Chapter Fourteen #2
Naina pulled him to a more secluded corner and took out a rolled joint, a lighter, and an ashtray. “Aleksy got me this earlier,” she explained. “I’ve never smoked pot before, so I thought we could do it together. It’ll count toward the one item on the list.”
Tejas’s insides nearly turned to mush. “Sounds good,” he said, then lit the joint and gave it to her. He paused, waiting for her to take a puff, but she only turned the joint around in her fingers, confused.
Finally, she stammered out, “Uh, can—can you show me how to do it?”
Laughing, Tejas demonstrated how to take a puff, then exhaled a cloud of smoke, his shoulders sinking. God, he hadn’t smoked pot in a decade, but this…this was what he’d needed today. He tapped the joint on the edge of the tray to get the ashes out, then gave it back to Naina. “Now you try.”
She hesitated, then lifted the joint to her lips and drew in the smoke.
Seconds later, she exhaled, coughing up a fit.
Tejas rubbed her back until she resurfaced, giggling.
“This is such a weird feeling.” She took another puff, more measured and slow this time, then she exhaled, smiled, and turned the joint over to him.
They made small talk as they smoked, chatting absently about the weather, how much Naina missed her best friend and her dad, and the remaining items on the list. Mid-conversation about what they might do for the more vague “adventurous” and “extravagant” items, Tejas paused when he heard music pouring out from the club: a sped-up remix of an old Bollywood song about first love. One of his favorites, in fact.
“God, I love this song.” He put out the joint on the tray, set it aside, then held out his hand and beckoned her closer. “Will you dance with me, my fair lady?”
She rolled her eyes exaggeratedly but wrapped her arms around his shoulders. They swayed together, foreheads touching, her lips brushing over his stubble, somehow driving him crazy and soothing his nerves at the same time, until the five-minute song ended.
When the next song came on, Naina frowned, facing him. “So…are you feeling relaxed enough to talk about what’s bothering you?”
“I am, thanks,” Tejas said, planting a kiss on her forehead as she smiled lazily. Then he hesitated, his eyes raking over her face. Could he trust her not to be weird about his sexuality? Biphobia ran rampant even in queer circles, and as far as he knew, Naina was straight.
“I don’t know how you’ll react to this.” He hesitated, then leaned against a tree, his eyes on the dark sky. “My reason for this trip was a breakup, just like you…with an ex-boyfriend.”
When Naina didn’t say anything, he took a deep breath and willed himself to look at her, afraid of what he might see—but his mouth fell open. She was blank-faced, her arms folded. “Okay, go on,” she said.
He did a double take. “This—this doesn’t bother you?”
A small laugh bubbled out of her lips. “Why should I care if you also date men? I know you like women”—she blushed—“and all that matters is you make me feel good. Really good.”
Tejas heaved a sigh of relief and clutched his chest. “Thank God. Anyway, here’s what happened.” He summarized the devastation that was his relationship with Rahul, from start to finish, and by the end of his soliloquy, Naina was scowling.
“So he doesn’t even care that you asked for space?” she exclaimed, fuming. “It’s bad enough that he threw away your relationship to appease society, but to act like he didn’t do you dirty? To expect you to still be his friend despite the shit he pulled? What an…asswipe!”
Tejas burst out laughing, his melancholy dissipating slowly but surely. “Naina Stark, did you just call him an ‘asswipe’? I haven’t heard anyone say that since middle school.”
She chuckled. “But he is one, isn’t he?”
“He definitely is.” And you’re amazing, he almost said out loud, then remembered that this thing between him and Naina was supposed to be a fling and nothing more.
So instead, Tejas pulled her into his arms, planting kisses onto her cheeks while she giggled.
Then, with her face still pressed into his neck, he said, “I bet it’s been rough for you too.
I’m here if you want to vent about your ex. ”
Naina took a deep breath, fiddling with the empty spot on her ring finger.
“I met him during my senior year internship. And I’d dated before, but Santhosh was my most serious relationship.
We both had the same job, the same level of ambition…
and after my parents got divorced because they wanted different things, I thought Santhosh and I, being alike, made sense.
” Her voice broke, and she looked up at him, her eyes shining.
“So I compromised, even when I didn’t want to, like not singing duets with other men at karaoke, or putting off work when he wanted to spend time with me.
He was so insecure that he’d rather have seen me fail at my job than be better than him at it. ”
Tejas’s heart sank as he wiped away the first tear, then the second. “I’m so sorry,” he said.
She breathed out loudly. “Sometimes I wonder if I only stayed with Santhosh for so long because I didn’t want my father to see me go through a breakup. The divorce was so rough on him, and he liked Santhosh—probably because I never told him about the red flags until it all came crashing down.”
“Sounds like you and your dad are close.” Tejas put his hand on her wrist, his touch hot. “Are things okay with your mom, though?”
“She’s why I love karaoke so much. She used to sing at weddings and parties, so I grew up with music all around me, and that stayed with me even after their divorce.
I don’t talk to her much now. She lives in America, singing backing vocals for a bunch of musicians.
She’s got her dream life. I wish we could have been part of it, but c’est la vie, right? ”
“My parents are blissfully in love, which is probably why I’m such a romantic,” Tejas said, laughing, “but neither my sister nor I speak to them anymore.”
Naina sucked on the inside of her cheek. “Really? Why?”
“They didn’t support my sister’s divorce when her arranged marriage fell through.
They gave her the age-old ‘marriage is sacred’ speech, said she was a bad person for walking away for very valid reasons and that they never wanted to see her again.
So I cut them off. I mean”—he shrugged—“they probably would have disowned me after they found out I’m bi anyway. Might as well get it over with.”
“That sounds horrible,” Naina said. “I can’t imagine having to go no-contact with both my parents.
After my mom left, I helped my dad through it, and he did the same for me after my engagement ended.
He’s my lifeline.” She sniffled, then wiped her nose on her hand.
“Sorry. I don’t usually cry. Must be the alcohol. ”
“Don’t be sorry.” He pressed her free hand to his lips. “Besides, you look beautiful even when you cry.”
She let out a chuckle. “Thanks. Anyway, want to go someplace else that’s distracting and fun?”
He rubbed the back of his head, hoping she didn’t mean their bedroom again. As much as he enjoyed having sex with her, he loved just spending time with her more. “Uh, where?”
She grinned, a genuine, childlike smile that was so infectious he smiled back, and then she said, “Ever tried drunk karaoke?”