A Serendipitous beginning

Chapter 6

Different worlds..

Dev woke up with a start. Where was he? It took him a moment to orient himself.

"Good morning." Sonakshi came up and sat down on the coffee table opposite him.

"Did I fall asleep here?" He asked as he took the coffee she offered.

"Yes. You didn't finish the movie. In fact, you barely watched it. I tried to wake you up, offered to call an Uber, but you, Mr. Dixit, were dead to the world, snoring."

"I am sorry, I didn't realize, I must have been tired, and...and...." He was fumbling to explain. This was humiliating, he wanted to spend time with Sonakshi and snoozed on that job?! Great work Dev, that's the way to win her back.

"Hey, it's okay, you were probably jetlagged and exhausted. And now, you get to have complimentary neck and back pain from sleeping on the couch!" She teased.

"I guess I deserve that." Damn sleeping monk that he was.

"Have some coffee. You can wash up over there. There are towels in the cabinet." She pointed to the restroom.

"Thanks. Again, I didn't..."

"Dev, let it go. It's fine. We are going to brunch in an hour and then pottery. If you want to stop at your hotel to change your clothes, we can do that."

"We?" We are going to brunch? Music to his ears. He may get a chance to make up for last night.

"Yeah, with my friends. I told you last night."

"Oh." Well golly. It wasn't just them.

Apart from Gabe and his girlfriend, Naomi, whose existence was a relief to Dev, Sonakshi introduced him to two more of her friends, Zoya and Aniket. He watched them all, very easy and fun. Sonakshi was joking, laughing, teasing. There was obviously a lot of familiarity there.

Her friends had been curious about him, interrogating him thoroughly.

"It isn't often that we meet a dude hanging out with Sonakshi. So, apologies if we are putting you through the wringer!" Zoya said. Dev was glad to hear that.

"So you aren't married? Have you ever been married?" asked Aniket.

"Just stop, what are you guys doing?! I shouldn't have brought him here." Sonakshi sounded exasperated.

"Well, honey, too late for that regret. So. Dev. No special someone? How about Sona here? You interested?" Naomi went straight to the point, sipping her drink with a big slurp.

Dev met Sonakshi's eyes and held them. "I think the real question is, is Sonakshi interested?"

"Oooohh!!!" Her friends exclaimed in unison, all of them turning towards her, the spotlight shining bright on her. Dev turned his whole body towards her, his chin resting on his fist.

Sonakshi turned beet red. "I think you all are going too crazy on the mimosas. And we are late for pottery. And I hate you all."

Her friends burst out laughing.

Next on agenda was the pottery activity she had told him about. Dev had been very hesitant about the whole idea, going along solely for Sonakshi. When they handed him that big lump of clay, he wondered if they were playing some kind of prank on him. But he sat next to Sona, thrown it on the wheel and tried to shape it. How hard could it be.

It was terrible. He decided to make a bowl, then a tumbler, maybe cup and then he didn't even know what it came out to be. How could HE not get this? It looked so easy when the instructor did the demo. He started over again. And again, failing miserably at making any sort of recognizable shape. What the fuck.