Under The Mango Trees

Chapter Twenty One : In Between Sorrows Of Young Tulsi

"You were just sleeping and sleeping . . . and today, I thought you were dead!" I heard Lila giggling, alluding to yesterday's mishap. She set aside her panda coffee mug as if she realized something important to do, advanced towards the balcony with the grey drawstrings of her pyjamas swaying and carelessly pulled away the light, white curtains. It was a sultry summer, I could see it without needing any reference to temperature or time of the day. Strong sunlight overflowed the balcony, spilling out of the gaps in the balustrade and perhaps trickling down to whoever unfortunate walked below. Scorching their egg heads and mushing their insides. "It's the middle of the afternoon . . . We missed half a day! I can't believe you can come all the way here and just sleep all day."

"Half a day," I corrected rather smugly.

"Haha! Let's go and swim right now. The sea is calling us." She slid the glass door of the balcony as if to prove her point that the crashing of the waves was a personal call for a swim. She put a foot down and immediately retracted it, the overflowing sunlight burning her delicate flesh. Slowly and sheepishly, she turned around and mock acted as if she yielded to my demands of staying in, "Alright, alright, you can sleep some more. We'll go swimming in the evening. The sun is being too cruel on us. Bad, bad, sun!" Shaking my head at her childishness, I proceeded towards the bathroom to brush my teeth and take a shower. "Where are you going?"

"What do you think?" I closed the door, hearing her shout something along the lines of hurrying up because she would be bored without me. I went through all the daily ablutions in a leisurely manner, emerging out fresh as a daisy in my white cotton t-shirt and black track pants. Lila was laying on her stomach on the bed, rigorously typing something. "Are you talking to your boyfriend?"

"Are you jealous?" came her prompt, airy reply. I had zero reasons to be jealous of her relationship. I could be in a better one with Anthony if I wanted to. That boy seemed to really like me yesterday night. Too bad that he didn't know how to kiss. "I'm talking to mama. Raul and Anthony are going through the most terrible hangover ever! They won't meet us today. They're passed out in their room. They look super funny. Anyway, great for us, no? We have an entire day to ourselves!"

"Half a day," I mumbled, realizing that Lila had heard me the moment I felt a pillow gently hit my arm.

She propped her head on the open palm of her left hand, her elbow against another pillow. "What are we planning to do today?"

"I am planning to read all afternoon and relax. You can do whatever you want." I pulled out a copy of Sorrows of Young Werther from underneath the pile of my clothes in the trolley bag, hearing the dramatic gasps of Lila.

"You have come all the way here, just to read all day- half a day," she rephrased, a bit irritatedly after noticing my complacent expression. "We need to do things, we need to live in our world. Not in that dude's world." Sitting up, she pointed accusingly and vehemently at the author Goethe's name. "We can have more fun than that."

"Like what? Play monopoly so you can win like last night?"

She punched the pillow and cried out, "How did you find out my true intentions?!"

Laughter shook my body as I stretched myself beside her on the bed, placing the book on my lap. "This is unfair, Lila. You want to have fun with me only when you aren't fooling around with Raul. I saw you both yesterday. You need to be more careful around him . . . You know how he is."

"You're just jealous," that infuriating, knowing smile appeared back on her lips as she lay on her stomach. My humour dissipated and I decided to not talk to her further. Instead, I concentrated on the book. Every minute or so, her legs swinging in the air would kick me playfully, trying to capture my attention. Nope, that was not going to happen today. Soon, it became so quiet that I could hear the browning pages rustling from the wind of the ceiling fan and I had to press the pages with my fingers. Yet, the upper corners would flutter, beating my hands, teasing me like a coquettish woman batting her eyelashes. Exasperated, I lifted the book and gripped it in my hands with the firmness of a woman ready to take on the world. Immediately, Lila rested her head on my lap and peeped in the book with her dancing eyes looking for trouble and a frivolous, spreading grin. "What are you reading?"