The Perfect Photo

Chapter 17

I could almost feel hot flesh touching my lips. I was wearing both lipstick and lip gloss, and I was briefly concerned how that was going to look after this encounter. My anticipation manifested as perspiration on my forehead. I felt it has been forever since I had closed my eyes, but I hadn't felt anything yet. Finally, I felt his hands go around me, and his chin rest on my shoulder.

He was hugging me!

Maybe he didn't want to kiss me after all. Maybe all he needed was a hug after reliving his worst memory. I hugged him back. I thought he was very light for a guy, probably around sixty or so kgs. I could easily carry him if I had to. Also, I realized that I was wearing an expensive white dress and I didn't know if this coming together is going to leave some indelible mark on it. I cursed myself for thinking about such materialistic things.

A few Mississippis passed, and he had not gotten off me. For some weird reason, I could not feel his arms around me anymore. I slowly opened my eyes. With his head still resting on my shoulder, I found Pritam passed out, on me.

Oh! Shit just got real!!

I dragged Pritam back to the table. The room was a bunch of drunk people dancing in the dark, and I did not want to seek help from any of them. Usually, it is the girl who goes out of control and the guy ending up taking care of her. But here it is just the opposite. I looked around for Neha and started calling her. After four attempts she finally picked up.

"Hey. Sorry couldn't hear my phone in the midst of all the music", she said after picking up the phone.

"I need you here. Please come here quickly", I said panicky.

"What happened? I'm coming over", she said. I cut the call immediately.

I decided not to drink anymore and pushed my glass aside. Wasn't really a controversial decision, but still. Neha came over to table within a couple of minutes.

"What did u do to this poor guy?", she asked looking at Pritam lying face first on the table.

"He drank too much. Big story. We need to get him back home", I said. Only then did I realize that I did not know any of his friends. I wasn't sure who to call to get him safely home. Neha promised to get some help and left me looking after an open-mouthed Pritam lying on the table. I was regretting my mistake of allowing a first timer to drink that much.

Neha came back in a few minutes.

"I have some bad news and some worse news", she started.

"I'm hardly surprised. When it comes to Pritam and me, it is always a flavor of bad. Tell me the bad news first", I said.

"Okay. Here is the bad news. I asked a friend for help who then contacted one of his first years. They, in turn, contacted the economics first years to enquire who Pritam stayed with. You might not like what I am going to say. But the thing is Pritam does not stay with the first years in the hostel."

"So where does he stay?", I asked puzzled.

"Yes, that's the worst part. His classmates do not know of that."

I put my head on the table banging against it a couple of times.

"Harsha, do this. Can you check his phone and try some of the last dialed numbers. We can get a clue of where he stays", she said.

"Good thinking", I said lifting up my head and removing the tissue which got stuck onto my forehead.

I put my hands into his pocket looking away during the process to reduce the awkwardness. I found his phone. I pulled it out and handed it over to Neha who was the sober one on our table.

"More bad news, It's locked", she said. "Useless, put it back Harsha", she handed over the phone back to me.

"Why can't he have an iPhone? We could have unlocked that with his fingerprint", I said taking back the phone. It looks like Pritam has actually taken my advise and started locking his phone since the ragging incident. I did not realize that it would backfire on me.

I did not want to go back in and decided to hold onto his phone for now. I was livid with everything going on. How worse can it get? It was around 10, and we needed to wind this night soon.

"Let me arrange for someone to take Pritam over to their place. We can talk about the rest in the morning", Neha said. I did not answer.

"I'm going to go and find someone", she said. I immediately stood up and stopped her.

"Let's take him in", I said impulsively.

"Are you crazy Harsha, We stay in a girls hostel."

"Yes, I am well aware of that fact. But Pritam confided in me a lot of personal stuff, and I do not want him to be carried by some random guy and him waking up to a strangers face tomorrow", I said. "The other fact is that we have stayed at the hostel for three years. We are well aware of the loopholes in the system."

The girl's hostel has two entrances the north gate and the south entrance. I knew for a fact that the south gate closed at 9 PM and only the northern gate remains open throughout the night. Once the south gate closes, the guard next to the gate leaves. The interesting thing is that there is an indiscernible flaw in the fence around the vicinity of the south gate which is just about a few yards away from our hostel block. Only a few of us know that and even fewer use that to sneak out late at night. We have managed to keep that a secret till now so that the word doesn't spread only for someone to come and fix it. If we can go by that way and sneak in, we can easily get him up to our hostel room. The plan was pretty solid, so I thought it was. I managed to convince Neha as well that it was a good idea.

We exited the pub and got into a cab. Many did offer to take Pritam off our hands, but I was stubborn and wanted to stick with my plan. The taxi driver looked confused and probably assumed that Pritam was one of our brothers. Probably Neha's.

We arrived at our hostel. The south gate was deserted. People inside the hostel have kept their doors closed as it a cold and chilly night. It was even more comfortable for us to sneak him in.

We were most thankful for a couple of things. First, he was not blabbering and shouting and making a scene. Second, he has not puked, the most important aspect which otherwise would have rendered him untouchable by either of us. We dropped him a couple of times on the way to the fence. His white shirt was no longer white.

Neha went in first as I handed him over to her. She dragged him to the other side huffing and puffing. I followed Pritam and went through the fence as the day ended in the worst possible way. My dress tore from one of the sharper ends as I was trying to squeeze myself through the opening. Now I am pretty sure that I cannot use this for another day.

We entered our rooms and dropped him on my bed. We both jumped onto Neha's bed. We were exhausted from carrying sixty odd kilograms of flesh and bones two stories up. I was partly excited to see Pritam on my bed. But that did not keep me up from sleeping as I dozed off within moments.

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Hello readers,

This is me welcoming 2017 with a new chapter. Not much left, 4 more chapters to go. Hold on and hope this ends the way you want it to.

Btw, this chapter is dedicated to some bored soul out there looking out of the window on a snowy Tuesday morning.

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