tales of Suchita

“We’re forty now,” she said, apropos nothing.

“Yes, we are. Well…you are. I still have,” she checked her watch, “four months to go.”

Nalini smiled and blew the golden strand of hair falling on her face. She would need another touch-up, and soon. She removed her phone to make a note. Her memory, which had never been great, could completely derail now that she had hit forty.

“We had made a pact, do you remember? When we were in school that we’d marry each other if we weren’t married by forty.”

Shilpa laughed. “That I think was inspired by Chandler and Monica and not exactly something that we wanted to do.”

Nalini croaked, pointing as if Shilpa had made her point for her. “They did end up together, though. So why not us?”

Shilpa, who had been lying on the sofa, vegetating, got up. She said, “Nals where is this coming from?”

Nalini was lying on the other sofa, opposite Shilpa. She could see Shilpa from her peripheral vision but didn’t move. They had had an enormous lunch of kebabs, rotis and falooda kulfi and their body was allowing minimal movement at the moment.

“I just thought it’d be nice. We already meet almost every day. We love each other. We make each other laugh. We’re not scared of telling the other when we’re being assholes. It seems like a win-win.”

Shilpa played with her fingers, nervous. Though why she was nervous she hadn’t a clue. Everything Nalini had said was true. Only a month ago they had thought of moving in together since they were living in Bombay and it didn’t make sense giving rent for two houses when they could easily rent a 3BHK together. They had already finalized a house and it was gorgeous! It had a sea view, something Nalini had groaned over as if in orgasmic bliss as soon as she had laid her eyes on it.

“How…I mean, we don’t…it’s just…”

Nalini turned to look at Shilpa. Shilpa was wearing a green-coloured dress, something she would never have worn twenty years ago because her body-type didn’t wear dresses. She had said fuck you to that notion ten years ago. She had taken Nalini to help shop for one. It had been an educative experience and the fact she had found three to complement her larger body had been a revelation.

“There’s no pressure. I just thought it would be something nice.”

The nervousness sky-rocketed. She didn’t want to move but seeing as Nalini wasn’t going to, she got up and Nalini immediately brought her knees to her chest, making space for Shilpa to sit on the sofa.

“What about sex and intimacy?”

“What about it?”

Shilpa rolled her eyes. Nalini was being obtuse on purpose. “Don’t you want any?”

Nalini said, “I don’t care either way. What about you?”

She looked at Nal’s feet. Her toes were wriggling, giving her a flash of her pink toenails. She was nervous too, Shilpa realised. Just like her. That made it easy to say, “So we’ll be a couple without the sex?”

Now that Nalini knew Shilpa wasn’t going to outright dismiss the idea, she was ready to fight for her vision of the future she had nursed pretty much since she had hit her late twenties. “Yes. And why is it so bad? As long as it works for us and we’re happy and making a choice.”

She had thought of everything, hadn’t she? Shilpa couldn’t deny she rather liked the idea. “Well, you’re the only person I trust implicitly.”

Nalini shrugged. “You can take some time to think about it, of course. There’s no rush.”

*

On her cab ride back home, Shilpa realized she wouldn’t be going back to her apartment had Nalini not insisted they take some physical space from each other while Shilpa “thought about it.” It made her mad and even though her Uber driver cursed her change of location mid-way, which costed her thirty minutes of detour, she made him drive back to Nalini’s.

She tried to read Nalini’s face when she opened the door but found she couldn’t. It had been almost three hours since Shilpa had left but she hadn’t changed out of her white shirt and blue jeans. Shilpa’s favourite blue jeans – and what did it say about her that she had a favourite clothing item in her friend’s wardrobe?

“You are the worst! You ask me to marry you and then you send me away. What kind of a friend are you?”

Nalini laughed. “I’m sorry? I wanted to give you space to th…”

“Since when you do care about that? You have never cared about giving me space for anything!”

“Shilpa…”

“No, wait. I need to pee. Three hours in the AC and traffic and my bladder will burst if I don’t go now.”

So saying Shilpa left a bemused Nalini at the door as she rushed to the bathroom. Nalini closed the door, a smile on her face. It had been an epic day and if Shilpa’s freak out was an indicator, it would be an interesting night…one that may just lead to a “yes.”

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Song: Love Don’t Cost a Thing by Jennifer Lopez

Check out the other posts for 2023 here. Written as part of #BlogchatterA2Z

Header image: Photo by Chait Goli