‘Wait, wait. This was your first time?’

‘Yep. Can you imagine getting pregnant the first time you have sex? Fertile Myrtle, that’s me.’ Gehna peered at Eram through the dusk half-light. ‘You’re smiling. Why’re you smiling?’

‘Who, me? I’m not smiling.’ Eram was, in fact, feeling pretty good about life. One, because magically he found himself holding Gehna’s hand. Two, because he had just learnt that she had not been naked with too many people. This wasn’t him being a chauvinist—he just wanted to know her better than anybody else. ‘I just thought you’d dated other guys before, that’s all.’

They were standing outside Gehna’s home by then. She turned to face him, still holding his hand.

‘I have. It never went beyond making out. Lots of kissing. I think kissing might be my favourite thing in the whole world.’

Eram was almost sure this was a cue. Almost. But what if I’m wrong? What if I lean down to kiss her and she laughs or, worse, doesn’t notice at all? I’ve never done this before. I think I’m having a heart attack. Which would be cool, because then I wouldn’t have to decide anything and could simply die.

The silence went on for so long that it got absurd and Eram laughed. ‘You know those movies where everyone’s all like will-they-won’t-they and after an hour you feel like shaking the lead pair by the shoulde—’

‘Aargh,’ Gehna said, looking to the skies in exasperation. ‘Eram?’

‘Hi.’

‘Shut up about the damn movies and kiss me.’ And he did. Right before Gehna hurriedly pushed him back and vomited undigested bits of Faizl’s gourmet omelette on the road.

Whoa, thought Eram. That never happens in the movies.

9

Some people take an instant dislike to each other. It’s nobody’s fault—just bad chemistry. Gehna knew this but still wished the bad chemistry hadn’t happened between her best friend and her other best friend.

Eram and the Yam had started sniping at each other as soon as they met for the first time, at 8 a.m., in the reception area of Freyja Maternity, the swank clinic in Juhu that Nina Rai had chosen for her daughter’s ultrasound.

‘Oh, look,’ the Yam said. ‘It’s Casper, the friendly ghost.’ She turned to Gehna. ‘You never said he was so white. Must be anaemic. I bet he faints every time he gets a hard-on, from all the blood rushing to—’

‘Yamini,’ Nina Rai raised an eyebrow at the girl. ‘I’m standing right here. Could you please try to avoid that kind of language while I’m standing right here?’

‘Sorry, Auntie Nina.’ The Yam stuck her hand out for Eram to shake. ‘What up. I’m Yam.’

Eram took her hand. ‘You sure are. Or maybe Yak would be better?’ He turned to Gehna. ‘You never said she was so big. I’ll bet half the buffet deals in town—’

‘Eram,’ Gehna said, shocked. ‘What is wrong with you?’