Climax

Midnight call - 7

Dananjay Reddy

Morning found me alone in my bed. No sign of Will.

Was last night a dream?

Didn't he say that he wanted to date me?

A smile crept up, over taking my whole face.

Yes, he did.

We almost kissed.

I got up. I had a spontaneous kiss to deliver.

While brushing, I wondered how you plan for something that was supposed to happen spontaneously?

Following the sound of Poorni's roaring laughter, I entered the kitchen.

Will stood with a spatula and a big ass grin.

"You..." He pointed the spatula at me, "sleep like dead, and snore like a troll." He informed. And did a snoring mimicry with half open mouth.

"Rrrrrr...brrrrrrrrr...ffffrrrrr..."

Poorni laughed again, clutching the kitchen counter.

Mamma swatted Will on his shoulders, chuckling.

"You missed breakfast. But never worry. Special lunch menu today." Poorni said.

"Brought to you by the greatest chef on this side of the world." Will gave a bow, swinging his spatula like a sword.

I had a dejavu.

I knew this Will. He was an entertainer. Kept everyone around him laughing by his antics. He made friends out of everyone, from the staff who cleaned the floors to who owned the buildings. I fell in love with this guy. I thought he was lost forever to the CEO.

Like a snake shedding its skin, he had shed his grumpy, stick up the ass persona overnight. 

"What are you cooking?" I asked, clearing my throat. Now I had to worry about my spontaneous reaction around him. This Will was addictive and adorable. If I got starry eyed, Poorni would pick it like a pigeon. Fuck, even mamma would guess.

"Chicken biryani and goat liver fry," he said.

"Wow, ambitious. No thanks. I'll have any leftovers from breakfast. Mamma, food." I rubbed my stomach.

Whenever I had friends over who had only English as a common tongue, I used hand signals and often used simple English words so that mamma wouldn't feel left out. 

She never went to school, if she had, she would have become a scientist or something. I still cursed my grandparents for it.

Mamma took a plate out. Will placed a hand over it. "No... mamma... no..." he made an exaggerated show of hurt look.

Mamma looked between us and put the plate back.

"Ten minutes, Jay." She ruffled my hair as Will whooped.

The kitchen wasn't big, four was a too tight of a fit and it didn't have air conditioning. Will was sweating from head to toe. His light brown cotton shirt stuck to his body.

I went in search of a fan.

Chintu came just in time from school for his lunch. We both hauled two old style standing fans from an upstairs storage room. Appa found us struggling and left his tender coconuts to set the fans in the living room, so that they could be used in kitchen as well by just rotating them. 

Will turned around as the fan air hit him. "Oh my god... oh my freaking god."

I laughed at his look. He came jumping to me and kissed my cheek. "Thank you so much!" He bent down and did the same to Chintu and then kissed appa too in the same momentum. We all stood amazed.