A Little Closer To You

III - The Human Mind

He pressed his thumb on my lips, and smeared it along the ridge of their length. Sauce on face was just an excuse.
I stepped on his foot under the table and he quickly became conscious of the surroundings. We had gotten carried away but the sudden pull to reality made me tense again. Of something that I had been trying to keep my mind of.
It felt wrong to avoid my boyfriend like that for a man of only two days acquaintance. I had no choice but to join Eshaan. He had arrived earlier at my place to fetch me by 6.30 p.m. Another five minutes went in introducing him to Diksha while I was getting ready. In haste, I chose the red off-shoulder top with black tights. It was obvious that I had not ironed it but the streetlights were anyway not going to be that bright to highlight the little flaws of my outfit.
Just as Diksha started asking Eshaan about our virginity, I dragged him out of my place.

While we were dining, back to the scene now, my phone started ringing.
Please not him. Please this not be him.
"Hello Diksha di",
"Damn, how many boyfriends do you have? This dude is here to take you out on another date", her voice was low so that he couldn't hear it. I did not expect Ikshit to find my address and reach my place. His generosity of picking me up was appreciated but I was in so many minds then. I wondered why I did not cancel the venture with Ikshit. I could have made up a different excuse than always being the arrow of truth that gets into my ass only. It was a push of death in that pull back into reality, when Ikshit's voice echoed on the line. And I did just what I shouldn't have done to explode my adrenaline - look into the inspecting eyes of my boyfriend who was quietly chomping on the nonveg noodles.
I obviously couldn't say anything regarding Ikshit or it would raise Eshaan's ears.

"So yes madam, our plan? You're the late one, sorry to offend", He must be grinning widely.
"Eshaan, would you like another naan?", I hoped that Ikshit would understand that I was with Eshaan. It felt bad that I had to tell him indirectly that I was busy with my boyfriend and he was of less importance.
"Oohhh!! I am coming to join you guys there. Got you through the GPS", and he cut the call. How could he have the guts to do that? He was plainly invading our privacy.
"Eshaan, let's get going. Diksha di is threatening me that she will tell my mother if I don't return within time", I made a sad face, a genuine sad face.
"I'll talk to her. The way she talked, I didn't expect her to be this controlling", Eshaan couldn't believe my words but since he was not thorough with Diksha Di's personality, I could fool him in any way I wanted. Also, I had a little suspicion that he would not drop me home that soon. He never let me go once he caught me. I insisted again.
"C'mon, I've already booked a hotel!", His pupils shrank in desperation.
"For what? Told you, I won't be available for long",
"Like, you're just a college girl and I have a job. I don't have time either but when I make time for us, it's always... leave it".
I was speechless.
"I'm sorry Eshaan. If I am that careless about our relationship, may be you should consider better things, no?", I stared into his eyes darkly.
"It wasn't...uh...that serious, chill babe. And you need to chug some wine lastly", He said, stopping me there for another minutes. I did not want him to preach me about refraining from boys again. I am bold enough to confront him that a mere friend has offered me a friendly date, but his possessive demon would rather command than listen to me patiently.
My calculations were exact and by 7:43 p.m., our lovely date was over. I had postponed the date, I mean the outing with Ikshit, to 8 p.m. Right when the mineral water, after the last drop of wine burning my esophagus, had somewhat provided some relief......Ikshit was there searching for me.

"Babe let's leave", my legs straightened up reflexively in nervousness. That was another mistake of mine, and it helped Ikshit spot me, the only person standing among all the voracious eaters at every table. He noticed the gentleman calculating the bill. I was split in two minds between two men, who were soon going to shake hands now, it seemed.
Before Ikshit could stand in front of my face, I started walking towards the exit. Eshaan was flabbergasted but he did not stop me either. I then got a text:-
Are you waiting outside?