It was becoming apparent that Tej's response was not going to come the same day.
"I bet he's doing it on purpose. He always liked the power play."
Meenakshi was glaring at Tanvi. "Honestly, how can you blow both hot and cold when it comes to your brother?"
"What do you mean?"
It was one of those rare occasions when Meenakshi seemed to be the one with the insight.
"It's clear to me that you want to have a good relationship with your brother and yet you radiate animosity at every chance."
Tanvi scoffed. "I think you have it wrong. I prefer it when I don't have to talk to him."
"And yet you decided to rush home to speak to him about this though it could have clearly waited until tomorrow."
"I just wanted to keep the momentum going, Axe. Don't get your filmy wires crossed."
"I don't do filmy. That's your area of expertise."
Tanvi grinned. "This I will concede to. You suck at anything outside of academics, Axe."
Meenakshi pursed her lips. "Don't deflect."
"Fine, fine. My brother gets on my nerves and brings out the worst in me. It's been far too long since I've had a civil conversation with him. Do I love that? No, not particularly."
Meenakshi hesitated. The fact that Tanvi had just agreed with Meenakshi's observation (as much as Tanvi ever agreed on anything!) was monumental. Should Meenakshi push her for more? "What happened, though? I remember that there used to be a time when you guys were on great terms."
Tanvi smiled, her eyes unfocused as if lost in the past. "I don't remember. It was a long time ago." And just like that, Meenakshi could feel that the walls were back up and Tanvi's vulnerable mode had shut down. "I'm a little hungry. Do you want to order pizza?"
Meenakshi unwillingly allowed Tanvi to drag her into the pizza toppings discussion. This wasn't over though - Meenakshi was sure that this topic would resurface soon enough.
"We need a Plan B, Axe."
"We can tell my parents that your brother had a prior engagement that was too important to cancel."
"Like what?"
"Something to do with work or family. Those are the only reasons that my parents would consider 'important'."
Tanvi looked thoughtful. "So, back to just the two of us? That's the gist?"
"That works for me and to be honest, that's how it would have been had my mother not walked in at the wrong moment."
Meenakshi noticed that Tanvi was quieter than usual and wondered if she had perhaps looked forward to the prospect of going on this trip with her brother. It definitely would have been a great way for them to make up. Secretly though, Meenakshi was glad that Tej hadn't agreed - she didn't know Tej well enough and knew that she wouldn't have felt comfortable during the trip.
"True. Fine, now that I'm in charge of the location and have a whole lot of things to plan, I'll get on with it."
"You mean we'll get on with it, right?" Meenakshi asked sharply.
Tanvi gave a lazy smile. "Relax, birthday girl. Your bestie has got this for you."
Alarm bells were ringing inside Meenakshi's head. "Now, wait a minute! We only agreed for you to set the destination. The itinerary is still a shared responsibility!"
"When did we agree to that?"
"When did we even discuss this topic? We are talking about it now and I'm vetoing your plan!"
"Jeez. You sure get your panties in a twist over the smallest of things."
"Get my wh-HEY!"
"Look, you need to trust me a little bit, Axe."
Meenakshi glared. "You just sneakily changed our agreement! How do you expect me to trust you? I'm now rethinking my decision of letting you choose the destination."
"Uh-uh. That's a promise that you already made and you can't take it back now. A promise between friends is a binding contract." Tanvi said in a solemn tone.
"I most certainly can!"
Tanvi gave a dramatic gasp and put on a face of mock horror. "Are you going to break your word, Axe? Isn't that against your 'principles'?"
Meenakshi was sure Tanvi was teasing but her response was still terse. 'Not if the promise was made under duress!"
Tanvi laughed out loud. "My god. You're my only friend who is smart enough to use the word 'duress' in a sentence. Especially in the middle of an argument. Curiously, doesn't that mean under threat or violence?"
"Vi.." Meenakshi snarled. She did not look amused.
