by Vaanya Singh
A boy ran into the hallway. As soon as he saw me, he threw his hands and head in the air screaming, ‘Finally, someone to make some food.’ He dragged me to the kitchen, which was a mess.
‘We’ll be in the basement,’ Aditya said before running away with the boy.
‘What do I do? What do I do?’ I started hyperventilating. ‘Faith!’ Vaibhav said.
‘I’ve never handled so many boys before! How will I handle sixteen?’
‘Faith,’ Vaibhav spoke again.
‘I mean, where will they sleep? What will they eat?’
‘Faith! Calm the hell down,’ he said, shaking me hard.
I looked up and our eyes met for a brief second before he spoke again.
‘There’s a crate of soda in the last drawer and some popcorn as well as Doritos lying in the top cabinet. All the boys will sleep in the basement, and for dinner we’ll order pizza. Okay?’ he checked, bending down to my height.
I threw my arms around him for a hug. He stood shocked for a second. I was just about to pull away when he hugged me back with his hands around my waist and his head in the crook of my neck.
‘You’re a lifesaver,’ I muttered before pulling away.
All the boys were watching some action movie when we entered the living room to give the food.
We headed upstairs to watch some TV ourselves. ‘Believe it or not, I’ve never gone for a sleepover,’ I said to Vaibhav to start a conversation.
‘You’re kidding me,’ he said.
‘Nope. Never had such an awesome childhood, you know.’
But as soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them as his face fell. To change the mood, I quickly asked another question.
‘So, what made you play basketball?’
‘Believe it or not, it was Malhaar. We have quite an age gap as you know. So when we were younger, I used to look up to him and he was an awesome basketball player.’
Vaibhav’s eyes twinkled as he spoke about Malhaar. There was no doubt that he loved his elder brother dearly. Just the way Aditya loved him and looked up to him.
‘Okay, tell me something no one knows,’ he said with a mischievous look.
I rolled my eyes but nonetheless got up.
‘I have a tattoo,’ I said, before pulling down the waist band of my shorts and underwear to reveal my hip bone.
There was a small tattoo of a bird with two feathers falling below it in black ink.
Vaibhav softly touched the tattoo. I shivered from his touch. He pulled my shorts back up before looking into my eyes and asking, ‘Why did you get it?’
‘It’s a dove. Doves signify freedom and I want to be free. I want to soar high in the sky with no fear of crashing. Both feathers indicate a new chapter in my life, or rather important chapters. The first one is for my mother’s death and the second one is for me leaving behind my old self and turning into a new person.’
‘It’s beautiful.’
‘Thank you. What about you?’ I asked, sitting down.
‘I hate oranges.’
‘No!’ I gasped. ‘It’s true. I loathe oranges,’ he said with disgust. We talked for some more time. The house was oddly quiet.
‘Do you think something is the matter? The boys have not made a sound,’ I asked, panicking.
‘Don’t worry. They must be preparing the room for Truth or Dare,’ he said, shrugging.
‘Truth or Dare?’ I asked, beginning to get scared. ‘Faith, this house is filled with sixteen horny teenagers. It’s normal that they’re playing Truth or Dare,’ he said with a straight face.
Soon enough, a boy came into the living room upstairs where Vaibhav and I were sitting. His face was a deep red.
‘I like your boobs,’ he said, before running away. Vaibhav burst out laughing and I scowled deeply.
I switched on the TV to distract myself and Vaibhav ordered pizza. After that, another boy came upstairs. This one had a stupid smirk on his face.
‘Babe, you’re so sweet that you put Hershey’s to shame. Speaking of Hershey’s, can I borrow a kiss? I swear I’ll return it.’
I wanted to burst out laughing but I decided to have some fun myself.
‘Oh, my God, that was so hot that I feel like taking my shirt off,’ I said, grabbing the hem of my T-shirt and slightly lifting it up.
‘Really?’ he asked with wide eyes.
