A Date with Destiny

After exchanging pleasantries with her parents and politely turning down the offer for a snack, which was a whole feast in itself, given that the lunch was barely an hour away, we three retired to Shehnaz's room on the top floor of the three-storied house.

I settled into the sectional sofa opposite the fairly large bed, while Akshita jumped on to the bed like a schoolgirl and sat cross-legged.

"Finally, we can talk uninterrupted," gleaned Shehnaz as she bolted the door and joined Akshita on the bed.

The initial chatter was centered on our college life. We walked down the memory lanes of what was possibly the best time of all our lives. After lunch, for which the cook had prepared Biryani, we returned to the room. This time the topic slowly shifted to work, marriage and adult life in general. Akshita and Shehnaz were sitting fairly close, with Akshita cupping one of Shehnaz's palms in her hands, and me back on the sofa.

"So you going back to work after marriage?" Akshita asked.

"Unlikely. Actually, I'm yet to speak to him for more than a couple of minutes. It's ridiculous!" Shehnaz muttered as she shifted her gaze downwards.

"It's going to be alright. I'm sure your parents have selected a good guy for you," consoled Akshita.

"They've surely selected a good guy for THEM. He's the son of one of my dad's close business partners. I'm sure he sees this marriage as a successful business deal for him, nothing more. Just another step in facilitating his business," her forehead burrowed.

"It'll all pan out just fine. He'll be a great guy," Akshita squeezed her friend's hand.

"I doubt, he hasn't even called me till now. Surely he could have taken out some time in the last two months to at least make a call, if not a visit. Is it too much to ask for? I doubt he thinks of me as anything more than an object to bear his children and iron his clothes!" her voice flailed.

"I'm sure he'll have servants to iron his clothes. Now there, don't mess up your mascara," Akshita soaked up the edge of one of Shehnaz's eyes with her sleeve.

"Thanks!" Shehnaz's lips widened slightly to give a faint smile.

"Your Mehndi is breathtaking!" Akshita shifted the topic as she rolled up Shehnaz's sleeve to take a good look at it.

"Yeah, isn't it? We had a lady come all the way from Mysore to do it. She's known for her splendid designs."

It was too intricate for me to grasp head or tail of the design. But it sure looked good on her hands. To be fair, even a simple line would look lovely on her.

The chatter then shifted to skincare, makeup, sarees, salwars and things I had no clue about. They totally ignored me, I could have as well been a statue and it would've made not an iota of difference. For my part, I was content to watch two gorgeous women sitting cross-legged and hand in hand, talking as if tomorrow didn't exist.

It was a nearly five by the time someone knocked at the door and informed Shehnaz that some guests were waiting downstairs to see her.

"I'll come back in a moment," she told us and went downstairs after checking the mirror and adjusting her flawless hair.

"Sorry, we ignored you," Akshita spoke after Shehnaz left.

"Are you?" I asked.

"Not really," she grinned back.

Akshita got up and went up to the mirror to adjust her ponytail and lipstick.

"I'm glad that we came, she's so happy to meet us!"

"Yeah, it seemed so to me too."

"Let's go for some shopping when she's back. It'll be great."

"Cool!"

Shehnaz was more than happy with our proposal. Apparently, she had restrictions venturing outside alone and since there was no one she was comfortable going shopping with, she rarely ventured outside the compound. To my surprise, her father was particularly warm in allowing her to go out with us and even offered us a host of cars to choose from. According to Shehnaz, now that her marriage was fixed, he no longer felt obliged to keep a tight leash on her. Apparently, she was her husband's liability now.

The shopping was mainly centered on ladies' apparel as we hopped from one store to another. My job was basically to be their walking carry bag carrying their purchases and to occasionally give them suggestions when asked, though I doubt they gave it any thought unless it was something negative. And of course, to drive them around. But on the flip side, I got to see two gorgeous women in various attires as they emerged from the dressing room. For my part, I bought Shehnaz a silk Zardozi scarf, which I thought looked particularly good on her. At some point, I lost the track of all the purchases and just zoned out as they kept comparing the same two dupattas for the hundredth time.

The sky had turned dark long before we returned. On the way, we checked out of the hotel and collected our luggage as Shehnaz was adamant that we stay at her place.

"Akshita can sleep in my room. Well, I wouldn't mind you too in there, but that could be scandalous if someone gets to know. You can use one of the guest rooms. You might have to share it with one of my cousins though," Shehnaz said as we drove back to her house.

