PS- This is an entry for a creative writing contest at a premier institute's festival. 1.5 hours , 1000 words flat. Every thing here is imaginary and any resemblances are purely coincidental. Unless of course, you know better.
Enjoyed penning the story . Maybe I should do more of storytelling.
“It’s over !“ she shouted over the phone.
Taken aback by the fury , I could only mutter, “What , why? Everything was fine in the morning.”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know anything. I know from your posts on facebook. Its over.”
And then before I could reply back I heard the sound of the call being cut. Pleading with a terminated line was not high on my list of hobbies, so I gave her a call back. And then once more and then more after that but she had switched off her phone. She was suddenly unreachable in every meaning of the word and I had to step back to analyze it all.
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The first call was of course to Varun, my alter ego.
As his phone rang 1200 km away for a moment I wished he was closer. Then my thoughts got pushed out as his voice rang out loud over the phone.
“Hellos,dude can I call you back. Kind of stuck in a conference call”.
“Dost, it’s an emergency. She broke off.”
“Whaaat!! She did what. thought you two were made for each other and never fought. Wait, guess I will have to cut short my other call. Hold on”
As he turned his attention to the client call trying to terminate it, I had a few moments to myself over the broken conversations I was hearing from Varun’s side. It seemed a little sudden. I had been introduced to her around six months back and even as I was shaking her hand , I knew I was falling for her. The wooing began almost immediately. I smiled through stuff, tried to be a little less me and a little more her and it seemed she was doing perfect job of pretending I did not exist. Varun and I would be forever exchanging notes, two bumbling fools trying to walk a path they both were utterly incapable of.
In the end , desperate times needed desperate measures. It all appeared to be going nowhere and one day I called Varun and said ,it’s time. I was gonna ask her to dinner.
“Are you sure. I think you will get your heart broken.”, he gently suggested.
“I gotta know man. Can’t be hurt more. If she says no, you know me what I will be doing”
“Jumping off a roof?”
“Bast!@#, I will be writing sad sad poetry. And fools who know nothing will appreciate it for the talent never knowing it was her not me who gets credit for the poetry.”
“You know Saleem Sinai, the reason we are good friends is coz you never fail to find something to laugh about. And what if she says yes ”
“I don’t really want to imagine stuff but I guess it will be the start of a story of the stuff that fairy tales are made of.”
“Ahh you ,the eternal romantic at heart” came his mocking reply.
“That’s me.”
I took three days to gather the courage to call her. It was funny how I, who could effortlessly chat with strangers was mortified with fear at the prospect of calling her. Once I thought I had the courage, I called. My heart was pounding as the phone rang. All for nothing as I later mused for the call rang out before disconnecting.
But the dice was cast and now I needed to persevere. I waited and the next time the phone was out of network coverage area.
The third time was almost mechanical. There was no adrenalin rush or a pounding heart. And then I heard her voice- “Hi”. All the gathered courage vanished like the dew before the midday sun. I was suddenly all alone and terrified. But I whimpered something out and just got ‘Dinner with me?’ out to her somehow.
There was that pause and I was already imagining the polite refusal. If there was ever a chance of her saying yes, my riveting performance on the phone had killed it definitely.
But instead of the no ,”Yup, when” came over the phone. I wanted to shout in joy but I meekly gave her a location and time. The time for the shouts would be later.
With that dinner began a new adventure. From that dinner , we kind of slid into dating without ever loudly acknowledging it. There were dinners, adventure trips, concerts and hours hanging out. The formality vanished and it had been perfect. Then why…
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But the thoughts were interrupted as Varun came back on the phone and said,”Saale ,what did you do?”
“Nothing. But she said something about facebook.”, I replied back.
“Idiot, facebook today morning on her wall. I had asked you to stop messing on facebook.”
“But it was all harmless!!”
“Go back and see how she took it.”
And then started the painful journey of going back to a day of rambling on facebook. It had just been me and Varun commenting on her status. I was reading bottom down.
“Single is independence. Freedom and free will” , was my last comment on her status. Suddenly the harmless joke seemed pretty sour.
“Doubles is over rated and over hyped”, Varun had posted.
“Doubles is a flavor of its own. Gotta try it once” , was me earlier.
“How do you like your pizzas and friends- singles or doubles”, Varun again.
“I like winning for the trophies”, I had joked
“I have a hot date and I hate the whole setup”, was Varun alluding to his life
“Truth only ok.”, I had asked Varun
“I really like you and all your ‘special’ friends man. You are all so awesome”, Varun had intoned.
“I just want a pizza and world peace”, was my first piece.
So this was the whole argument. I had tapped into her insecurities and somehow tripped on a landmine.
Then I just looked at her status that started it all.
‘ i ’.One character in small was all she had posted.
The Great Argument.
