FF:Three Birds with One Stone- April 19 pg 80 - Page 31

omg...Ariba 😃

Finally u hav updated......missed u a lot Ariba........
I wonder what Sagar is up to???🤔......looks like he's planning to be naughty..........😉
Plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz update soon..............

Awesome update and was long too...wonder why Vidya is upset hmmm got to think about that one lol

omgggg amzing update!!! i wonder what vidya saw...and at first i did think it was a girl kissing sagar..but then u said no so i was like thank godddd!!!! what if its a bunch of guys..and she cant find sagar...omg im so scared...plz plz plz update

i guess he will b havin wisky n sagar ko nasha chad jata hai....den he tells her dat he luvs her a lot due 2 da nasha of wisky....

Narmeen!!! what's up? I missed you too! where have you been missy? 😡 and aww thanks for reading!

Pooja- awww thanks hun! Sagar and naughty kind of go together don't you think? 😆 thanks for reading!

Heena- aww you thought it was long? thanks so much! at least you don't think the same as others *coughNishicoughSrav* 😆 that's really very sweet of you... I don't get that often. keep thinking about why Vidya's upset! thanks for reading and Ramadan Mubarak!

Priya- thanks thanks thanks!! haye haye don't get so excited! 😆 I'd never allow something like that to happen! wait until the next update and thanks for reading!

Nahla- ooh I like your name 😛 thanks for reading and you're kind of going on the right track 😉

Part 26

Vidya

It didn't take me long to realize I was right about something unpropitious happening from the start. I slowly looked around, my eyes wide with fear.

Almost one-fourth of the people were drunk. It surprised me more than it should have. There was a whiskey bottle on all the tables although not many were drinking. There was a couple kissing at an empty table while others were half lying on the tables with a goblet filled with the red liquid in their hands.

But that wasn't what froze me where I stood.

Sagar was standing on top of a chair. He was wagging his index finger at Ethan who was sitting in front of him and laughing his head off. Sagar's drowsy and red face assured me of one thing. He was drunk.

My mouth fell open and I quickly glanced at the table to see a near-empty bottle in front of the seat Sagar was standing on. I forced myself to move and stand next to Rohan who was looking at Sagar with an embarrassed countenance. I grabbed his arm quietly and compelled my voice to come out. "What happened?" I asked without moving my eyes from Sagar.

Rohan sounded apologetic, but still shocked. "Ethan and I tried stopping him, but he was already too intoxicated to make sense of what we were attempting to tell him. He started guzzling even before we realized what he was drinking."

I finally focused on what Sagar was saying. "Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days..." He said in a matter-of-factly voice filled with lethargy. Rohan groaned. Ethan burst out laughing. His face was also red, but for a different reason than Sagar's.

I noticed a few girls around the table as well. Every time Sagar spoke, they would make one of those faces that said "Aww isn't he adorable?" which actually meant "I want to hookup with him so badly."

I realized with a fresh wave of shock, as my brain started functioning again, that Sagar was reciting quotes from famous poets and writers. I gasped and Rohan's face immediately turned toward me. "Please, please, no!" I cried.

"What?" Rohan asked slightly panicked.

"Please do not tell me that he has been reciting poetry for the last twenty minutes," I knew the answer even before he said it. It was quiet for a moment before he replied.

"Yes."

I couldn't believe what was happening. Sagar's secret was already revealed. I had promised him that no one would get to know about it but... But maybe I could still stop him from making it worse even though damage was done. I grabbed a chair with determination, put it next to Sagar's, and stood on it. I rested my hand firmly on his shoulder and he looked at me. For a moment, I had a crazy urge to squeeze his cheeks. His face had to be one of the sweetest and most innocent I'd seen yet. I quickly reassembled my thoughts and was about to speak when Sagar interrupted me.

"Ah! My fair maiden... come come. I have been anticipating your arrival ardently." I felt like dying out of humiliation. He smiled widely and spread his arms in a welcoming gesture. I trapped them to his sides in my firm grip and said quietly, "Sagar, you're not feeling well and-" He cut me off with another classic Benjamin Franklin quote. "God heals and the doctor takes the fee." Ethan dropped his head onto the table as he began another laughter attack. He banged his fists next to his head in a futile effort to control himself.

I gritted my teeth and jumped off the chair. I pulled adamantly on Sagar's arm. He protested a bit, but eventually stepped off his seat. He was about to lose his balance when Rohan and Ethan caught him.

"I think we should take him back to campus now." Rohan suggested. "He's never been drunk before and I don't think it'll take him too long to get sick." All of us grimaced.

Rohan and I said our byes to everyone and walked out the restaurant with Sagar's arms interlocked between ours on each side. He kept on babbling all the way to the car. I took his car keys and was about to unlock the doors when Rohan stopped me.

"Are you sure you can drive his car?" he asked and I knew what he was talking about.

"I'm sure Rohan. Sagar taught me how to drive stick shift a few weeks ago." I had forced Sagar to teach me because I thought it was fascinating. I almost made us crash into a tree, but I learned eventually.

"Okay then, I'll meet you at the campus and we'll get him up to his room. Just pray that he doesn't vomit in the car." Knowing Sagar, he would probably have a heart attack if he found out that his beloved car smelled of whiskey and Adana Kabab.

We helped Sagar into his seat and buckled him up. Rohan left to his car and I was left alone with Sagar.

"Wine comes in at the mouth

And love comes in at the eye;

That's all we know for truth

Before we grow old and die.

I lift the glass to my mouth,

I look at you and I sigh."

Sagar grabbed my arm just as I was about to go around the car to the driver's seat. As if to emphasize the last two lines of the poem, he lifted an imaginary glass to his mouth, looked at me, and sighed. I slapped his hand off my arm. "Shut up Sagar." He laughed sheepishly.

I got into the car, put it in reverse, and drove off into the traffic. I did as Rohan said and prayed that the traffic wouldn't take long to get out of so that Sagar could barf all he wanted as soon as we were on campus.

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height..." Sagar droned on and on. I sighed heavily and my breath came out with a whooshing sound. Although Sagar had been reciting poetry for God knows how long, I hoped no one had realized that he was a romanticist. I wondered idly how he would deal with that...

"Stupid traffic!" I honked the horn for a good ten seconds, but I knew it was no use. We were inching forward and I couldn't see anything two yards ahead of me other than a stream of cars. Sagar hiccupped and I looked at him apprehensively. His cheek was pressed against the seat and he smiled at me. I ruffled his hair a bit and rested my hand on the side of his face. He closed his eyes at my touch.

"A magic moment I remember:

I raised my eyes and you were there.

A fleeting vision, the quintessence

Of all that's beautiful and rare."

He opened his eyes slowly and stared deeply into my irises. I felt an alien feeling inside of me, one that I had not experienced before. I was spell-bound by his words that had a surprising trace of sincerity in them. I wanted nothing more than to hold this moment in my hand and never let it go.

****

Ariba

How can you end there? I want to hold on that moment in my mind and never let go..

Hey Ariba. I'm a bit of a silent reader of your ff and I meant to comment on it a loooooong time ago but something always came up.