"No issues. Just make sure you both get some sleep and don't stay up all night chatting," I replied.

"Talking of getting up early, Shehnaz, do you need to be at the house tomorrow? I was thinking of going somewhere for a one-day trip," Akshita interjected.

"Well, there are some things I need to be present for, but nothing I can't talk my way out off. We'll need to be back before nightfall though," Shehnaz replied.

"That's great! We'll come up with some plan tonight. Bozzo, make sure you're up early tomorrow."

"Don't worry about me. Just see to it that you both don't sleep till ten in the morning," I scoffed back.

***

The guestroom I was given was spacious and like she said, one of her cousins, Imthiyaz, who had come to the house for the wedding arrangements and festivities, was sharing it with me. I found him to be a humorous and polite guy, and we talked a bit before retiring to bed. He was working in Shehnaz's father's company and was happy to share stories and folklores about their ancestry and the family business. From him I got to know that Shehnaz's bridegroom was the son on one of their potential competitors in UAE and that a business alliance was in fact the primary motive of the marriage. When I asked him about what Shehnaz's life would be after marriage, he was upbeat, though not in a way that gave me much comfort. The groom's side was considerably wealthy, and there were servants to do pretty much all the chores, and Shehnaz wouldn't have to do anything other than bear the children.

In Shehnaz's room:

"I don't remember the last time I had so much fun," Shehnaz spoke, sitting on her bed.

"Yeah, been a long time since I've let my hair down like this," Akshita was rummaging through her bag after coming out of bath. "The last few months have been hell. Work has been a mess with the new product launch, Ayaan wouldn't let me sleep and Mohit's... Mohit," she fumed.

"Seems you both are going through a rough patch," Shehnaz voiced her concern.

"It's not a rough patch anymore. It's been like this for years now. We thought having Ayaan would fix things between us, but if anything it's only been an added burden. Ayaan is lovely, though. I terribly miss him now, but I really needed this break. I honestly didn't think I would last till the end of this month, I was this close to breaking down," she gestured with her hands, causing her left breast to escape out of the bathrobe.

"It looks really lovely," Shehnaz said, motioning towards Akshita's now visible breast.

"Haha, thanks! I've been having reservations about it ever since my pregnancy," she half laughed.

"Why? You look ever so lovely like this!"

"Really? You don't think I'm overweight?" Akshita moved towards Shehnaz and stood right beside the bed.

Shehnaz moved towards the edge of the bed and kneeled up facing Akshita. She gently ran her left hand over Akshita's robe, along her curves. "No, you're as sexy as ever. These curves are just perfect. I'm sure people tell you the same all the time."

"Nah, you're so sweet. Usually people are just waiting for an opportunity to tear me down. Well, actually Ankit told me the same this morning," her face lit up.

"Been wanting to ask you about it, what's the deal with you both?" A mischievous smile spread across Shehnaz's face.

"You little devil!" Akshita pushed Shehnaz onto the bed and leapt to join her. "So we talking men now, huh?"

Shehnaz blushed as she turned towards Akshita and laid on her side facing her old friend.

"Thinking of it, although boys were the major topic of discussion nearly every other night in the hostel, you were never there in any of it. I don't think we'd had this discussion. You'd always be in your room, doing something drab," Akshita said.

"Yeah, I used to think academics were everything. Little did I know back then, I would end up a plaything for somebody. But none of that talk now. I'm all ears for something slanderous," she chuckled as Akshita wrapped one of her hands around Shehnaz and moved closer.

A light drizzle had set in sometime past midnight, but neither of the girls noticed as the conversation kept turning hot. It was mostly a one-sided conversation, with Akshita detailing her escapades and Shehnaz eagerly listening to the tales, interrupting only to seek more clarification on the details.

"It's nearly one, but I don't want to go to sleep just yet. Ankit will kill me tomorrow though," Akshita took a break from her storytelling.

"Me neither. It's not always I get to talk to you like this. And you still didn't answer my original question - what's going on between you both right now? You just told me your old stories."

"Nothing much. He shifted companies and moved to Gurgaon last year, and we've been meeting up regularly since then. That's about it. Nothing more."

"Come on, don't lie. I saw the way you look at him today. I know I haven't dated anyone, but that doesn't mean I haven't longed for anyone. I know that look."

