Upstairs, my house is filled with neighbours, relatives and guests. Mainly the people who mom works with. Some of them took it up a notch and are dressed in all white. Holding Neil's hand I guide him towards my room which is filled with people more our age. I open the door and my eyes fall first on Sara sitting in Jay's lap and being all lovey dovey, while others are still maintaining some decorum or are just plain shy. Neil and I make ourselves comfortable in a corner on the bed. Some of my cousins that I haven't met in a long time come and greet us. They question me about Neil, trying to get more information out of me. But i don't tell them much, you never know who might just be a spy for mother. Sara comes to me and drags me away to a corner while I was in between a conversation.
"That wasn't rude," I told her sarcastically. She giggles. Not the 'so funny' type of giggle but the cute, flirty with a grin kind of giggle. It is at this moment that I look closely at her. Her eyes are dropping and she's leaning on the wall for support.
"Are you DRUNK?" I ask furiously.
"No, no," she keeps on repeating but nods her head at the same time. I hold her by her elbow and jerk her.
"You do realise your mother, father and my mother are just behind that door". Before she could answer Jay comes and stands beside her and puts his arm around her waist. He too is giggling and has a grin plastered on his face. Hitting him lightly on his back, I ask
"Was this your idea?"
"Ouch, you hurt me," he accuses me in a childlike tone while pointing at me.
"Aww is it hurting?" Sara asks him and both are lost in their own world.
I can't handle this on my own so I call Neil over who's standing on the other side of the room. When Neil comes over he doesn't need to be given a rundown of things as just one glance at the couple before us, he knows something is up.
"What's happening here?" he asks.
"You're my best friend man," Jay says suddenly and pulls Neil into a tight hug. Seeing this Sara has tears in her eyes.
"Are you seriously crying?" I shout.
"It's beautiful," she says dramatically.
"Gia a little help," says Neil as Jay's hug turns into a chokehold. I help him by removing Jay's arms from around him and push Neil out of his way in case he tries to do this again.
"This doesn't look like drunk by alcohol," I tell Neil, who says,
"And Jay isn't such a lightweight. He doesn't get drunk so easily". Quick thinking makes me drag Sara away from the eyes of our guest and into the bathroom. Neil does the same with Jay. Once inside I lock the door. Jay completely leans into Neil while I close the lid of the toilet and make Sara sit on top of it. I stand in front of her and flex my neck.
"I'm sorry," I say as I slap her real hard. Her head sways to the side and she stays like that for about five seconds. Feeling bad for her I kneel down on the floor trying to catch her eye but as she turns, with her cheek turned red, all I see is fury. She jumps on me and I fall back onto the floor with her straddling me. Her hand goes into my hair and she starts pulling. In the background I hear, 'hot'. Neil dumps Jay who leans against the bathroom door as he approaches to separate us. He holds my hand and takes me away to another corner of the bathroom, away from Sara while she continues to sit on the floor with her head in her hands.
"I'm sorry, but I know you feel better now," I say while huffing.
"My head hurts," she exclaims.
"Maybe next time try not to drink at a family function," I scold her. "What did you drink anyway?"
"Jay got bhang from somewhere," she says while opening the lid of the toilet.
"You might wanna.." Sara doesn't get to complete her sentence as she pukes into the pot. She stops for a second only to complete her sentence," look away". She continues to puke.
On the other hand Jay tries desperately to open the door of the bathroom while saying,
"I can't look at this".
He is successful in opening the door but Neil holds his hand, not letting him move. He then carefully puts his words into a sentence and asks him,
"Tell me that is the entirety of it?" Jay keeps his mouth shut but the answer is written on his face.
"What did you both do?" I ask.
"Well someone asked for a little piece and I might have given it to him," he says.
"Do you know that person?" I ask.
"She does," Jay says while pointing at Sara who still had her face inside the pot.
"She's of no use," Neil says sadly.
Leaving them locked inside the bathroom with Neil guarding them, I go around the room and check on people. As soon as I see someone who looks trippy I pull them in a corner and question them. It becomes a little awkward when they are sober and that's just the way some people are. I look around the balcony as well and find a group of people who stepped out to smoke. I'm about to apologise for intruding however their red eyes capture my attention. Upon asking they told me how they did receive that stuff but since there were more people they mixed it in the fruit punch kept in the room for guests.
"Please tell me you finished the entire thing," I ask desperately. They don't have an answer for me.
I go back into the room and look for an empty container that will put me to ease but I find none. Somewhere in the back of my mind a little positive hope glimmers which says that for sure the container must be empty. They themselves would have emptied the entire thing. But, oh boy was I so wrong. As one of my cousins sees me kneeling and looking under the bed, searching for something I ask her about an empty container. She shakes her head. So I change my line of questioning.
"Have you seen the container that had fruit punch in it?"
"Is that what you're looking for? Your mother came and took the half filled container as nobody was drinking it and the adults were out of fruit punch. I insisted that she take it. No one wanted to be caught drinking that anyway. Is something wrong?" she asks.
The question you asked me the answer to it is, yes, I wanted to strangle her.
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Bhang is an edible preparation made from the leaves of the cannabis plant originating from the Indian subcontinent. It has been used in food and drink as early as 1000 BC in ancient India. Bhang is traditionally distributed during the spring festival of Maha Shivaratri and Holi. It can be infused into drinks. (According to Wikipedia).
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Sparks Fly
RomanceThe college-going Neil is the new boy in the housing building who doesn't care for anyone. Burdened by responsibilities he didn't ask for and a father he doesn't care for life is a sham for him. With a quiet yet corny behaviour Neil has never known...
