Someone Like You (18 page)

‘Cool,’ I say.

Pia comes back a few minutes later with the acid. God knows how someone needs so much time to get something from twenty feet away. Once back, she keeps muttering things about how I need to concentrate more on how
the experiments are performed and the general safety rules I should know about. I stop paying attention to her blabber, my mind still on Karthik.

‘Tell Pia that I’m sorry,’ Tanmay whispers to me when the bell rings and he is about to leave.

‘I don’t think that will be necessary. But try not to drink again,’ I say.

A few weeks pass and life’s a routine even though things are changing slowly and steadily and aren’t exactly the way they were before. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

‘Good morning,’ Tanmay croaks from the other side of the phone.

‘You’re still sleeping?’ I ask.

‘Yes. I am sorry. I will just sleep today. Terrible headache,’ he says, sounding barely coherent.

‘Did you drink again?’

‘Huh? Me? No?’ he says, unconvincingly.

‘Don’t lie. You did, didn’t you? After all that I said, you still went ahead and got drunk?’

‘But the whole team was there! I had no choice,’ he defends himself.

‘You always have a choice. You have three more matches left. Why are you doing this?’

‘It doesn’t affect my performance! I practise five hours a day. I can afford a little fun,’ he says, almost angry now. ‘And you need to stop being a mom! Every first year guy is trying it out. I think you should too.’

‘What? I am trying to ask you to stop drinking, and you are asking me to try it too? Don’t you have any shame?’

He doesn’t say anything.

‘Look—I am just saying—you don’t have to drink so much,’ I say.

‘Fine. I am sorry,’ he says and hangs up.

I disconnect the call. He didn’t sound convincing at all. I know he will give in if his new football friends ask him to drink again. Seven matches, six wins, thirteen goals from Tanmay, and ten drinking binges left him unreachable for days after the match. It’s been a month and I have seen less and less of him. The time we spend together is usually spent in copying assignments. Other than that, he is usually practising on the field, hanging around with Karthik or playing his matches. Or sleeping when he gets too drunk!

I understand him being busy, but I don’t endorse his consumption of alcohol. Of late, he has even started hanging out with his teammates and drinking. He claims he doesn’t drink much, but I can see his bloodshot eyes and tell what must have happened the night before.

I had initially blamed Karthik for it, but I think Karthik was right when he said, ‘It was just waiting to happen.’

I don’t know what is wrong with him. Life has taken a turn that’s not much fun. Exams are just around the corner and panic has started to set it. No matter how much I show I don’t care, I do want to score well. And with Tanmay and Pia busy with their own lives, I have absolutely no one around me. Pia sleeps through the day and talks through the night, often crying on the phone for hours. I don’t have the heart to ask her why, because I know it’s regarding Vishal.

Today, I saw Akshat drag his suitcases to the guys’ hostel in the morning. He didn’t notice me, but I think he will start following me again soon. And this time, I am going to talk to him and put it to rest. Things have started to take shape in my head. Maybe Akshat isn’t that bad at all. He has been persisting for long enough. It’s been close to a long time
now, and he wouldn’t have hung around if I didn’t mean anything to him.

On the other hand, I don’t really like Karthik, I have realized that. He is too brash and too reckless for me. Over the last few days, I have heard about more than a few nasty brawls he has been in. Though, surprisingly, no one really says a bad word about him. But he is the kind of guy who throws his life away. I am not too sure that I want someone like him around me. Not that he likes me back anyway.

Moreover, I blame him for Tanmay’s new-found love for alcohol. I know that it’s not he who is at fault here, but I can see that Tanmay has started to ape Karthik. The clothes, the mannerisms—he is fascinated by a lot more than just Karthik’s football skills.

‘Are you coming for class?’ I ask Pia, who is sprawled across the bed like a corpse. She has been up all night talking again. She shakes her head.

I call Tanmay again, but he says he is not coming, this time even more forcefully. He says he needs to practise when he gets up.

There are just three matches left for us to win the title and he is doing everything to get us there. It seems like a lot is riding on him. And since we are winning, everyone has started taking even more interest in the matches. Even people who are not interested in football turn up at the matches and cheer till their lungs give up. Needless to say, Tanmay is the most popular junior in our batch. No one even remembers who won Mr Fresher, the annual title given to the most impressive junior after a series of talent rounds and what-not.

