours’ work, 5 days a week, weekends off, at times overtime without any pay.

Office to home, home to office. Well, not exactly home, but who cares.

Same shit everyday. In one word, boring.

Yes, my life was definitely boring.

Just another Friday evening, almost night to be exact.

Walking on the footpath, I made my way towards the apartment building where I and Hardik shared an apartment. Hardik had a date tonight, one he managed to snag with some new joinee from some other company’s office in the same office building as ours.

Me? Well, I just managed to finally finish my shift, which was supposed to be over around 1 hour back, but lucky me got caught up with some extra work because Hardik had a date.

I felt like cursing at him. But realised that I should not be bitter about someone getting some excitement in life. Unlike mine.

Sighing I tried to think what I could do once I got back home.

The only thing I could do was order some food online and watch something on Netflix.

As I thought this, my eyes inevitably looked around. There were people, lots of people. 

People who were dressed up for going out, clubbing, dates, movies. People who were walking hand in hand smiling at each other; in groups laughing, teasing; talking on the phone about directions on how to reach a certain place, their destination for the evening I suppose.

At times, I felt so out of place, standing among these people yet not fitting in anywhere. Lonely, even when I am standing in a crowd.

It's not like I didn’t have friends. But I had always been on the quieter side of the spectrum.  

I had crushes, though I knew it would go nowhere. I never really had a chance with most of them anyway.

Sometimes I would come across a friend telling me how some girl thought I was cute. But that was all. It's not like I would walk up to that girl and say ‘Hey, I heard you thought I was cute. Let’s go get some coffee together’. Nope. That was not me.

So yes, I was lonely. And my life was boring. But I tried not to dwell in self pity. It would just make me crave some tubs of ice cream, anyway.

I was just subtly looking at people around me and not really envying anyone while I continued walking. The distance felt unusually long today, maybe because I was tired and wanted nothing more than to take a long relaxing shower and execute my plan for the night.

Even so, I felt my walk come to a halt and my brows came together in a frown when I registered the tug on my shirt from behind.

My forehead un-creased and my mind went blank as my eyes landed on a face I had seen only once before and thought I would never see again.

“Lover boy!” The person said. The excitement and enthusiasm laced in the two words made my mind work again. Why would anyone be excited to see me?

Even as my mind supplied that question, my eyes took in her oval face, her button nose, her round cheeks. Her lips were painted darker than the last time.

There were some changes. The small stone stud on one side of her nose was replaced with two rings that seemed to go into the same piercing. A small ring sat on the left side of her lower lip. An addition then. Her eyes looked lighter. Or was it the street lights playing tricks? Her hair seemed a bit longer, like an inch or two. But the undercut was sharp, as if she got it done recently. I could also see some sections of her hair were lighter than the rest.

Last time, I had seen only one ear but I had an inkling that the number of piercings may not be equal on both sides. It was confirmed today. The ear I had seen last time still had 5 piercings. The 1st from the bottom still had that small golden ring, while the 2nd had a tiny pale pink pearl and the 3rd had a stone-studded small triangle in an oddly pinkish metal. The 5th one had a similar ring with a long chain like last time, but no beads and the 4th had a replica of the 5th, but with a shorter chain. Her other ear, though, had only 3 piercings, adorned by the counterparts of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of the other ear. Her long neck was not left barren like the last time. A black lace choker sat there.

She was dressed in black jeans that seemed to hug her legs like second skin, which were torn at her knees. Equally black boots covered her feet. They were paired with a deep neck, very short, black top and a light-green, camouflage-print, bomber jacket. The unwanted thought that the top might not actually be a top at all suddenly flew through my mind, making my eyes dart upward. The consequence of which was, my wide eyes reconnecting with her amused ones.

“Remember me?” She asked, excitement still lacing each of her words.

“Ye-yes.” I stuttered. Of course, I stuttered. I wanted to roll my eyes at myself.

“How long has it been? 2 months? 3 months?” She asked, as if trying to remember when was the last time she met one of her close friends. We didn’t even know each other. Why she was behaving like that was beyond my imagination.

As my mind was busy trying to figure that out, my mouth automatically opened to answer her much-obvious rhetorical question. “2 months and 20 days.”

“Oooooooohhhhhhhhh” She let out, even as she looked at me in amazement. “You were so heartbroken that you even counted the days?” She asked, the amazement was slowly replaced by amusement.

“That’s not it. I just tend to remember stuffs.” I hurriedly explained.

“Wow! Lover boy has hidden talent. Or talents? By the way, I am Naira.”

Oh. “Ishaan.”

“Nice to meet you, Ishaan. Where were you headed to? Did you just get off work?”

“Yes. I was headed home.”

“Home? Don’t you have anywhere to be? Like a hangout or a date or something?”

I just shrugged to that.

“Ohkay then. Good thing we crossed paths. I was headed to a party. Now we can go together.”

“N-no. I have stuffs to do. I can not go to a party.” What was she saying? Why would she take me to a party where I was not even invited? Heck, I would not even know anyone.

“But we are already here.” She said, sounding as innocent as a baby. But babies can’t talk. A kid then.

My thoughts about how innocent she sounded came to a stop when my mind registered something. Wait, what? “Wha-what?” I managed to voice out.

It was then that I finally realised we were indeed standing in front of a club. A long line of people dressed in various colours and kinds stretched and my eyes followed it till the end. We were standing right in front of the double doors of the club.

I looked at her grinning face, then down to where she had trapped my arm into both of hers. When did that even happen? When did we even start walking to reach here? What was even happening?

A chuckle beside me broke off my jumbled thoughts. “You look cute when you are clueless.” She said in between her chuckling, while also pulling me towards the double doors.

I was sure, like very sure. Like cent percent sure. We were going to be interrupted by the stoic looking bouncer. There was a long line of people waiting to get in and she just walked up to it, pulling me in tow, as if it was the most natural thing to do. As if the long line didn’t matter. As if the stares we were getting didn’t matter.

The moment we stood in front of the door, the bouncer pulled one of the doors open for us to pass through. I opened my mouth to say something. To ask a question? Or to protest against her hold? Whatever it might have been for didn’t make it past my voice box. No sound came.

The inside was like any other club, loud and crowded. Not that I had been to many clubs. No, I have not.

Before I could fully take in our surroundings, I was being pulled towards the opposite side of the club.

Before I could register any of the names she said and take in any of the faces she introduced me to, I was handed a glass of shots.

Before I could decide whether I even wanted to drink, she had already pushed the hand that held the glass towards my mouth, the rim of the glass making contact with my lips.

The only thought running through my mind at that moment was a question. A damn serious question. Of which I didn’t have any answer. And I didn’t think I would get any answer as well.

What did I get myself into?

Oh well. Maybe this was better than online food and Netflix.

Maybe.

*****