Someone Like You (10 page)

‘You guys can go,’ he says, looking at me.

His dark, deep black eyes stare right at me and I can’t tear my gaze away.

‘YOU,’
he repeats, when he notices that I haven’t budged.

‘Huh,’ I come out of my trance.

‘
Leave
. And don’t find trouble again.’

Tanmay is already on his feet with his bag securely slung across his shoulder. I grab my bag and start walking away with him, my eyes still on the guy who saved us, as he stares right back at me, his lips tilted upwards in a smirk. I break eye contact and walk silently behind Tanmay.

‘Hey, you?’ he says and points to Tanmay.

‘Uh, yes?’ Tanmay answers uncertainly.

‘Come here.’

Tanmay hesitates and then, with unsure steps, walks up to where the four seniors are standing. The guy with the deep,
black eyes puts a hand on Tanmay’s shoulder, turns away from me and asks him, ‘Did they trouble you?’

Tanmay nods like a schoolkid. The guy asks him, ‘Is there something you want to say to them?’ Tanmay shakes his head, but the guy prods him again. ‘This is the only chance you might ever get.’

‘I … umm …’ Tanmay struggles.

‘Say it, man.’

‘Fuck you. And don’t ever come near her again …’ Tanmay says with a strange attempt at anger. He points a finger at the college president whose expression changes within a split second.

‘What the hell did you just say? You pathetic son of a—’

‘Don’t you dare abuse me!’ Tanmay suddenly shouts.

Before the college president and his two cronies can react, the guy with the dark eyes turns to them and holds down the three of them. He asks Tanmay to leave and I follow him with quick footsteps, even though half of me wants to turn around and see what happens. As we leave the canteen, I can see the college president swinging his arm wildly and pointing in our direction. The guy who saved us is still smiling, patting his back, holding him back and laughing, without a care in the world.

We walk in silence for a while. We get to know that our classes have been suspended for the day because there is a conference on Automotive Robotics being held in the auditorium and every professor is supposed to be present there. We learn that suspensions like these are very common in this college. A part of me is happy, but another part of me wants to attend a class or a lecture or whatever can distract me from what happened at the canteen. I don’t feel too good, and Tanmay’s mortified face keeps reminding me of it.

‘I am sorry,’ Tanmay says after a while.

‘Sorry? Why?’

‘I couldn’t stand up to them. I got scared. I don’t get into fights,’ he says, finding it hard to even look at me.

‘Are you kidding me! I think you were very brave.’

‘Brave, how? I couldn’t do anything in front of them …’

‘You
were
brave. And you did shout at them! You didn’t even know if the guy who saved us today will save you tomorrow. So what you said to them was really sweet. I really liked it.’

‘You did?’

‘Most certainly, Tanmay,’

‘Do you think they will come after me?’ he asks, frowning.

‘I don’t think so. They looked too drunk to remember any of what happened today,’ I try to assure him.

‘But what if that guy hadn’t come to our rescue?’

‘Relax. We would have been fine,’ I say.

I know I am lying, but I have no idea what would have happened. With the way things were going before that guy with the dark eyes interfered, those seniors would have probably hit Tanmay and gotten away with it. Thank God that guy interfered! I am pretty sure he was the guy from the mess yesterday. The same voice, the same lean frame—this time more visible—and the same charming rudeness in his voice, there is no doubt in my mind that it was him. I hadn’t caught a proper glimpse of his face, his eyes demanded too much attention, and I gave it to him. But I did notice the strong jawline and the long, unruly, curly hair.

‘You know what will be best for us, Niharika?’ Tanmay says and looks at me through his round iron-rimmed spectacles. ‘If you date that guy from the canteen. Then we’ll be safe always.’ I don’t know whether he is serious or not.

‘What? I don’t even know him. I didn’t even look at him properly,’ I say, turning a little pink in the face. I don’t know what it is about this guy. I don’t even know his name, and I am trying to fight the feeling, but I have to agree—at least to myself—that I’m strangely intrigued by him.

‘Then, please do. Or are you already dating somebody?’ Tanmay says and flushes. ‘Oh, sorry, I shouldn’t talk about relationships.’

‘No, no, you can. And no, I’m not dating anyone. Are you?’ I ask, and feel a little weird about it. It’s hard to picture Tanmay with a girl. He looks eleven years old.

‘Umm … I have never had a girlfriend. I was just not that kind of a guy. I mean—why would anyone date me?’

‘Oh, shut up, Tanmay. Look at yourself. You’re so adorable! Like a teddy bear. I would have loved to date you … if I was eight years old.’

‘Thank you,’ he says, fake-offended.

‘I was kidding. Never mind, now that we are friends, I will find you a nice girl in this college. We have four years, right?’

He blushes and asks me about the guys I have dated.

‘I don’t have much to tell,’ I say. And almost immediately, thoughts of Akshat cloud my mind. I am suddenly reminded of his perfect white teeth, his perfect mannerisms and how perfect he made me feel. I have tried telling myself that it was just one day, one date and I shouldn’t feel the pain—almost physical in its manifestation—that I am going through. I miss him. I know it’s irrational, but I do. I tell myself it’s more because of the way we broke up than because I had to lose him.

‘Just two?’ Tanmay asks, shocked at my admission that I have dated just two guys. I nod. ‘But at least you have kissed someone! I wonder what that is like.’

‘It depends on who you kiss, really. So now, not only do we have to find you a girl, we have to make sure you get to kiss her too,’ I say. ‘Not that I have too much experience in that area.’

‘Or we can remain losers forever,’ he says and smiles.

