‘Oh my god, what now, Kavya?’

She didn’t say anything at first. Then, pulling herself out of her trance, she turned to me and said, ‘Look, Jhanvi, this is not the end of the world. It’s only an hour’s flight, and then the bus ride to the hotel. I’m sure we can handle that.’ Confused, I looked towards where she had been gazing moments earlier. At the entrance to the plane stood Gaurav; his latest conquest, scantily dressed, hanging from his arm.

‘How the hell did that son of a bitch manage to get on the PR list?’ I cursed loudly.

Kavya put her hand on my arm as Gaurav walked past and winked at me. The girl with him curled her nose up at me before turning to whisper to him. He took the seat behind me, which I knew was a passive-aggressive attempt at trying to intimidate me.

Leaning over my seat, he said, ‘Hey Jhanvi, excuse my girlfriend’s manners.’ He emphasised the word girlfriend. ‘She is a little jealous we will be spending the weekend together.’

Without turning around, I spat back, ‘WE will not be doing anything together this weekend, Gaurav.’ Turning to his girlfriend, I said, ‘Remember to use protection with this one, darling. He likes to sleep around.’ I slumped back into my chair as Kavya gawked at me.

The girlfriend protested loudly enough for Gaurav to try and protect his reputation, and he agreed to move to another seat. I reached into the gift bag and took out the bottle of champagne. I didn’t know if they provided glasses; at that stage, I didn’t care. I opened it and downed the contents. Kavya looked at me, concern on her face. I ignored it and asked her if she was going to drink her bottle. She said no, but refused to allow me to drink anymore before we landed.

By the time the plane took off, I was buzzed and emotionally tired. I closed my eyes.

I was woken by Kavya when we landed. My head throbbed and my mouth was dry. I downed a glass of orange juice before we got off the plane, cursing myself for not taking pictures earlier. On the landing strip, I slipped on my sunglasses and convinced Kavya to take a picture of me with the plane in the background. My excuse was that I wanted a full body shot; the real reason was what she was wearing. To placate her, we took a selfie; I knew I would not post it online.

Waiting for us was a luxury tour bus and another care package with some sweet gin and premixed coolers tucked neatly into the backs of the seats in front of us. I would need this if I was going to survive the nearly two-hour trip to Vagator Beach, confined on a bus with Gaurav. The bus started, and loud music began pumping through the speakers. I pulled out my phone to post the photo of me in front of the private jet. Standing, I took another photo of the other influencers dancing in the aisle. I hadn’t spoken to any of them, other than my
run-in with Gaurav, but it made for a good shot. I hashtagged the original photo and posted it before sitting down and opening one of the coolers. Kavya looked at me.