Cupids and Crossbows

The Morning After - I

I was desperately trying to stop the room I was in from spinning. My temples were throbbing with an unbearable headache. Once I got out of bed and managed to get myself to the restroom successfully without cracking my head open on the floor, I sprayed some water on my face to wake up more. As my vision cleared after being splashed, memories of last night's events slowly returned to me. If dealing with a hangover the next day after you are thoroughly wasted was hard enough, then add to it an ex-boyfriend with a split personality and a long last best friend who had sprung out of the blue. My day was going to be fan-freaking-tastic, I thought with a sigh as soon as I entered the living room and spotted Rishi sprawled out on the couch.

Justin was lazily skimming through a magazine from the loveseat opposite it. "Good morning" Justin offered in almost a whisper on seeing me, sensing that I must have a splitting headache after last night's drinking binge. He was considerate enough to lower his voice as I might not be ready to deal with loud noises early in the morning. I gave him a smile at his concern and frowned after a second as I suddenly remembered something. "Were you awake the whole night?" I asked him even though I somehow guessed that he should have spent the entire night on the loveseat watching over Rishi.

After I called out Rishi’s name, in the alley yesterday when the whole g**g fight came to an end, Rishi was mirroring the exact reaction I had on seeing him after so many years. Justin looked confused on seeing our shell-shocked faces. However, being the smart guy he is, he must have at least gathered that we knew each other before as I have called Rishi out by his name. Justin remained silent giving us time to gather our thoughts but both of us did not move a muscle. We didn't get much time to keep on standing in the middle of the street and thinking back on the good old days, as we heard a drunk Jason stumbling behind us to see what the hell was taking so long for us to have disappeared from him.

"You know this guy?" Justin asked breaking the silence as none of us had attempted to talk. I gave a feeble nod in agreement and replied through a soft gasp, "An old friend". That's all he needed to know because the next moment he was rushing us into his car to get away from the scene. Rishi still appeared to be in shock and was not able to comprehend what was happening around him. The police siren sounding a little far away and getting closer with every passing minute was the only push we needed to get the hell out of the place as soon as possible.

When we reached Jason's apartment, since it was close to the club than mine, Justin had managed to drag Jason and Sarah to the master bedroom as they have completely passed out. I would have helped, but I was not in a better state either. Moreover, I was busy gawking at the man sitting in my living room with a tissue pressed against his nose which was losing its original color to turn into an alarming red as blood soaked through it. My mind didn't register when Justin gave Rishi the tissue to staunch the bleeding for the time being. Or when he came back with a first aid kit to attend to his wounds, cleaning them up and plastering the gash on his forehead.

I was standing in a corner watching everything unfolding before me silently without a word. My mind was in a clutter hazed with alcohol and the thousand questions racing through my head about my good old friend were not helping in any way. I could neither understand them myself nor could I voice them to make him understand what I was saying. Rishi was still silent except for the occasional painful moans when Justin cleaned his wounds. Even after Justin was done, none of us tried to start a conversation. "All right then. All of us had been through one hell of a day. Let's sleep on it and we can talk about it tomorrow morning" he said deciding that no one could manage a proper conversation. Rishi took one look at Justin and threw a brief stare my way before lying back on the sofa and getting comfortable for his nap. That was his cue to signal the end of the conversation.

Justin had guided me to the guest bedroom to tuck me in and cover me with a blanket before moving to the living room to keep an eye on Rishi. Though I had addressed him as an old friend, Justin was still not sure about Prem. Above all, he was not ready to sleep peacefully when there was a new guy amidst us, who had taken down three full-grown men. Especially when all of us were in a bad state with our defenses down. So, he decided to stay awake for the whole night guarding the people he loved.

"Didn't feel sleepy" Justin replied with a casual shrug bringing me back to the present. I nodded at him and noticed that Rishi was still sleeping on the couch like he owned the damn house. Although I was itching to interrogate him, I decided to wait until he woke up. I strolled towards the kitchen to make coffee to wake myself up. I heard Justin follow me to the kitchen. He wrestled away the kettle from my hand.

