The Perfect Photo

Chapter 19

Harsha's viewpoint.

I woke up early the next day after a messed up Saturday night. Neha and Pritam were still asleep, and I did not want to disturb them then. Pritam was on my bed in the same position we had put him in yesterday.

I had not changed from yesterday's party clothes. I went into the bathroom and changed out of that. I washed my face and got into something more casual. I opened the hostel room door as little as possible and slipped out. No one knew that Pritam was inside my room and I would like to keep it that way. It was a pleasant morning. The sun was slowly warming up the cold in the air, and the birds were out chirping. I had decided to go out to the juice shop in the campus and get what they sell as the detox juice. It was a juice made out of celery, cucumber, green apple, parsley and spinach which we have found to be an excellent cure for the hangover. Pritam was going to wake up to his worst headache, and I wanted to be prepared when that happens.

I was in no rush and took my own sweet time to walk over to the juice shop. While I was falling asleep yesterday, I had a funny feeling that I would find my bed empty when I wake up, That he might wake up in the middle of the night and disappear into the dark. Who could blame me for thinking like that after all the mystery surrounding him? I still had no idea where he stayed and why he had never mentioned that ever before. I bought two glasses of that juice having one for myself at the shop. When I came back, I found Neha up in her bed.

"I don't know how this felt like a good idea yesterday", she said pointing both her hands at Pritam. I came in and locked the door.

"Why is that so bad? Instead of leaving him on the road or in a stranger's house, we have brought him safely to our place", I said handing her one of the two glasses of juice I bought.

"In case you have forgotten, we are staying in a girls hostel. You might have had a good plan to get him into this place, but we are screwed now. We are not going to be able to get him out without getting caught. It's like Abhimanyu in Mahabharata all over again. I don't know why you like romancing with the idea of getting suspended", she said sipping the juice and making faces. She had always hated having that juice.

"No", I chuckled. "I have indeed thought the entire thing through," I said.

"What do you plan on doing? Ask him to stay back the whole day and let him out at night again?", she asked.

"It's not such a bad idea Neha. But I had a different plan in mind. That guy has one awesome frame, a frame that girls would kill to have. If we can convince him to wear one of our clothes and wrap his head with a dupatta like how we do to protect us from the sun, it would be perfect. He can walk out like anyone else, and no one would know"

"Even better if we can do him some eye makeup he should be able to walk through the gates without anyone suspecting anything. Since he doesn't stay in the hostel, he can even go all the way to his house dressed up like that", I said as Neha gaped.

"I never knew that your mind could work like this", said Neha.

"Aw, Shut up", I said waving my hand. "You know I don't like praises to my face."

Neha went to change and take a quick shower. I went to my reading table and opened one of my college textbooks. The prospect of applying eye makeup on Pritam felt so exciting. Now I could relate to Neha's enthusiasm when she does the same on me. I could not concentrate on my book. Also, my exams were over only a few days back, and there was no point in getting back to it so soon. So I put my textbook away and grabbed one of Neha's fashion magazines called Vogue and started grazing through. As I browsed through the pages, I realized how these magazines were specifically designed to make you feel inadequate. You start feeling insecure about your sense of fashion and go and buy one of those dresses in the catalog. Having nothing better to do, I decided to count the number of pages allotted to adverts in the magazine. I was shocked when the number came close to 60 percent of the book. No wonder these magazine companies made a lot of money.

Neha came back from the washroom holding my last night's dress. She went over to my bed and placed it next to where Pritam was sleeping and went back to her bed to relax. I kept Vogue aside and took the next one called Elle.

A few pages in and I heard a groan from behind. I looked back and found Pritam moving his hands around the bed with his eyes closed. I presumed he was looking for his glasses. I had removed his glasses and placed it on the table before going to sleep. So I took the spectacles and the juice and went to him. As expected he was confused, agitated with no clue of how he got here. I gave him the detox juice and some water as he drank like a person rescued from a desert.

After we had felt he was back to his normal senses, Neha and I started narrating all that which had happened yesterday. I returned his phone which he assumed he had lost yesterday at the party. I was urging to tell him my master plan I had chalked out to get him out of our hostel. But he was using my laptop to check his emails.

"Pritam?", I called out. "Do you have any problems wearing Kajal?"

"What?", he asked confused. Neha and I giggled. "I don't think he has a choice", said Neha.

"Do you want to hear how you are going to get out of this place? You do remember that this is a girls' hostel right?", asked Neha.

But he was not paying attention. I went to get more water wondering which the first-year student would check his emails early in the morning. Yes, he has a part-time job. That doesn't mean that he should check his emails early on a Sunday morning.

"Do you want some more water Pritam?", I asked.

He ignored me altogether and remained focused on the laptop. The guy should still be confused, I thought. I walked up to the table to place the water bottle, which was when it struck me. The stupid mistake I had committed.

"Harsha", Pritam called.

I knew it was too late. I turned around. I was not ready to face the embarrassment and wished I could vanish into thin air.

"What is this?", he asked and turned the laptop towards me, and I instantly turned pink.

Neha burst into wild laughter falling off her bed. I had no possible explanations to give him as I stared down at my laptop screen which proudly displayed my wallpaper, Pritam's profile pic from Facebook.

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Chapter dedication goes to that soon to be Australian resident who kills cockroaches with his food.

-M.A.D

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