"I don't know, Shehnaz. Yeah, I'm not gonna deny that I still have a massive thing for him. Till date he's the best guy I've been with. I often wonder how things would have been if we hadn't split after college. Even with all this mess going on around me, I feel relaxed and light-headed when I'm with him. I can just be me, no need to put any mask around him, he knows me too well for that anyway."

"Aww, don't play virgin Mary. It's not all platonic, is it?" Shehnaz flashed her mischievous smile again.

"Oh God, have I corrupted you in one night?" Akshita laughed out loud, pulling her legs from between Shehnaz's and wrapping them over her.

"Nah, I've had unholy thoughts just like everyone. Never had the courage to act on them, though. Too late to regret now."

"Nothing much to regret, dear. Apart from Ankit, my experiences with men, like I told you, have been nothing to write home about. He was my first, and when I moved on, I expected my future liaisons to be just as fun. Perhaps it was because I was no more a college girl with zero responsibilities, but it was all let down from there."

"He was your first?"

"Yeah, my first and best," Akshita grinned.

"How was your first time?" Shehnaz's eyes twinkled from the moonlight reflected off her wardrobe mirror.

"Looking back now, it was hilarious. It was in our second year when we were what, I guess, about nineteen. Happened after our third date. We took leave from the college to stay out that night. Both of us were extremely nervous, it was a first time for both of us. We had explored a bit earlier even before that night, so I still had some wit left in me. Ankit, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck. If I remember right, he lasted for exactly four strokes." With that, Akshita let out an audible laugh.

"Oh! He got better later?"

"Yeah, of course. Way more than 'better'. That's one of the reasons I stayed with him for the whole four years," mentioned Akshita proudly.

"You both didn't try to stay together after that?"

"It was impractical. There was a little chance we'd be in the same city. Actually, I had already gotten admission in IIMA by the end of the last year and he had been placed in Pune. Our careers would only diverge from there on, and both of us mutually came to a conclusion that a college romance was not worth compromising our careers for. Little did we know back then that we'd end up near each other seven years down the line."

"That's kinda sad, if only you were single now," Shehnaz pondered.

"Not really. If not for Mohit wanting to expand his distribution to NCR, I wouldn't have moved to Delhi. Would've still been stuck at my old job and Ankit would've remained a memory."

"So you're planning to escalate things, aren't you?"

"You little mink!" Akshita grinned and gently put her fingers around Shehnaz's nose, twisting it.

"Ouch. I'm not judging. Just let me know whatever happens."

"Will do," Akshita smiled, "Now tell me about you. It's been all about me till now. I don't believe that you haven't fooled around even a bit, especially in the years you were living away from your family."

"That's the truth. I guess I was too afraid. And even when I was working in Mumbai, I was lodged in a convent hostel. We had to get inside by eight. Probably I was destined to be with just one man," she sighed.

"So you're a virgin as of now?" Akshita moved her hand downwards and gently stroked across Shehnaz's pubic mount over the yoga pants.

"Yeah," Shehnaz broke the eye contact and shifted her gaze downwards.

"Hey, it's alright. Sex is sometimes too hyped up and overrated. I mean, don't get me wrong, it definitely is spectacular at times, but at other times I wish I had someone to just hold tight and bury my worries into, like this," she closed the gap between them and hugged Shehnaz tight, wrapping her leg around her once again. Shehnaz wrapped her arms around Akshita and sunk her head into her friend's shoulder.

They laid together, hugging each other tightly under the blanket for some time. Akshita turned over, supporting her weight on her elbows, pinning Shehnaz under her.

"Hey, ever kissed a girl before?" Akshita's face was just inches from Shehnaz's.

"No..." Shehnaz's heavy breathing disturbed the few strands of Akshita's loose hair that had fallen on her face.

"Want to?" Akshita's breathing had also tensed up a touch.

Instead of verbally answering her, Shehnaz lifted her face up to Akshita's and wrapped her thin pink lips around Akshita's lower lips. Akshita took over from there.

The drizzle outside had turned into a shower by now.

"So that's how it feels to kiss," Shehnaz exclaimed, still panting, after they at last broke away for the last time.

"It varies. Guys usually feel a bit more rough and hard. It depends on their experience as well," Akshita explained.

"It felt as good as I had imagined it to be, if not better. And when you slid your tongue in, it was like... Heaven! Now I know why people cheat," Shehnaz couldn't hold her giggle back.