"Let me," he said with a soft smile. "That hangover must be killing you. Just go and wait in the living room and I will bring your coffee" he added. Without waiting for my answer, he proceeded to look for the coffee mugs in the cabinets. Though the slight brush of his fingers on my waist to get me out of the way was unintentional and held no romantic interest whatsoever, it made me freeze, nonetheless. I did not know why my body was more aware of his presence as he stretched around me to get the milk and sugar. However, Justin was completely oblivious to my inner chaos and got back to work shooing me away from the kitchen. I shook my head to get rid of whatever mess my mind was caught up in.

Maybe it is just the alcohol still present in my system messing with my brain. Or as Jason would crudely put it, my celibacy spell was reaching its peak and I was getting horny even with an innocent touch. I shook my head again to clear the thought as soon as it popped into my brain. Whatever it may be I don't want to delve more into it. I had more important matters at hand. Starting with the guy stirring awake from the couch.

Rishi stretched his arms above his head and let out a yawn before getting up from the couch. He blinked his eyes open to scan his surroundings. As soon as his eyes adjusted to the sunlight streaming in through the window, he hissed in pain tenderly touching his temple where the deep gash in his forehead was now covered with a plaster. "I could take you to the hospital to get that properly checked out," I said making his head snap towards me. He seemed to notice me only then. His mind must be replaying everything that happened yesterday to the current moment like a movie as I could see the gears turn in his head. After a few minutes of silently staring at me, he averted his eyes to look at the sleek glass coffee table but not essentially seeing anything.

"I am fine," he said but I could somehow sense that was a total lie. However, I was not going to call him out on it. Both of us sat in silence contemplating how to start a conversation. I didn’t know how long it had been since I saw Rishi. Maybe six years ago? I couldn't quite place it. The last time I saw him was during Nithya's wedding. That realization brought with it some unpleasant memories. I closed my eyes to get rid of those scarring images, the sounds of a certain male who used to be my whole life calling out my name and chasing after me, the pain and betrayal, and the agonizing ache spreading through my heart. I spread my palms across my face and rubbed my eyes to stop any tears before they surface. I took a deep breath to get a hold of my emotions.

"Thank you," he said breaking the silence between us. I looked up at him with my eyebrows furrowed in confusion as to why he was thanking me. His gaze was still focused on the coffee table and he was avoiding my eyes. "For helping me last night," he said in a small voice. Before he could continue I offered a genuine smile, "What are friends for?" He stared at me for a long time like I had said something that was the most offensive thing on earth. I could see the struggle inside his head to make sense of me. Though he had a poker face devoid of emotions, his eyes were deceiving him portraying exactly the battling questions inside his head. He averted his eyes after a while when I started to squirm under his scrutinising gaze.

"I should be going," he said and got up from his seat. Without waiting for my response, he marched towards the door to leave the apartment. I quickly blocked his path putting out my hands in front of him and demanded, "Wait! Where the hell are you going? Don't you think we should talk?" His posture was uninterested and he replied with a droll stare, "About what?"

"Well for starters, what are you doing here in Boston? Why the hell were you ambushed last night by three men? Most importantly, what did you do to be caught up in such a situation?" I ranted in a single breath. I was tired of him brushing away yesterday's incident as something trivial. I couldn't even imagine what would have happened if Justin was not there or I didn't offer the momentary distraction for him to get the upper hand on those goons. Just the thought of Rishi getting hurt was making my blood freeze.

"Why do you care?" he threw back his gaze still uninterested. He started to go around me to reach for the door taking advantage of the fact that I had turned into a statue stunned by his words. Even though I was taken aback by his reply, I reeled back soon from my shock to fix him with a glare. I took a deep breath and replied through gritted teeth, "Because I am your best friend." It was the blatant truth as I had always considered him one my entire life. How dare he throw such a question in my face? Well, I know I am not the best friend of the year, what with disappearing from his life for six years and all. Still, I care about him a lot and we had a strong friendship all those years during our university days and even after that for a long time. Till everything went downhill because of a particular guy who never stops to pop into every one of my mental conversations, even if I wasn’t intentionally thinking about him. Like right now.

I didn’t have to will myself to get back to reality as Rishi’s dry laugh resounding in the hallway did the job.

"No, you are not" he spat out with a menacing glare.

If looks could kill, I would have been dead by then.