There is something very warm and fuzzy about Tanmay that makes me want to hug him and never leave him. Unlike Navroz—who is, and will always be, my best friend—he isn’t the smart-ass guy who will joke around and make you feel at home. He is different and has a child-like air around him.

We pick a spot on the stairs of the physics laboratory to rest our aching legs. It’s surrounded by buildings and is substantially cooler than the rest of the campus. He takes out his red and silver laptop and puts it on his lap.

‘Let’s watch a movie?’ he asks me.

‘Sure! Neat laptop, by the way,’ I say.

‘I know. My dad got it for me when I got into ICE. He had promised me he would get me one when I start college,’ he says with a glint in his eye, and starts talking fondly about the laptop, like a child does about a new toy.

‘It’s nice,’ I say after he is done explaining the high-end configuration and the confusing buttons on the laptop. ‘It’s red, after all. It looks like a panel fell out of a spaceship.’

‘Thank you,’ he says and offers me one earpiece of the earphone.

We fight for a bit about which movie to watch. He chooses English sci-fi movies while I pick up the chick flicks. We have a short disagreement after which we finally decide—on a baseless premise that we are in college and we need to watch a movie set in college—on watching
Dil Chahta Hai
. The movie came out quite a few years back, but the charm still hasn’t died down. All the stars were fifteen years too old to play the characters they were playing, but somehow, they had managed to pull it off.

We watch the movie and hide our faces whenever there is an emotional scene. It’s embarrassing to cry in front of someone you have just met. At least not while watching a movie. Some bits of the movie are hilarious and we laugh our heads off, too. Two hours into the movie, we realize that we need a break. We are both ravenous.

‘Let’s get something to eat?’ I ask and he nods. He pauses the movie and we walk back to the canteen. The last couple of hours made us forget about what had happened in the canteen this morning.

‘What if …?’ Tanmay asks as we are about to enter the canteen.

‘Nothing will happen,’ I say, even though I am a little scared myself. We are both a little nervous and don’t look around while we order a lot of sandwiches and French fries. We wait nervously at the counter for our order to be served. From the corner of my eye, I check if those hooligans or our rugged saviour are anywhere near. Strangely, I want to see him again. If not anything else, at least to thank him. But none of them are anywhere in sight.

As soon as our food is put into little polythene bags, we turn on our heels and rush out of the canteen. We don’t exchange a word till we reach the stairs again.

‘Relax, Tanmay. Why are you so afraid?’ I ask him.

‘I have never been in fights before, and I definitely do not like it now. They won’t hurt you, you’re a girl. I wish I was a girl too, if only to prevent rowdy seniors from beating me up,’ he says and we laugh. It’s been only a few hours since we have been together but I can feel the pretences melting away. We are like two old friends who never got a chance to meet again. We start the movie again and munch on our sandwiches. We shed a tear when the movie ends and laugh at each other.

‘What now?’ he asks.

‘I don’t know,’ I say. It’s already five in the evening and the sun is coming down a little. We are not hungry really but we start walking back to college canteen. The fear has subsided a little now and I don’t think of those seniors when I enter the canteen this time. I just look around for the dark-eyed guy.

‘Even he is not around …’ I think aloud and Tanmay hears it.

‘Oh, you want to meet that guy, don’t you?’

‘Just to thank him.’

‘Yes, why not? I can thank you on his behalf. You really don’t have to meet him, what say?’ he jokes.

‘Whatever. Go do that, I don’t care,’ I say.

He laughs. We sit facing each other and start talking. There are plenty of people hanging around in the canteen now. All the classes are over and it seems like the entire campus is in the canteen. Tanmay tells me more about himself and his school days. Though there is nothing interesting—and I can totally relate to it since I have led that kind of life too—it feels like I can listen to him talk for hours.

While he was describing the incident where he was caught bunking his class the first time when he was in the eighth standard, my phone starts to ring. It’s the hostel warden. I wonder what it is. I take the call and she tells me that my roommate—Pia, she says her name is—is about to arrive and I should drop an extra key at the office or stay in my room to receive her. I had changed the locks earlier this morning and had forgotten to leave one key with the hostel warden.

‘What is it?’ Tanmay asks.

‘I have to go back to the hostel. My roommate is about to arrive so I have to stay in my room,’ I say.

‘Okay, then. See you at the mess for dinner?’ he asks.

‘Sure,’ I say and pick up my bag. ‘Or … you can come to the hostel with me too? Maybe you will like her. How cool would that be?’

‘Umm … no … Am I even allowed? It’s a girls’ hostel …’

‘Yes, yes,’ I assure him. ‘The rules changed last year. Guys are allowed at the girls’ hostel till seven p.m., but some girl has to sign for it.’

‘But, I … it will be strange.’

‘Oh, c’mon! It won’t be strange. We will watch another movie? This time it’s your choice,’ I try to convince him.

But no matter how hard I try, he doesn’t agree. He is a lot shyer than I had imagined him to be, and I quite like that. I have burnt my fingers talking to a smart-ass stranger in Barista and I don’t want that to happen again. I sling my bag on my shoulder and he does the same.

‘Can I walk you back to your hostel?’ he asks shyly.

‘I would like that,’ I say.

We both walk silently and I wonder if he is thinking what I am thinking. I thank my stars to have found someone who I can talk to, on the very first day of college.

‘Thank you,’ I say as I turn towards him at the foot of my hostel stairs, ‘for today.’

‘Thank you,’ he says and drops his bag on the ground. He takes his notebook out, flips to the page on which he had sketched my caricature, tears it and hands it to me. ‘No matter how your hair is, here or for real, it looks amazing.’

I smile at him.