I walk to the class, head hung low, already dreading the long day that is ahead of me. I haven’t even started studying for the exams. I was thinking Tanmay would teach us everything but he now says he will not start studying till two of his
matches are out of the way. Luckily, the final, if we make it, is scheduled after the exams.

As if I’m not already having a terrible day, when I get to the classroom, I realize that it’s a chemistry class. I am bored out of my wits within the first fifteen minutes. I try talking to the guy sitting next to me, but he just freaks me out by talking about the impending examination and how he has revised the syllabus only thrice.

Bored, tired and pissed off, I look out of the window absent-mindedly when I see someone waving at me. It’s
him
. Akshat, in all his morning glory and carefully chosen clothes, is standing right outside my classroom and waving at me. I don’t even think twice before I come up with an excuse and sneak out of the class.

I walk towards him determinedly and stop right in front of him.

‘Is this for real? All I had to do was wave to get your attention, I was following you around for a month and you didn’t notice,’ he says.

‘Sometimes doing what you need to do is all it takes. Like saying the truth,’ I say.

‘Are we going into that conversation all over again?’

‘We—’

‘No, don’t even answer that. That topic is closed. I have an idea. Let’s get out of here? I am sick of this college!’ he says.

‘Where?’

‘Some place nice. Come.’

As I walk behind him to the parking lot, I realize how easily I am back to the day when he held my hand during the movie and kissed me thereafter. Or am I just bored and needy enough to want whatever company I can get? With Tanmay busy with his being-cool stuff, and Pia crying her heart out for that bastard back in Bangalore, perhaps I don’t
know what to do with myself. I think I should have made more friends in college, but it’s not that we haven’t tried. Tanmay, Pia and I have taken others along on our walks once in a while—mostly guys—but nothing actually worked out. The guys hit on us, and the girls kept saying Tanmay is so-sweet, so-sweet and I don’t think either Pia nor I liked it. We like to keep Tanmay for ourselves.

‘You have a car here?’ I almost gasp when I see the car. I know by the logo that it’s the German-made BMW and I don’t know or even want to know anything beyond that.

‘Since you weren’t talking to me anyway, I thought I should see the city a little,’ he smiles and holds the door open for me, quite a contrast to how Karthik had asked me to jump on his bike and hold him tight. I am surprised I am still thinking about Karthik.

I sit in the front seat, and for a moment, I am dazzled by the interiors of the car. It looks brand-new and has a million lights and LEDs that stare back at me. The leather I am sitting on is smoother than velvet and every surface shines like granite.

‘So, how’s college?’ he asks once he gets into the driver’s seat.

‘It’s okay. Exams from next week, so it’s going to be a hectic time. I haven’t started studying yet. Let’s see how it goes.’

‘Oh, but you’re smart. You will do well.’

‘I hope so,’ I reply shortly. I still do not know why I decided to come with him or where it is going to take us. Akshat, however, acts like there has never been anything wrong between us.

‘And how are your friends? Pia, right? And Tanmay?’

‘You have done your fair bit of stalking me, eh?’ I say, a little appreciative of him being abreast of what’s happening in my life.

‘I can’t stop thinking about you.’

‘I wonder why,’ I say dryly.

‘Can you stop being so mean to me? I agree that I once did some things that I am not particularly proud of, but I have changed now. You need to understand that. What happened with your sister is something I regret.’

‘I want to believe you. I think I do, too. But I can’t be with you; it’s just wrong.’

‘Fine. But we can be friends, right? We can call, text and meet up sometimes? That’s all I want,’ he says, sounding exceptionally sincere.

‘Don’t be that sweet. And I will think about it,’ I say, almost blushing.

He smiles at me and drives into a plush hotel’s parking lot, and I feel guilty that I won’t be able to split the bill. He lets the valet park the car, hands over a 500-rupee note—an amount that I spend in a week—and opens the huge door for me. Somehow, the way he acts and behaves makes me feel like an ill-behaved, immature, underdressed college student. Wait—I am
meant
to be that!

‘What place is this?’ I ask as he leads me into the restaurant. This place doesn’t even have proper tables. There are huge couches—in bright colours—and people are dressed up. I am still in a yellow T-shirt, which has a Superman logo on it. I thought it was nice, but now it looks like I am extremely inappropriately dressed.

