“Where were you?” She retorted, resting her elbow on the sill of a closed hall window.
“I asked first.”
“So?”
“Answer.”
“No.”
“Are you drunk?”
“No.”
His eyes narrowed. She was not this chirpy and grumpy in the same breath unless she was tipsy.
“I am not drunk. How can two beers get anybody drunk? I’m just slightly buzzed. And I shouldn’t be, it’s a workday tomorrow and I have to wake up at 7 for Atharva’s…”
“Who got you drunk? Where are the others?”
“Others? Big Brother will shoot them all in a line, starting with me, if we go out on a weekday.” She set her mobile on the windowsill and used that free hand to scratch her cheek. Samar kept his eye on the mobile, which she did not reach for again.
“Then who were you out with?”
“Kahl,” she answered distractedly, smoothening the skin she had just scratched. “Star’s North India Head.”
“What more do we need from him?”
“Lots! Until the election, and when we win, a lot more.” She straightened. “What about you?”
“I don’t need anything from him.”
She threw her head back in a silent huff. The dimple made its appearance.
“Do you not understand standard threads of conversation or do it purposefully?”
“Why are you making sense even when drunk?”
“I am not drunk, Samar. Stop it.” She stood straighter.
“Do you have your pepper spray?”
“Yes!” She pushed her hand inside her purse and came up with that old little bottle he had given her as the prize she had earned after winning them the Jammu Municipal Corporation. She shook it and opened the cap. And instantly aimed it at him.
He kept staring at her, unblinking.
“If I spray now, you will go blind?”
“Spray.”
She pouted. Then brought the nozzle close to her nose and sniffed. A sneeze tore through her tiny mouth. He found himself smirking.
“It’s not…” she coughed. “Expired. It’s still strong… see.” She pushed it to his nostrils. He inhaled.
“Hmm.”
“How are you not coughing?” She went to push her hair behind her ears, but all of it was already tucked away into her bun. And she sneezed again, the nozzle close to her face. Samar took it from her hand, capped it and dropped it back inside her purse.
“No, seriously, how did it not make you sneeze?”
