Under The Mango Trees

Chapter Seven : In Between Raul And Anthony

When we drowsily woke up in the middle of the night to quench our thirst and the weird after taste that water left in our stale mouth . . . That was exactly how I felt when I saw Raul and Anthony in the immaculate lobby of the cinema hall. I was disoriented to process that they were in front of me, yet the feeling of revulsion rose in me as I watched Lila merrily hug Raul. Anthony whose skinny body made him appear taller than Raul even though they were of the same height (he was as thin as I was) mirrored me, silently staying away from the chattering couple. We were like two awkward, empty hangers in the back of the closet.

"You smell nice!" Raul sniffed Lila's hair as they pulled away, making me feel sick. "And you look different! Beautiful different!" His eyes appreciatively scanned her and she was laughing. "Did you get a new haircut?"

No, she hadn't since January and she was looking the same. Beautiful, but the same. This was Raul, always showering her with false compliments to make up for his lack of personality. He was that contemptuous guy who would act as the pioneer of feminism in front of Lila but objectify and body shame other girls with his friends. His hobby was to comment stuff like "feminazi" under posts of oppression of women on Instagram. It didn't stop there, for him issues of poverty or caste didn't exist because he couldn't see past the expensively furnished walls of his posh apartment in the most flourishing and affluent part of the city. What was worse was that Raul and Lila's family were on excellent terms since years, before Raul and Lila were even born.

"Time is running up," I crisply interrupted their little exchange. "We should go in right now." I stood at the massive door of the cinema hall, making sure to slip myself in between Lila and Raul as we entered. I hissed in her ear, "I didn't know he was coming."

"You didn't know?" That was all she responded as the four of us stumbled in the dark to find our seats. Ours was in the last, comfortable row and I let Lila enter it first, blocking the way for Raul so I could sit next to her. I simply didn't want his sleazy hands anywhere on her and I could ensure that by being sandwiched between the two. Worst decision of my eighteen years of existence that I was supposed to call "life."

Raul shamelessly leaned over me and Lila had to too as he whispered live commentary about the movie in her ears like I was a background tree and they were picnicking under my shade. I couldn't concentrate on the film, continuously hearing his little, lame jests and her tittering. She was always tittering around Raul and this irked me, why couldn't she see the ignorant prick he was?

During the interval, Raul was still going on and on, jibing and snickering about the Manyavar and Vicco Turmeric ads when I heard Anthony's hesitant voice, "Tulsi, do you want to get some popcorn?"

I forgot that Anthony existed so in a daze, I replied, "Yeah, yeah."

But it became awfully awkward because my body refused to get up and leave Raul and Lila alone in the dark.

"Get us the cheese one," Raul said in a commanding voice, complacently leaning back as an indication for me to get the hell out as Anthony towered over me.

I glanced at Lila who was smiling as if nothing was amiss which made me furious and I deliberately stomped out, only to look back and see the couple unfazed as they carried on with their chitter-chatter. Anthony was synonymous with awkward, he always didn't know what to do with his empty hands so he fidgeted with the hem of his shirt, tucked his hands in the pockets of his jeans or my least favourite, cracked his knuckles. The universe was trying to aggravate me further as he did just that, the sound of bones colliding made me clench my jaw tight.

"Are you liking the movie?" he asked and all I did was nod. It was bewildering how after four years of friendship, I hadn't bonded with Anthony (neither with Raul, but since he was a prick, he shouldn't be counted). Anthony was extremely introverted like me and we could have got along well, but somehow, our conversations never went past the common greetings and questions like "Did you finish studying for the exam?" which was met with an answer like "Not really, you?" which got a quiet, predictable reply "Me neither." It bored me to the extent that I crawled back in my cacoon till Lila came storming, tore it apart and urged me to fly with her. Two, colourful butterflies fluttering over a field of indistinguishable flowers.

We silently stood in the line and whenever our eyes met, Anthony smiled a little. Was Lila smiling too when Raul met her eyes? That mischievous little smile which I had first seen when we won the quiz competition. If she smiled like that, it would encourage Raul to kiss her or something more. He was like an eager, greedy dog, one little pat on the back and he would follow Lila around till death. Maybe even after. God, Raul was spontaneous, that conniving dog, he had kissed her out of nowhere in the washroom. I wished that I was not focused on stupid mathematics or else I would have accompanied Lila to the washroom. Our mothers had made a hilarious pact, whenever we went to picnics or anywhere else, Lila and I had to go to the washroom together to not get lost, abandoned by the group or kidnapped on the way.

"Do you want popcorn?" I heard Anthony's voice and his eyes nervously darted between me and the impatiently waiting cashier.

"No, thanks," words insolently flew out of my mouth so to be polite, I smiled.

He was caught between a half-smile, half anxious look as he turned back to the cashier. "Just one regular cheese popcorn."

"Lila likes caramel."

"Okay, one regular caramel popcorn then."

"Raul wanted cheese so get one regular cheese and one regular caramel," I explained, foolishly realising that I was giving Raul's order.

"One regular cheese and one regular caramel---"

"You know what, forget the regular cheese."

The cashier clicked his tongue and Anthony stammered, "One-one---"

"One regular cheese and one regular caramel," I finished his sentence, realising my pettiness at having refused Raul's order. It didn't matter, let that dog shove the popcorn in his filthy mouth and get fat. "Do you want popcorn, Anthony?"

"Forget it," he mumbled almost sorrowfully and took both the buckets of popcorn in his arms, clumsily taking back the change of money and even dropping a few coins on the floor.

I picked them up and noticing the embarrassment shining in his eyes, I felt terrible. So I let him go inside with the two buckets of popcorn, then went to order salted popcorn for him, something that I always saw him munching whenever we all went to the movies. As I was paying to the scorning cashier who I had come to despise, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Tulsi!" Jaspreet aka "Jazz," one of my few long time friends and a fellow nerd from school (with whom I had cancelled my plan to go to the movies so I could go with Lila) stood baffled in front of me. Her shrill, exaggerated voice made me wince. "What are you doing here?"

What she meant was- weren't you busy helping your mother in her snacks business?

Just then, Anthony popped his head out of the door and called, "Tulsi, the movie has started."

Her eyes twinkled as all the awkwardness dissipated and she suggestively wiggled her eyebrows at me, probably thinking that I lied because I was on a date with Anthony. Everyone at school shipped Anthony and me like they shipped Raul and Lila. Taking advantage of her misunderstanding, I grabbed the salted popcorn and said, "I'm sorry that I said I was busy. My mother said that she would handle---"

"Oh no worries," she cut me off dismissively, a wide grin plastered on her face. That relieved me and I went to Anthony, giving him the popcorn and surprising him too. He began coyly smiling and when I glanced back at Jaspreet and saw the never-fading grin, I knew that I had done the right thing.

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Glossary

Manyavar and Vicco Turmeric ads- advertisements of stores and companies usually played during intervals in cinema halls in India)