The Perfect Photo

Chapter 5

Saturday evening just after Neha's dancing around the room.

"So ready to hear my plan?", Neha asked, making herself comfortable on my bed. Neha was too excited from all the dancing around that I had to calm her down and let her in on the sad truth.

"Yeah sure. But does the plan involve both of us being Pritam's friend on Facebook?", I asked.

"Yeah. What's your problem?", she replied.

"He hasn't accepted my request yet.", I said.

Neha shook her head puzzled. "Do you mean your Facebook invite? How come? But I received a notification."

I shook my head with disconcerting disappointment. I saw her face go from excited to awkward.

"Hmmm. Do you think he got scared of you, that you might do something crazy given that you are in the same department?"

"Do you think this face comes out as scary?", I said rebuffing Neha's attempt to lighten the situation.

"No, I am just thinking out loud. Maybe he has too many requests in his queue, and yours was just lost in that", she said.

"In a day?", I asked

"If the guy is good enough to bewitch the great Ms. Harsha Parkar, then who knows what else he is capable of. Maybe he gets hundreds of requests a day and spends half an hour sorting them out."

"And how did he accept yours but not mine?"

"Maybe mine was right up at the top." Such a politically undebatable answer. Neha had the knack for talking herself out of awkward situations. Neha has always been humble about her looks. It is hard to find such girls out there today. A rare breed in fact. I have never encountered Neha undermining anyone just because she is popular.

Pritam did hide the fact that he went to the same college but everything else about him felt genuine. I have been in circumstances where I have been used as bait for guys to get closer to Neha. It is not a new technique. Some guys do think I am Neha's DUFF (a Designated Ugly Fat Friend, not lying. There is even a movie about it). My serious opinion is that Neha does not need to hang out with someone less attractive to boost her attractiveness. I have never been treated that way by her. But the rumors around the campus always differ. I could always tell when the guy is not interested in me and is only looking to move the topic to my roommate. But I couldn't tell that when I was with Pritam. Maybe he was so good conning me.

"I just checked, he is still online. Give it a few minutes will you? And cheer yourself up, you look dreadful. You had your breakfast and lunch in bed. We are going out for dinner. So start getting ready", she said.

"Aaaaallllright..", I groaned as I got up. I was in my bed the whole day. I woke up tired. Both physically and mentally. Event organization took a toll out of my physical self, and Pritam's encounter drained me mentally.

I was not able to sleep properly that night, wondering the reasons behind Pritam's actions. What would he have told if I had asked him which college he went to? Would he have lied and given a different name? I was feeling happy during yesterday's organizer's party which took place in the evening after the entire cultural event concluded. I had the sense to ask him for his full name for me to connect with him later. I was thinking then what all I would have done if I had not gotten that. I would have come back home and googled all kinds of crazy stuff hoping to find him.

'Pritam commerce.'

'Pritam Germany rock climber.'

'Pritam commerce Germany orange juice lover.'

Then the crazy end to the day discovering that he was a junior in my college, roller coaster of emotions it was. Too much for me to handle as I am not used to it. The most emotion I encounter is when my professor distributes the exam answer sheets.

I took a hot bath, came out and started dressing up. I tried to shut off my mind. But it was too difficult. I decided to ignore the voices in my head and started getting ready to go out for dinner. Neha was dressed up in a trendy jumpsuit and me; I was dressed up like..., well like me.

"Did you take the keys ?", Neha asked.

"Ah, I forgot to, Let me go grab it."

When I came back, Neha was staring at her phone screen. I peeked into her phone from behind. There was a message from Pritam, and it read, 'Hey beautiful...'.

My heart was already sunk deep into the ocean. This message took that heart which was on the seafloor and buried it deep into the ocean bed such that no one can ever retrieve it.

"You know what, I am not feeling so great. I'm gonna stay back. You carry on", I said.

"I will get you a take-out then," Neha expressed in an understanding tone. She closed the door and left while I climbed back into my bed and rolled under the sheets. I was thankful for Neha not compelling me to go with her. It has not been a great 24 hours for me.