"If you think this is heaven, wait till you get a guy inside you," Akshita was staring at the roof, lightly out of breath herself.

"Is it gonna hurt the first time?" Shehnaz whispered.

Akshita now turned towards Shehnaz. "For me, it didn't. The key is to communicate well with the guy. Is your hymen torn yet?"

"Yeah, a few years ago."

"Cool, then enough lube should do the trick."

"I'm worried if it'll fit in."

"What? Oh God! You haven't seen a dick till now, right? I forgot. Don't worry, it'll fit in just fine."

"I did recently search online to see it, seemed pretty huge to me."

"What did you watch? Porn? It's usually smaller than that in real life. And even if it's not, it'll fit in, like I said, just use enough lube and take it slow."

Shehnaz looked intently at Akshita for a few seconds and stuttered, "If you don't mind, could you take a look at me down there. Just to be sure everything's normal."

Akshita pulled the blanket away, sat up across Shehnaz's legs, just below her knees, and in a single motion pulled down her yoga pants. "Let me see the treasure you're hiding below," she laughed.

Akshita was greeted with a glistening pubic area, with just the top of her immaculately shaved slit visible before it disappeared between her closed thighs.

"Looks perfectly fine to me, you shaved it recently?" Akshita lifted herself to allow Shehnaz to spread her legs wide and sat down between her spread legs.

"Yeah, I read in a website that men prefer it shaved..." she trailed off.

"Again, it depends. For instance, Mohit likes me to keep it trimmed, while Ankit was equally fine with me keeping a bush," she explained as she inspected her friend's pussy.

Shehnaz cooed as Akshita gently dragged her index finger just outside her friend's thin labia.

"Feels good, huh? I don't want to do anything crazy. Maybe it's better that the first person to go inside you is your husband," Akshita's other hand started stroking her friend's inner thighs.

"Stop preaching. I don't care about him, the onus is on him to earn my trust now," her groan grew longer and louder.

"Shh, keep quiet. The last thing we need is anyone suspecting me fingering you."

"Then stop teasing and put your damn fingers inside," she groaned.

Akshita ignored her pleas and continued to play around. She lifted Shehnaz's shirt and bent down to kiss her stomach. Shehnaz shut her eyes tight and bit down on her lower lip as Akshita lightly pecked and sucked all around her bare stomach, simultaneously rubbing her finger on either side of Shehnaz's slit.

Akshita suddenly sprang up and sat upright between Shehnaz's legs and looked at her, a wicked smile lit on her face, "I've an idea, you up for it?" she proclaimed.

"Your smile is already making me anxious," Shehnaz grinned back. "Anything as long as I won't get into trouble."

Shehnaz had a twinkle in her eyes as Akshita laid down her impromptu plan.

***

Next day, I woke up to Imthiyaz's morning prayer. The sky had just been drained of the darkness and the sun was yet to appear across the horizon. I sat, eyes still groggy, admiring my roommate's discipline and dedication. I had a text from Akshita asking me to get ready and be downstairs by seven. In my mind, I thanked Imthiyaz for waking me up and got off my bed.

I was downstairs five minutes to seven and was surprised to see both my gorgeous friends already dressed and waiting for me. I hadn't actually expected them, at least Akshita, to wake up so early. From what I knew of her, waking up early was something she was never good at. Neither of them were elaborately dressed, but they kept it simple and neat, almost as if we were going on a trip.

"Get your ass moving, we're going to Mysore," Akshita said as I approached her.

Although Akshita used to joke around, I invariably knew when she was joking and when she wasn't. And currently she wasn't.

I stared at her for a few seconds and shifted my gaze to Shehnaz.

She gave me a disarming look, her perfectly shaped thin lips carving out an exquisite smile. Even without the lip gloss, her pink lips radiated energy. "There's a National Saree Fair happening on the Palace Grounds this week. I'd love to visit it. And Akshita has never been to the Palace. So we figured it'd be a good way to spend our day."

"But it's what, three-hour drive from here?" I protested, knowing too well it was futile. I was just buying time to get to terms with the sudden plan. To be fair, it did sound like a good idea. We'd just laze around for the day, chatting and roaming around, and I loved spending time with these two, especially my dear ex.

"Since when are you moaning about driving? And it's Sunday morning, we should be there inside two and a half. God, office life has made you dull," Akshita tossed the car keys at me as if the discussion was done. And it was.