‘No. Now scram before I punch you,’ I said with a straight face but burst out laughing as soon as he left. Vaibhav was on the floor laughing so hard that tears were streaming down his face.
‘His face! You should have seen his face,’ Vaibhav finally managed to speak out.
Twice the boys came up and raided my underwear from my H & M bag. I found a guy wearing my pink underwear which had ‘HOT STUFF’ written on it. Another guy was wearing my green bra. It took me a while to catch those punks.
When I finally came back, Vaibhav had gotten us a blanket and a jar of Nutella and strawberries to dip in it.
‘I think you deserve a break,’ he said. ‘Definitely,’ I agreed before sitting next to him.
He put his arm around me and I put my head on his shoulder as we watched a movie. I don’t think Vaibhav realised that he was playing with my hair.
I looked up to ask him something but caught him looking at me. We stared at each other until his eyes moved to my lips. Before I knew it, he was leaning in.
His lips brushed mine and he was kissing me. It started off as sweet kisses but soon turned into a frenzy. He softly bit my lip making me gasp and took that chance to enter his tongue inside my mouth. His hands travelled down to my waist, lifting me up and placing me on his lap, without breaking the kiss.
My hands found their way to his hair as I lightly tugged at them, earning a moan from him. His hands started travelling up my back to the clasp of my bra. I held the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head and started running my hands up and down his chest.
He unclasped my bra and started ...
‘Holy shit!’ Aditya yelled, dropping the packet of Doritos he was holding.
Vaibhav groaned in frustration and faced Aditya. ‘What do you want, Aditya?’ he asked, running his hands through his hair.
That turned me on! Faith, snap out of it, I said to myself. You just made out with Vaibhav! What is wrong with you?
‘I heard the doorbell ring twice. So I came to check why you guys were not answering the door,’ Aditya said. As if on cue, the doorbell rang again.
Vaibhav got up and went downstairs to answer the doorbell and Aditya followed him. He came back upstairs to tell me that it was the pizza and that he had left the boxes downstairs with Aditya.
‘I’m going to go and get some water.’ Saying this, I ran to the kitchen.
As I took a sip, just one thought kept running through my mind—my life was a typical television show!
CHAPTER 14
Ya, I know he’s cute, but
he’s mine; touch him and
I’ll kill you.
VAIBHAV
Faith had been avoiding me since the sleepover. I don’t know what came over me that day. Our parents came home last night. Apparently, they were missing us too much. That’s why they cut their trip short. It felt strange to shift back to my place.
It was Friday after school; the week had been super boring. Alex, Samrat and I were at Damon’s place. Ron had gone out with Vanessa.
‘Man, what’s up with you and Vidya?’ Samrat asked Damon while killing a zombie on the X-box.
Even I was wondering the same. Damon had been spending a lot of time with Vidya.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he said, looking away.
‘Cut the crap; we all know you have the hots for her,’ Alex put it out bluntly.
‘She’s been through a lot and I’m simply trying to help. That’s all,’ he tried to explain.
‘Whatever helps you sleep at night,’ I said, grinning.
He was about to say something when the front door bang
ed open and Cory came dashing inside. She didn’t stop and ran up to her room.
Alex didn’t wait for a second before dashing behind her; Damon followed, too. Something was obviously wrong. Samrat and I looked at each other before running behind them.
‘Cory, please open the door,’ Alex said, banging on the brown door.
‘No! Go away, I want to be alone,’ she yelled back.
‘Cory, stop being so difficult and open the damn door!’ Alex said, banging once again.
‘I said, leave me ALONE!’ she yelled once again. ‘Corrianne! Open the damn door before I break it down,’ Damon spoke in a calm yet intimidating tone.
Everything was silent for a minute before Cory finally opened the door.
She looked horrible. Her hair was a mess and tears were streaming down her face along with her mascara. But the worst part was an ugly purplish-blue bruise on her right cheek.
‘What do you want?’ she snapped.
‘Cor-bear, what happened?’ Damon whispered, kneeling down to meet her height.
‘I ... I...’
