Ocean’s Eleven

Chanderi was nervous as she waited for Chiranjeev to show up outside Inox. He had said yes for the catch up but had said they should go for a movie instead of lunch since the memory of their last lunch meeting was still fresh. She had agreed, his logic was sound.

What she hadn’t known, it would take them almost three days to choose a movie. They had finally decided on watching Ocean’s Eleven, which was celebrating some or the other anniversary and was running in the theatre for a limited time. She wondered how badly the movies must be doing if they had to bring back such an old one.

She looked at her watch, pulled her top so it could settle better around her shoulders, looked at her green pants and wondered if she had overdone it and then to pass the time, created a pro and con list of sharing a popcorn box with him.

He appeared as if out of nowhere, panting like he had run from home. It took her a moment to realise he was standing in front of her before breaking into a huge smile. It was automatic, the smile, and one part of her brain questioned its appearance but Chiranjeev was hugging her and he smelt good so she told her brain to shush so she could hug him back. It was something she had always appreciated about him. It was like he could sense her awkwardness and his modus operandi of dissolving it was hugs.

“Sorry. The parking took ages.”

She nodded, her hands still on his chest, while his hands were around her waist. Then her eyes snagged onto the flower in his shirt pocket and she pulled it out, feeling self-conscious as she put some space between them.

“Felt flowers. Another one of your projects then?”

He was feeling warm, it was stupid, but any time he was near her, it was like his entire body temperature went up a degree or two. He ran a hand through his hair. “My kids made it for me, as a thank you for not trying to discipline them too much when they wasted glue putting it in each other’s hairs.”

At Chanderi’s raised eyebrows, he added hurriedly, “It dissolves in water. No harm done. They had so much fun and since I had my phone, I took pictures. Want to see?”

She laughed and as they made their way to their screen, Chiranjeev unlocked his phone to the folder he had made especially for today so he could show it to Chanderi.

*

There was a reason Chanderi had called Pihu on a weekday to show her the progress she had made on her wedding trousseau. She knew Chiranjeev would be busy in school and wouldn’t be messaging her. Their movie date meeting had been a success and they had extended it to a dinner meeting too, eating in the food court. It had been the best Sunday in ages.

Pihu was in her studio now, sans Prachal who had gone for his own fittings, going through the embroidery details on the gown she would be wearing for her mehendi. Taking a leaf out of the Chudasma’s book, they were going all out on the wedding. It would be a five day affair, similar to Chanderi’s but in a hotel instead of the haveli.

“This is beautiful Chand. I love the birds. They look almost lifelike.”

“I’m so glad. I wasn’t sure but…”

“What’s this?”

“Huh?”

Chanderi had turned to her design book, she had made a different one for Pihu and was planning to give it to her as a wedding gift after putting in pictures from the actual wedding. She looked back at Pihu, who was holding the felt flower.

“Oh,” she said, suddenly feeling guilty. She hadn’t told her that she and Chiranjeev were friends now. “Chiranjeev gave it to me. We, uh, we got talking and uh we uh…”

Smiling, Pihu asked, “Why are you blushing Chand?”

Chanderi turned away. “I’m not blushing.”

Pihu kept the flower away, giving herself time to do an internal dance. She prompted, “So you and Chiranjeev got talking…”

“We’re friends now. That’s all.”

Pihu wanted to say something but her friend looked so bashfully happy, she decided to refrain, even from teasing her. Instead she said, “Tell me everything.”

Chanderi pursued her lips, only to stop herself from giggling the way she really wanted to. She cancelled her second appointment for the day, told Shanta di to make her world famous kadhi and chawal for lunch, and the two friends sat on the floor, their backs to the bed and as Pihu had demanded, she told her everything.

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Chapter 15 of 26 of the ongoing series Chanderi. You can read all posts here. Written as part of #BlogchatterA2Z.