One Day At A Time

Chapter Thirty Three - On The Rocks (I)

Khushi woke up to a desperate thirst at some timeless hour of the night. Shrouded in darkness other than for a low night lamp burning somewhere up above her head, she sat up in her bed and felt her head was about to explode. Straining her eyes, she glanced sideways and saw Anjali and Payal fast asleep. The memory of the crazy evening she had spent with them brought a tender smile to her lips. Pulling the blanket over Anjali which she had possibly kicked off during the night, she slid stealthily out of bed and stood up. A wave of dizziness engulfed her, and she pressed her lips hard, sober enough now to be annoyed with herself for having had a bit more alcohol than she would have usually allowed herself to consume. She let herself out of the room and stepped out into the dark, unfamiliar living room.

Turning left into the moonlit kitchen, she spotted the fridge and grabbed a tall bottle of water from it. She picked up a glass from the shelf and decided to take the couch in the living room and down the entire bottle before she passed out in dehydration. She had just about reached the sofa when she heard the latch turn on the apartment's main door and felt her body freeze, her heart dropping to the bottom of her stomach in absolute terror. She could hear her rapid breathing as her heart pounded in her chest, and a cold sweat broke out on her forehead. She was about to scream but held her breath instead when she heard the voice of the man whose presence at that hour of the night made the very muscles that made her heart beat, lock into a dreadful paralysis.

"Khushi?"

"Arnav?" She cried as her breath whooshed out of her lungs, her hand flying over her chest, trying to calm the pounding heart. "Shit! You scared me, you junglee!"

For a moment he didn't move and then she heard him exhale a long breath. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He whispered as he stepped into the apartment and closed the door behind him. "Why are you up at this — something wrong?"

"Something wrong?!" She raked out in sheer disbelief. "Are you out of your bloody mind? You sneak into the apartment in the middle of the night like a thief without informing anyone and ask me if something is wrong?"

She saw his arms go halfway up in the air, his palms facing her. "Calm down. I gather Anjali didn't inform you I was coming over around this time?" He asked in a voice as calm as ever.

"Anjali what?" She croaked, trying to focus her eyes on his face through the sliver of moonlight that had spilt into the room through the living room window.

Walking into the room lazily, he sat down on the couch and started taking his shoes off. "I wasn't comfortable with the idea of three drunken women left alone in some unknown bachelor's pad for the night. The alcohol was provided on the condition that I would be allowed to sleep in the living room without disturbing all of you, which is what I intend to do now."

She was listening to him as if he was narrating a fairy tale to her. She blinked at him with her lush, long lashes through the drunken stupor, trying to make sense of his words. And finally, some part of the brain flickered to life and irritation suddenly sliced through the haze of languor.

"So you came here to babysit us? What are we? Toddlers?" She demanded furiously, placing the bottle and the glass on the coffee table between them. Yes, she was furious! Extremely furious. Furious with him for barging in at this hour unexpected and unannounced, and furious with Anjali for not having warned her about it! For all she knew, she could've been hopelessly intoxicated or skimpily clad—Shit! She glanced at her cotton shorts and vest, and her heart somersaulted in her chest.

"It's called looking out for friends. I suppose they call it babysitting in your world." He countered, bringing her train of consternating thoughts to a sudden halt. "Do you know where the switch is? We need light in this room."