Shadowland
"And the next day, he told everyone that I asked him if he wanted to play! Can you believe that?!"
Heer gasped, an exaggerated sound made in utter seriousness. "Treachery!"
"And then - then he said that I said that his drawings were rocking. Rocking! Can you believe that?"
"Hawww!" Heer shook her head for a full minute before slamming her can down in disgust. "These boys, na. Stupid, stupid boys." She shook her head some more and reached for another beer.
Nayantara's eyes were glassy as she recalled the next part of her story. Suddenly, she erupted into a fit of giggles. "I threw my Lego blocks at his head. A whole box of them. One by one."
They stared at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter, tears rolling down their cheeks as they high-fived.
Heer fell back against the pillow fort they had made earlier and watched as Nayantara giggled her way through a bread pakora. She smiled.
"You are so pretty, Nayantaru. So pretty and so happy." She sighed.
"I wish we could live in the mountains together. You and me and Gopal Kaka and Geet and Maan and - wait. No. No, no, no." She shook her head and folded back the finger she had ticked off. "Not Maan. No Maan allowed."
Nayantara rested her chin on her hand and watched curiously. Heer was still shaking her head as she took another swig of her beer. "What's the deal between you and Maan? Koi purana luv-shuv ki kahaani toh nahi?"
"Maan?! Never! Chee!" Heer shuddered.
She pushed the hair away from her face, surprising Nayantara with how serious her eyes had suddenly become.
"Maan is a stupid boy. And Geet is a stupid girl. And somewhere, deep down under all that hurt and bravado, they are still stupidly in love. Then... kyun?" Heer pouted - a confused, angry child - and her expression was so pitiful that Nayantara felt herself begin to sober.
"I didn't realise they're so..."
Heer laughed humourlessly. "Oh but they are. They are so in love and they are so far away from each other."
She exhaled a gust of air and fell back on the bed. "Why can't he see her? Why does he look for her only after she's gone?"
She watched the shadows of cars circle the walls. "If he loves her as much as I suspect he does, why can't he find her?"
They lay in silence, the words floating in the air between them.
Nayantara pictured the couple - two polite, cordial strangers. In love, apparently. In love and out of love. In love and out of touch. Love. Love love love love love. Strangers.
Slowly, Heer sat up, a thoughtful look on her face. The orange glow of the streetlamps highlighted her every frown as she considered each word she chose.
"Do you think... Is that what happens in love? Amnesia? Do you forget what a person meant to you?"
Nayantara thought carefully about the question, aware that she had no way of knowing the answer. The wind whistled through an open window, bringing with it the scent of wet earth.
She closed her eyes, pushing away images of stars in the brilliant night sky, of intimate dances by the fire, of shared warmth in the icy rain...
"I think... when someone loves you, you begin to accept that they're there. You take them for granted. You don't consider for even a moment that they could just... disappear."
Heer nodded sleepily, curling into a ball on her side.
A little while later, her hand rested on the knee of the woman beside her and, through sleep-addled mumbles, Nayantara heard her speak.
"Is that what happened between you and Dev?"
Nayantara looked down at her companion. In the dark, she was little more than a mess of dark hair and splayed fabric.
She smiled indulgently as she pulled a blanket around them both.
"Goodnight, Heer."
Love Friendship Dating and Relationships
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