‘Um, please. He was just part of that phase and I didn’t want reminders,’ I protested. ‘We were kids.’

‘We still are,’ Anirudh said importantly.

‘Oh yeah?’ Nisha asked him, narrowing her eyes. ‘Remind me the next time you want to . . . ’

Want to what? Shit. I didn’t want to hear this and Anirudh’s face had turned a deep red but Nisha didn’t elaborate.

I was still getting used to them being together and this conversation was making it all sorts of awkward. Thankfully, Nisha came back to me.

‘So okay, the past is the past, but what about now? Does he have a girlfriend? Is he single?’ Nisha was relentless.

I caught Anirudh’s eyeroll and grinned. ‘I don’t know!’ I said. ‘I didn’t ask. And I don’t really care.’

I sipped water from my bottle, wondering if my lie was evident.

Nisha knew me too well. She gave me a knowing look and shook her head.

‘Today’s masala dosa is very good,’ she said casually as she broke off a piece and ate it.

‘Good,’ I said, getting up from there. ‘I have my lunch with me.’

I showed her my packet of crackers, the bland tasteless things that had been my college lunch for the longest time. She made a face and an exasperated sound. I never gave it a second thought normally, but today I was thinking about the lunch at home.

Aunty V loved to cook and going by what I’d seen of Raghu, he loved it too. He must have woken up at some unearthly hour to make pancakes for Ma. Together, the mother-son duo would have cooked like crazy today. I wondered just how hard it was going to get to resist their combined efforts when I went back home today. Despite that apprehension, I had a smile on my face and I realized it was there because of Raghu.

Suddenly, I was dreading this Saturday movie. Nisha was bound to notice things that no one else would. And later, she would make me talk about what I’d known since the moment I opened the door to Raghu yesterday afternoon.

I was crushing on him. Really badly.

16

‘Why can’t we go in Uncle’s car?’ Raghu asked, flipping through a magazine on my bed.

I looked at him from my dressing table mirror, as I combed my hair out and wondered if I should braid it or leave it untied. Raghu had just walked in, unannounced, and sprawled on my bed and I didn’t want to make a big deal by telling him to leave. My discomfort at having him in my room, where he seemed to be taking up all the oxygen, should have been evident to him. He seemed unaffected though.

‘You’ll go crazy trying to find parking,’ I remarked.