14. Sujit
SUJIT
A dil was the first to arrive that evening. He was surprised to see Aarti when we had a strict no-outsiders rule. Chris and Manoj came soon after. The fifth member of our nerd team was Jaspinder, Jas, but she’d just delivered her second child.
“Aarti will play with us today,” I declared with the authority my host status granted me. “And we’re playing Cards Against Humanity.”
The cards were already out on the gaming table, along with the snacking chips and nuts Aarti and I had picked up on the way. Usually, we ordered pizza, but at Aarti’s suggestion, we got some gourmet sandwiches.
I knew my buddies would give me much misery, but that was a headache for another day.
I’d also be sneered for shifting from Catan to Cards Against Humanity, and in that context, Jas’ absence was a silver lining.
She was the most ruthless of them all. I also knew these three renegades would call her the moment they stepped out of my house, and I’d soon have Jas mocking me for giving my dick too much say and such.
She would ridicule my head and heart like she had done after Tara crushed my soul.
Then again, that was grief best left for another day.
Good thing, too, because that evening I got to see a side of Aarti I hadn’t expected.
Sitting beside me, she hung up her wine-sipping, urbane self and turned into a beer-swilling, name-calling brat.
I was acquainted with her never-defeated, competitive side, but the game night took her competitiveness to another level.
“Now, that’s hardly fair,” Manoj said when she left him with zero cards won after four rounds.
“What’s the matter, Manoj? Are you scared of a little competition from a woman?” she shot back with a smirk.
Unable to resist her charm, Manoj smiled back and shook his head.
“That’s right, you men always underestimate the pretty ladies , don’t ya?”
“Humility isn’t one of your virtues, I take?” Manoj teased as he tossed a fresh card to everyone.
“And losing with grace isn’t one of yours,” Aarti teased him back, and my heart dipped.
Was I jealous of their innocent banter? If it was jealousy, I’d better tamp it down with haste. She wasn’t my girlfriend, nor anything else that I should feel so possessively about her.
“Damn, woman!” Adil cried when she continued to wipe us clean, round after round. “I’m glad we’re not playing Catan. I don’t think my ego could take being beaten so badly in a game I love so much.”
Aarti allowed herself a quick, girly giggle, then turned to meet my smiling eyes.
That was the reason I’d chosen Cards Against Humanity.
I knew Aarti’s greatest strength was her ability to read people, and that evening, during the small talk before the game, she’d quickly learned everyone’s personality traits and tells.
Even I didn’t know Chris’ tell was that he rolled his tongue around in his mouth— as Aarti divulged later that night—and I’d known him for years.
When Adil declared he’d had enough humiliation for one night, I retreated to the kitchen to grab the sandwiches. We’d have eaten them out of the box they were packed in, but Aarti had matter-of-factly pulled out a serving platter and plates as if any of us rubes cared.
I laid out the platter on the dining table and went to the kitchen to grab the plates and napkins. When I returned, I saw Aarti and Manoj out on the covered balcony with the glass door closed behind them. Installed with heat and lighting, it was perfectly comfortable during the colder months.
Aarti knew Manoj was divorced, and he knew she was single. I hadn’t realized their innocuous banter was the start of something devastating for me. Seeing them talking so closely tripped me down a dark hole in my past.
It was the second time Manoj had made moves on a woman I liked.