But she couldn’t even complete the sentence before starting to cry again. Damon hugged her, lifting her off the ground. She cried into his chest as he carried her to her bed.
Alex pulled off the covers as Damon laid her down. I poured a glass of water and handed it to her. She whispered a meek thanks before draining it down.
‘So, you want to talk about what happened?’ Samrat asked her softly.
‘I broke up with my boyfriend and it didn’t go well,’ she answered softly.
‘Boyfriend?’ Alex asked in confusion.
Damon added, equally confused, ‘I didn’t even know you were dating!’
‘We had been dating for almost three months. I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you wouldn’t approve of him. I’m so sorry, Damon! Please don’t be mad at me,’ she said with pleading eyes.
‘I’m not mad, Cory. I’m just disappointed. That’s all,’ he said, rubbing his temples.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered as more tears streamed down her face.
‘Don’t cry, Cor-bear. Just tell me the next time, okay?’ She nodded.
‘So, why did you two break up?’ I finally asked.
‘He cheated on me. He was in town for some work and I thought I’d surprise him. But when I entered his hotel room, he was with this woman. When I asked for an explanation, he simply shrugged and invited me to join them.’
Our eyes widened at this statement. The nerve of that guy! ‘And what about this bruise on your cheek?’ Samrat asked.
‘What bruise?’ she asked, confused. ‘The one on your right cheek,’ Damon pointed out.
Cory went to the bathroom to check what we were talking about and gasped aloud when she finally saw it. Her eyes were filled with anger when she came out.
‘That bastard! He’s dead meat,’ she exclaimed, grabbing her stuff.
‘Whoa! Where the hell are you going?’ I asked, blocking the exit.
‘I’m going to beat the crap out of that shithead,’ she said, trying to sidestep me.
I grabbed her around her waist and carried her back to the room, handing her over to Alex.
‘Put me down, Alex!’ she yelled, hitting his chest.
‘Not until you tell me how you got that bruise.’
‘When I caught him red-handed, I demanded an explanation. He refused to give me one and I refused to leave his room until he did. So he tried to throw me out and when he was doing that, his elbow hit my cheek,’ she explained.
Damon threw Cory’s hairbrush across the room in anger. ‘The guy’s dead meat,’ he said, walking towards the door but before he could open it, it barged open.
Faith came bursting into the room yelling, ‘Who do I have to kill?’ holding a shovel.
It was quite funny, if you ask me!
Cory jumped out of Alex’s arms and hugged Faith, crying all over again.
When they finally broke apart, Samrat asked her a question. ‘Dude, why are you hot pink?’
He was correct; she was wearing a plain white T-shirt and a pair of black dungarees, all splattered in hot pink paint.
A grin took over her face as she remembered what she had done. ‘You didn’t,’ Alex gasped.
‘Oh, dear brother, I totally did,’ she said, picking at her nails.
‘It was a stupid dare!’ he exclaimed.
‘Not so stupid to me,’ she replied, shrugging.
‘What did you do?’ I asked with curiosity.
‘It’s a surprise!’ she said, before sitting on a chair.
After Cory narrated the entire incident with her now-ex-boyfriend to Faith, she displayed a strange emotion; rage was replaced by an evil smile. She looked like those animated villains rubbing their hands together in glee.
She whispered something in Cory’s ear and the same smile took over her face, too. It was quite scary, actually.
‘I’m scared,’ I whispered to the other boys. ‘Me too,’ Alex agreed.
‘When girls are angry, they are scarier than Satan himself,’ Samrat muttered.
‘Once I cut Cory’s hair and because of that I got through shit for an entire week. I had to go to the doctor to show my balls,’ he whispered with a sad expression.
We looked at him with wide and scared eyes.
‘Okay, out, all of you. We have a lot of work to do,’ Cory said in a sing-song voice, chucking us out of her room.
I turned around to ask a question but she’d already shut the door on my face.
CHAPTER 15
I don’t want expensive gifts.
I don’t want to be bought.