Tanvi raised her hand up in a motion of surrender. "Fine. I'll run the itinerary past you once I've zeroed on the location."
Meenakshi was still bad tempered. "You're conniving, you know?" She didn't like being bulldozed everytime.
"You're wrong, Axe. I'm just Chanakya-smart (Chanakya was a well known ancient Indian counselor and advisor who was hailed for his intelligence and knowledge across various subjects)."
"Chanakya just turned in his grave."
"Wasn't he Hindu? They might have burnt him crisp. Unfortunate for him that he can't be turning in his grave even if he wanted to."
Before Meenakshi could reply, the sound of muted door bell distracted them. "Probably the pizza. Don't bother (Meenakshi, who rose to get the pizza, sat back down). Someone will bring it up."
Sure enough, there was a knock on Tanvi's bedroom door and the kind lady Meenakshi had met earlier stood outside with the pizza box and some cutlery.
"Thanks!"
"You're so spoiled, Vi."
Tanvi didn't resent being called spoiled. She knew it to be true and was unabashed about it. Shrugging in response, she dug into the pizza experience. The smell of paneer (cottage cheese), molten cheese, oregano and jalapenos was enough to drive any serious thoughts or discussions away. Laughter and good humour returned as the comfort of food lulled their senses.
"You won't judge me for licking my fingers clean?" Meenakshi asked grinning as the last slice disappeared.
"I've judged you on this topic plenty of times before, but don't let that stop you."
Meenakshi stuck her tongue out in response and stood. "I need to wash. I'll be back." Tanvi nodded and leaned back into the sofa, looking happy and satiated.
Tanvi's bathroom, much like the rest of their house, was spacious and impeccable. The tiles looked brand new (thanks to the daily staff maintenance) and there was a large circular bathtub that immediately caught one's attention. Meenakshi proceeded to wash her hands and the mirror on the wall beckoned her to take a second look ('Hey, I look good in this mirror!' Meenakshi thought). The appropriate thing to do after washing would have been to go back, but, curiosity got the better of her and Meenakshi began to open the shelves and peer inside. There was an assortment of toiletries and beauty products and Meenakshi frowned when she realised that not everything in there was Tanvi's. There was a man's shaving cream that looked oddly out of place.
"Ah, I'm afraid that belongs to me. I seem to have forgotten that it was in there."
Meenakshi slammed the shelf shut, turned around and came face to face with Tej. Her hand clasped the counter behind as she tried to steady herself.
The fact that Tej had caught her snooping through her friend's shelf brought heat and colour to her cheeks. "What.. what are you doing here?"
Tej shrugged and leaned against the wall (did he enjoy doing that?). "Happens to be a shared bathroom. Annoying, isn't it?" His arms were crossed across his chest and he looked causal, as if it was normal to bump into his sister's best friend in the bathroom.
Meenakshi bit her lips. "Surprising, yes. Annoying, I'm not so sure." She noticed then that there was a second door where Tej was standing. How had she not seen this before?
Tej remained standing at the door - clearly, he had noticed her and stopped at the entrance. Meenakshi began to inch towards the door she had come through. "I'll go. All yours."
"No, please. You were here first, I'll leave you to it. Just make sure you lock this side of the door when you're in here."
"I-" but with those words of wisdom, Tej was gone.
Meenakshi felt embarrassed, guilty and also uncomfortable at the unexpected encounter.
"There you are! I was about to send a search party. What took you so long?"
"I bumped into your brother. You could have warned me that you have a shared bathroom!"
"Wait, what? Tej?"
Meenakshi nodded in assent and continued to glare at Tanvi, waiting for an explanation.
"Huh.. I didn't know he still uses this room. He shifted to a different room a few years ago." Since Meenakshi was still looking at her, Tanvi continued. "It was tiring for us to keep getting into arguments over the bathroom schedule and since we had enough topics to row about, Tej decided to move."
"How is it that you didn't choose to move?" Meenakshi had a feeling she knew the answer to this one, but asked her nonetheless.
