Foresight

Chapter XIV

"Well its 10.30 now, quite late. You still want to search for your lodge?" asks Tarun with a puzzled look in his face, wiping away little bit of sweat from his forehead. "I guess I will spend the night in your lodge itself" replies Jenny, "in the spare room" she adds. "Don't worry, we will call up your friends in the morning and meet up with them." Tarun assures her as they enter their lodge.

The boy, who was mopping up today morning gives them a puzzled look, though this is not an unusual sight for him. He gives Tarun a sly smile as they pass him. Tarun doesn't concentrate on him, for he has to take the spare room key from his baggage and all his prayers go towards in keeping his two friends from the joints. As he knocks on the door, Jenny gives the lodge a concerned look, it being far from the plush hotel she and her friends had booked, where she would have been had she remembered where it was. 'Boys do take some dingy rooms' she thinks to herself as she glances towards Tarun, who is frantically trying to dial up his friends for the key. Just then the door opens up and a stoned Neeraj is standing without a shirt, and his pants straining to be at the waist. The sight is enough for Jenny to turn around in little bit of disgust.

"What do you want now?" Neeraj manages to pose out the question, while holding his pants with his free hand.

"I need the spare room key" Tarun explains him, while trying to make his way into the room, pushing the half open door.

"Wait up a*****e, let me get it" Neeraj answers somewhat clearly, even in his stoned state and disappears behind while closing the door. Tarun is surprised as to why Neeraj closed the door and how he is not passed out from the joints. From the joints, he remembers that he should be a nice host and turns towards Jenny and asks whether she wants a joint or smokes. Jenny having smoked cigarettes once or twice with her friends is perplexed by his question. She doesn't want Tarun to judge her as the wild party girl with no control by accepting the offer right away, nor does she wants to seem bored. Looking at her confused face, Tarun asks whether she has ever done weed until now. Jenny decides better to confess and tells that she has never done, but part of her plan for this trip was to try new things.

"Well in that case I will ask for one joint and we can share it. Sounds ok?" Tarun puts down his suggestion.

'Wow jenny, drugs with a stranger in his room far away from home. Quite the risk you are taking' buzzes through her as she accepts the offer. The door opens up again, Neeraj holds out the key, this time having liberated himself from the confines of his shorts and standing just in his underwear. Tarun grabs the key from Neeraj's hands and asks if any joints are remaining. Neeraj just shakes his head in denial and tells that Rajesh smoked four and passed out. Tarun makes his way into the room, pushing the door in the process and shoving down Neeraj to the floor. Tarun goes fishing in his baggage and takes out a small pouch and small pack of what looks like gum and gets out of the room and closes the door behind him.

Holding up the contents of his hand he suggests "they have finished what I brought, but we still have some stuff to make our own" and marches towards the diagonally opposite room and wrestles in opening the door, while balancing the contents in hands.

"Here let me hold them while you open the door" Jenny offers while extending her hands. Tarun gives her a smile and hands her the stuff and continues his tussle in opening the door. After good five minutes he finds himself unsuccessful and looks towards Jenny with sweat running down his forehead.

"Let me try" and Jenny hands the stuff to Tarun and grabs the key from him, proceeding towards the door for her own tussle. Looking at her lending a hand to a task which people think is man's job, Tarun is amazed by her initiative and problem solving skills. 'Wow she will make an excellent homemaker' flashes through his mind just she opens the door with a small jolt. Turning towards Tarun she flashes an 'I accomplished what you couldn't look, while spinning the key in her finger.