Learning to Love

Chapter 19

Aman smirked as he drew his wife closer.  Priya looked down.  Her eyes then flickered down to his lips and then back to his eyes.  Aman watched her, studying her to try to figure out is she was ready to kiss a man for the first time.  She seemed to be showing no signs of resistance, so Aman assumed she was alright.  He had decided he was going to kiss her.  

Suddenly, Aman’s phone rang.  At first, he didn’t move, determined to go through with the kiss.  However, when Priya took a step back, away from him, he concluded that the moment had indeed been ruined.  He lifted his phone out of his pocket and answered it.  

“Hello.” Aman said, irritation apparent in his tone, “Your timing is perfect as usual.” he continued.  He glanced over at Priya, who gave him a small smile.  

As Aman continued his phone conversation, Priya went towards the door.  She decided to give him some privacy.  When she re-entered Payal’s room, she was bombarded with questions.

“What did Jija-ji think? Did he like it?  What did he say? Why did you wrap your sari that way?” Payal asked quickly.  

“Payal.” Priya said calmly, trying to get Payal to pause so that she could answer her many questions.

“He thought it was nice. I’m sure he liked it, but it’s better worn this way.” Priya concluded.

Payal looked at her with her lips pursed together, as if she was thinking hard about something.

“Didi,” she started, “do you think I can dance with a boy tonight?”

“What?” Priya asked incredulously. “What on earth made you think about dancing with boys at this moment?”

“I don’t know.  I look nice. Do you think a boy would dance with me? And I don’t mean bhangra, dandiya dancing. I mean slow dancing.” Payal said with  a dreamy expression on her face.  

“No.  Baba wouldn’t approve and neither do I.” said Priya firmly.  She’d never slow danced with anyone until after she got married.  She thought back to the time she and Aman danced together and smiled to herself.

“Oh come on, Didi! Just one dance!” Payal begged.  

Aman knocked on the door.  Priya answered it.  

“It’s time to get going or we’ll be late.” he said.  

The three piled into one of Aman’s stretch limos and made their way to the nightclub.  The nightclub was in the city, so the drive took a little while.  Throughout the ride, Payal busied herself by going through all of the contents in the mini fridge, and then after that, pressing all of the buttons in plain view to see what they did.  Priya tried telling her to sit still, but Payal was too excited about the party to sit still. Aman watched them, amused at Payal’s childish behavior.  He knew she’d never really been in a limo before. Her father preferred traveling in his imported, black Rolls Royce rather than a limo.  

Finally, they arrived at the nightclub.  Bright lights spilled out of the building from all sides.  Young women dressed in tight, bright dresses lined the outside of the building, waiting to be let in.  Couples stood close, drinking in hand, deeply conversing with one another.  Blaring, upbeat music from inside filled the street as the limo pulled up right in front of the building.  

Priya looked on with a shocked expression on her face.  She looked up at Aman questioningly.  

“The rules of the nightclub prevent the entire venue from being rented out for a private event.  The entire back of the building is where our party is.” he explained.  

“We have to go through all of this?” Priya said, referring to the wild scene before her.  

“Yeah, but it’ll be quick though.” Aman said.