One Day At A Time

Chapter 9 - Oceans Apart

September 1993
London

"Girlfriend?"

A very chafed George finally asked his roomie Aran as he glanced at the small cassette player playing what seemed to be a conversation between Aran and some girl, for the umpteenth time. He was amused by the fact that this small player was being used and abused daily to play the same thing over and over again, but his roomie didn't seem to get enough of it. At times he couldn't help but smile when he saw the serene look on Aran's face when he heard her chatter in a language he couldn't understand or her giggles which filled the entire conversation. It played on the tape on a loop many times a day ever since he had met him a few days ago.

"Not yet." Arnav said with a smile and switched off the tape. The sudden mention of the word girlfriend made his nerves tingle. He had never given a thought to the fact that Khush would be known as his girlfriend —if at all.

"How long have you known her?" George asked him while applying gel to his blonde hair in front of the mirror in their small twin bedroom pad in the University accommodation.

"Childhood friends. We grew up together in the same block of apartments."

"She's chirpy!" George chuckled and saw him smile.

"I know what you mean," Arnav said fondly thinking about Khushi's constant chattering. "She wasn't aware of me recording this random conversation secretly. If she comes to know about this now, she will kill me and bury me in her backyard!"

George laughed. "Have you told her how you feel about her?" He asked hesitantly as the laughter subsided.

"Yes. Few minutes before I boarded the flight to London."

"You dog!" George guffawed, pointing the finger at him, "You did not!"

Arnav chuckled softly. No matter how many times he had tried to reason with his heart and question its impulsiveness in that mad moment, he still had the same answer. There was no way he could have left without telling Khushi about his feelings for her that day.

"Yeah. Now in hindsight, wasn't so fair to her, I guess!" Arnav said sheepishly.

"What did she say?" George asked curiously.

"She needs some time to think." Arnav murmured to himself.

"Oh."

"Yeah —oh!" Arnav sighed.

George walked up to him and pulled a chair in front of him. He drew out a thin paper and a tiny box of cannabis from his pocket, which, if he were to get caught possessing, would put him into some serious trouble. But he seemed pretty calm about the whole thing. He rolled a spliff in front of him with expert fingers and offered it to Arnav. "Take this outside the campus and smoke it. One puff and all that anxiety shit will blow away in a blink."

"I know, but I will pass. Thanks."

"You want to burn yourself in it? Why?" George demanded while rolling another one. "That pain is crap. I was there a year ago. She made me wait for a year and then told me she had found someone else." He mumbled pocketing the joint and walked up to the window.

Not something he wanted to hear right now, Arnav thought, his heart clenching inside his chest. "Oh."

"Yeah — oh!" George murmured. "Forget all this. Listen, a couple of us are heading to the pub tonight. Join us, and I'll introduce you to a few more nice blokes around here. Helps." George suggested as he grabbed his backpack.

"That would be nice. Cheers, man. I'll see you tonight." Arnav smiled and decided to get back to his books.

"Aran—"