When We Fell Again...

A Come Back of Sorts

A Come Back of Sorts

"So, he what exactly?" Annika asked fuming over her pot of coffee as she and Bhavya sat huddled in a corner of Bene's Coffee in downtown Boston sipping their cups.

"He told me that if I did not have sex with him he would drop my grades further." Gauri said barely able to look up from her double shot expresso. Her voice was flat, but if you listened closely, you could hear a hint of anger and frustration there.

"Bastard" Bhavya muttered under her breath, shocking the other two momentarily, before all of them nodded in agreement.

"What exactly did he say?"

Gauri put her drink down and looked at the both of them.

"I told him no. I told him I had Om and that I didn't want anything to do with him. I told him that I would tell the other faculty about him, but he-he just laughed it off. Anni, I've never been so scared in my life. I don't know what to do."

Annika grabbed her hand and pulled her into a trembling hug. She patted her hair down while Bhavya scooched forward to cover them from curious glances from others in the cafe. They held each other tight for a few minute before the tears stopped and all that remained was the tension and worry from the past few weeks. Annika put her hand on Gauri's trembling hand and stared until Gauri met her determined eyes.

"Nothing is going to happen to you, okay? Nothing."

Gauri shook her head and let out the first of many muffled sobs as she sank into her cup of coffee.

"It's not that easy, Anni. He basically threatened to ruin my future if I didn't do what he said."

"Why didn't you call me or Rudi, we could have exposed that creep in no time."

Gauri shook her head.

"Anni, there is no record of his sleaziness anywhere. The only things he did were in the privacy of his office. I don't have any written proof, otherwise I would have submitted it to the Dean and that creep wouldn't have been able to do a thing."

Annika nodded looking at Bhavya. She didn't want Gauri getting more worked up than she already was.

"Okay, okay. Relax. Did you tell Om about this? I'm sure he might be breaking his walls by now."

Gauri looked down at her expresso cup and wished she hadn't drank it so soon.

"I didn't tell him a thing and neither will you two."

Annika and Bhavya looked at each other with shocked faces. "But Gauri, he deserves to know."

"I know, but I don't want to worry him until he needs to be worried. We'll come up with something to ruin that bastard. We'll get me out of this mess, right?"

She looked up with her eyes so innocent that Bhavya's heart nearly snak into her knees.

Bhavya rested her hands of Gauri's and Annika's across the table this time. "Gauri, you have nothing to worry about. We're in this together. And as for that bastard, I have something in mind."

Gauri looked up with her tear-stained face and saw the determination on Bhavya's face. And after weeks, she smiled slightly.

"What do you have in mind?"

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Two hours later, Annika, Gauri and Bhavya sat in a shaded booth of a shoddy bar down the street from the coffee shop waiting for someone to show up. Annika held Gauri's hand and wondered what was going on in her best friend's mind. Here she was up to her eyes in mess with a personality that the college revered and respected. Here she was in a mess that Annika had no idea how to save her from. If Annika was in the room that day with Gauri, God only knows what she would have done. She would have probably bashed the guy's head in and beaten up his guts. Just thinking of the bastard made her shiver in rage. She clutched Gauri's hand tighter.