"I love my room. Why would I want to move?" Meenakshi grinned imagining how that conversation between the siblings would have gone. "Which is why I didn't tell you." Tanvi's eyes widened suddenly as she realised something. "We hardly hang around at my place, right? I mean.. I can pretty much walk around your house blindfolded and know exactly where I am but you didn't even know that my bathroom was shared!"
Meenakshi sighed.
"What are you thinking?" Tanvi asked a few seconds later.
"Nothing. Just that it was a little disconcerting."
"He's harmless. Don't read too much into it."
Meenakshi looked amused. "Harmless?"
"You know.. not the peeping Tom kind."
"Right."
Tanvi grinned. "Well, I can see now that bringing my brother on the trip would have been an unwise decision. So, I'm glad how things worked out for us."
Meenakshi felt drained. It could have been the good food or perhaps the multiple shocks she'd received throughout the day.. all she wanted to do right then was slip under the covers of her bed and fall asleep.
"You want to go home already? It's barely 7pm"
"I feel like I'm done for the day. Plus, have you met my mother? She'll worry. I'll book myself a cab."
"I'll drop you home."
"Don't be daft. With evening traffic, it'll be unnecessary waste of time. You stay home and come up with a decent plan for my birthday."
Tanvi smirked. "Being supportive now? Your paranoia still shows though. You need to learn to mask your anxiety."
Meenakshi rolled her eyes. "No, Vi. What you're noticing isn't my anxiety. It's my 'I know it is doomed anyway' attitude."
"Good. At least you're smart."
It was almost half past 8 when Meenakshi reached home and her mother stood by the front door.
"What took you so long?"
"Traffic, Amma. That's why I sent you the vehicle tracking details." Meenakshi always ensured that she shared her whereabouts with her parents. She hoped that it would put them at ease, but, given how her mother was hovering at the door, it didn't seem like she was successful in her efforts.
"Dinner is ready."
Meenakshi nodded and wanted nothing more than to wrap the day up. Noone spoke about the trip during dinner though Meenakshi could feel that there was a question her mother wanted to ask her. Keeping her head down, Meenakshi quickly finished her dinner and slipped back into her bedroom.
She was about to wind down for the day when her phone began to ring. Meenakshi half considered leaving the phone unanswered, but, when she saw that it was Tanvi calling her, she wondered what she could possibly want. After all, they had just been together.
"Axe!" Tanvi's voice was loud through the phone. "Are you sitting down? There's something I need to tell you!"
"I'm actually doing one better - I'm lying down. So, lay it on me thick." Meenakshi's voice was full of sarcasm because she was anticipating that Tanvi was going to exaggerate a trivial matter.
"Ok. After you left, I thought about all the places we could go to and the perfect destination came to me!"
"Go on."
"I'll tell you when I meet you tomorrow."
"Ok.. good night, then. Thanks for keeping me posted. I love all your amazingly informative updates."
"Fine. You really are going to bed already?"
"Yep."
"Ok. Oh - there was one more thing."
Meenakshi's eyes were closed and she was now almost slipping into dream land.
"Axe? You still there?"
Meenakshi mumbled a response.
"Um. Ok. Tej just pinged me about the trip. You know how I was saying he was going to reject us?"
Meenakshi was starting to feel annoyed. Was Tanvi deliberately trying to keep her from sleeping?
"Well, turns out I was wrong. Tej is definitely coming with us and wants to talk to us tomorrow."
Meenakshi's eyes flew open. "Wait.. what?"
"Yeah. Ok good night. Sorry for disturbing."
"Vi-"
Tanvi had already hung up. Meenakshi sat in her dark room, staring at the light coming off from her smartphone. "What did I just hear?"
The sleep from a few minutes ago had disappeared. As Meenakshi angrily dialled Tanvi's number, she was determined to dampen her friend's peaceful night's sleep - if Meenakshi couldn't sleep, neither would Tanvi.
----