I have everything I want.
I just want someone to be
there for me, to make me
feel safe and secure.
FAITH
Cory was doing my hair when I told her about my plan. I had just taken a shower to get all the paint off me. Good thing, I always kept a toiletries’ bag with all my necessities at her place.
‘So, what are you going to do?’ she asked, running the straightener through my hair.
‘Today I was watching F. R. I. E. N. D. S. in the morning, the episode in which Julia Roberts is the star guest,’ I said.
‘I haven’t seen that one,’ she said, frowning.
‘No worries. In that episode, Julia Roberts is named Nancy. When in junior school, Chandler had lifted Nancy and everyone had seen her underpants. Since then, she was known as Nancy underpants. So now, twenty years later, they both meet again and Nancy takes Chandler out on a date. She gives him her underwear to wear and then starts flirting on the date, giving him hints.’
‘What happens next?’ she asked.
‘She takes him to the men’s washroom to do it and takes all his clothes, leaving him in her underwear and runs away,’ I finished.
‘Oh, my God!’ Cory exclaimed.
We both burst out laughing.
‘So, what are you going to do?’ she repeated her previous statement.
‘Well, you’re going to give me your ex’s number so that I can set up a date. I want to make him regret treating you this way.’
‘He’s never met you; so how will he show up for a date?’ she asked.
‘Didn’t you say he was staying at a hotel? I’ll run into him there and ask him out on a date.’
‘And how do you know he’ll say yes?’ she asked.
‘I have a feeling he will. Plus, he’s a man-whore, so he won’t turn down a one-night stand,’ I explained, shrugging.
‘Okay, but then what will you do?’ Cory was inquisitive.
‘I’ll tell him that I need him right then, that very second. Then I’ll drag him to the women’s bathroom and once he’s stripped, I’ll steal all his clothes and run,’ I said, with an evil grin.
‘Oh, my God! I have the perfect dress for this situation,’ Cory said, running to her closet.
She came out holding a very short and revealing dress. ‘This one is just right!’ she
said, grinning. ‘Why do you have such ... a revealing dress?’ I asked, confused.
‘I got it to annoy Damon. He was being too protective,’ she replied, shrugging.
I decided to wear the black dress. It was shorter on me since I was taller than Cory; it also showed a good amount of cleavage. It was pretty tight, too. This was officially the sluttiest dress I’d ever worn and I had worn some pretty slutty clothes previously.
I left my hair open. Cory applied thick eyeliner and a good amount of mascara. She gave me a blood red lipstick to wear and handed me a pair of black-heeled boots which reached my thighs.
‘Perfect,’ she said, clapping her hands in joy.
The boys were sitting in the living room when I entered. The bowl of noodles Damon was holding came crashing down on the ground when he saw what I was wearing.
‘What on earth are you wearing?’ he yelled, grabbing everyone’s attention.
‘My pimp called. He needed me to fill in. It was an emergency call,’ I said with a smirk. Cory burst out laughing.
‘Go, change right this second,’ Alex said, trying to cover me with his jacket.
‘Alex, calm down. This is all part of my plan.’
‘What plan?’ Vaibhav spoke for the first time since I’d entered the room. He looked kind of uneasy while Cory was explaining the plan to the boys.
Cory showed me a picture of the guy. She told me his name was Andy. I was ready to leave when an idea popped in my mind. ‘Damon, remember those kinky handcuffs I gave you?’
‘Why do you ask?’ he asked, narrowing his eyes.
‘I’ll tell you later. Can I borrow them, pretty please?’ I said, making my best puppy-dog face.
He nodded before heading to his room to get them. I looked at Samrat. He had a scared expression on his face.
‘I’m officially terrified of both of you. Remind me, never to get on your bad side,’ he said, pointing at Cory and me.
Vaibhav had been quiet and withdrawn all this while. I had also been avoiding him since the sleepover, as things were awkward after we had made out.
‘Okay. I’m leaving now. Bye, see you guys later!’ I said, before running out of the living room.