‘Can’t we go to McDonald’s or Dominos? Or something like that?’ I ask. He laughs. ‘I am serious. Why do we have to come to a place like this? I feel so out of place.’

‘You will get used to it. And you deserve the best in life.’

‘I think the burgers at McDonald’s are nice. Here, I won’t even know what to order!’

‘It’s not that bad,’ he says as he smiles again.

A waiter—handsome and tall in his black and red
tuxedo—walks up to our table and hands over the menu to both of us.

‘Order for me, and it better be good,’ I say.

‘Fine,’ he says and summons the waiter again. He orders something from the menu, asks the waiter to add a few things, not add a few things and to make it quick. Once the waiter excuses himself, Akshat turns to me and asks, ‘Are you going to tell your sister that you met me?’

‘Sooner or later, I guess. But that doesn’t matter; I don’t think we are going to meet that often anyway.’

‘Because your sister won’t approve?’

‘Yes,’ I reply.

‘Okay. Let’s talk about something else,’ he says, clearly not happy.

He starts to tell me about his business in Nagpur and how his father is freaking out about him spending so much time here. He says he finds it difficult to live with his parents, with them constantly asking him to get married. Twenty-four is not an age to get married, he says. He asks me if I like cars and I shake my head, but nonetheless, he tells me about the cars he has driven till now. He got his first car when he was fourteen and it was a Fiat Palio. Soon, he moved on to a Maruti Esteem when he was fifteen, a Tata Sierra at seventeen and he was gifted his first BMW at eighteen. Since then, he has been a fan of European cars, he tells me. BMWs, Audis, an old Porsche—he has driven them all. By the time he finishes, I am more interested in the chicken drumsticks he has ordered than the engine capacity of the cars he has driven.

‘So, cars, huh?’ I ask, absent-mindedly, still very much absorbed in the food on my plate.

‘Yeah, I love them.’

‘What else do you love?’

‘Apart from you, I love to travel,’ he winks.

‘Oh, you do? It must be fun, right? I have never gone out of the country. Not even to Nepal!’

‘Never? You definitely should go out …
we
should go on a holiday. My treat,’ he says.

‘Yeah, right. You expect me to just get up and take a vacation with you. I am not sure we will even talk again! You’re pushing it too far.’

‘Okay, okay, fine. I just thought it would be nice for you and me to go to Venice. Italy is an immensely romantic country.’

‘Tell me about it!’ I say enthusiastically.

He tells me about his vacation in Italy and everything he did there. Sporadically, the conversation veered to cars and the showrooms and the factories of Ferrari and Fiat and what-not that he visited. There are times when I stop listening to him and concentrate only on his beautiful face or the amazing food he has ordered for me. Though he talks about places he would take me to if I agreed to go with him, he obviously doesn’t realize that our worlds are different. And from where I come from, there are no spontaneous international vacations. I can count the number of times I have been inside an aircraft—none of them flew me to international destinations.

‘So, what do you think?’ he asks.

‘About Italy? Great. I would love to visit that place some time. Maybe in the next hundred years, if I get the chance,’ I smile wryly.

‘You will. Best of luck,’ he says and slides his hand towards mine. For some reason, I let him hold it. He has held it before and it doesn’t feel odd. But it doesn’t feel incredible either, like it did the last time.

‘We should go,’ I say, looking at my watch.

‘Do we have to?’ he says, his eyes stuck on me in a deep stare. ‘I can sit here for the rest of the day spending time with you.’

Talking about cars?

‘I wish I could stay too, but I really have to start studying,’ I say, even though I don’t feel the need to be sweet to him from the inside. But he has been—or at least tried to be—so sweet to me, so I think it’s not fair to give him such a hard time.

He settles the bill; I don’t even have the courage to see how much it cost us. I had spotted the price of the mocktail he had ordered for me, and the amount was enough to pay for pizzas for ten people at Dominos. I didn’t have the heart to look any further and feel guiltier about it than I already was.

Akshat drives back to the campus really slowly and takes two rounds around the campus before parking the car at the farthest end of the parking lot. Though we had nothing to talk about during our entire ride back to the college, he had been looking at me and smiling, as if he had a secret.

We get out of the car and I, finally, ask, ‘What’s the matter? Why are you smiling so much?’