The Great Indian College Romance

Sober and Conflicted (Angad's POV)

"Angad, man." a voice slurred next to him. 

"Nishant," Angad said. 

Besides Aditi, he was probably the only person he didn't wanna see tonight. He was the obnoxious dudebro from his class who thought they were best friends for some reason. 

"Where's the whiskey bro? What's all this Vodka and Gin. Girly drinks." he scoffed. 

Angad straightened up off the table.

"You know what? I think I have some Whiskey in my car. I'll go get it for you." 

He speed walked away from Nishant and went straight to the parking lot. The party wasn't going at all as he had expected. He couldn't drink, he couldn't have fun, he couldn't hold a conversation with the one girl he wanted to. 

He was tempted to drive home and leave his friends hanging here. They would eventually get home. It's not like his car was the only mode of transportation. Maybe he could say he didn't feel too well and had to leave. Or that his mother had called. 

It would be awfully mean. 

Sounds of retching broke his train of thoughts as he realized he wasn't alone there. He walked in the direction of the sound and found a girl struggling to stand as she threw up the contents of her stomach in the flowers. 

"Hey are you okay?" he asked with concern and then realized it was Meera's friend. 

He rushed to her aid when another bout of retching began. He felt partially responsible for her state because they had allowed freshers to their party that served alcohol. Maybe this was why they had that rule in the first place. 

"Hey!" called out a voice in the parking lot and Angad immediately recognized it. 

 "What are you doing?" Meera demanded walking towards them with purpose. 

Her pace slowed when he turned around.

"Angad?" she asked puzzled. 

"Hey, could you help me out here?" he said and threw her his car keys. 

"There is a bottle of water in the cup holder of my car, can you get that? It's that red one over there next to the--" he said but Meera cut him off. 

"There are three cars in this parking lot, I think I can spot the big shiny Audi among them," she quipped with a smile and unlocked his car. 

"Right, of course, you can." he said still preoccupied with the sick girl. 

"Here," Meera said handing him the bottle of water. 

He grabbed it, unscrewed the cap and passed it to her friend who had mercifully stopped throwing up. At least it wasn't alcohol poisoning he thought to himself with some relief. 

Meera smiled suddenly, immersed in her own private joke. He caught her eye and asked what she was smiling about. 

"Nothing, I just think it's very nice of you to help Vahni out here," she said, "And it's very chivalrous of you to open bottle caps for damsels in distress,"

Angad stared at her in amusement. She seemed a lot friendlier now than she had at the table. 

"And I think you have a nice car," she added after a pause. 

Now he couldn't help it. A full blown grin made its way on his face as he said,

"Why thank you m'lady."

Then he cringed internally. "M'lady? Really Angad?" he berated himself internally. 

Meera didn't react probably because her friend spoke up,