Play With Me

by Ananth

  ‘But . . .?’

  Natasha was always transparent and rarely hesitated to speak her mind.

  ‘Well, since you asked . . . Get a life! You can’t do this. If you really don’t feel like going back home, give me call and land up. We’ll have you happily.’

  ‘I was tired, Nat, I just fell asleep here.’

  ‘Sid, when we get tired, we wind up and go home.’

  ‘Nat.’

  ‘Fine!’ she conceded. ‘There’s a party this evening and you are coming. I don’t want to hear a no. JWT is taking Roy’s work to the CLIO.’

  ‘Of course.’ I nodded, grimacing inwardly, not feeling up to a late night. ‘It’s Roy’s day, I’ll be there.’

  ‘Good. Now, about this new girl . . .’

  As soon as she said it, I shifted in my chair, and forced myself not to show too much interest.

  ‘Cara, yes, you told me. What’s she going to do when she comes over? Do we have a plan?’

  ‘I thought she could shadow you,’ Natasha replied quickly. ‘I saw her work and she’s quite good with the camera.’

  ‘And to what do I owe this honour?’ I asked, surprised at this serendipitous suggestion.

  ‘When she wrote in asking to be part of this team, she specifically requested that she intern with you, at least in the beginning. Is that a problem?’

  I really didn’t know how to respond and kept staring at Natasha with a smile plastered on my face.

  ‘I don’t understand: are you saying yes or are you just amused by the whole thing?’

  ‘Yeah . . . I mean go on,’ I replied.

  ‘Fine. That sorts it. She’ll start soon. She’s taken time off to find a place to live and set up. Her parents are in New York, diplomats or something. She’s going to be on half pay for the first six months, as an intern, and then we’ll take her on full-time. Girl needs the dough to live and work in this expensive village. You can meet her in the evening. She’ll be at the party; I thought she might as well come.’

  Before I could respond to that, she got up to leave. ‘Are we having a meeting this morning?’ she asked as she reached the door.

  ‘Yes, at eleven.’

  ‘Okay. See you!’

  ‘Yeah, see you,’ I replied.

  Now I had to go to the party.

  I left the office at two and stopped at a Subway to pick up a sandwich. As I drove home, chewing on remnants of turkey ham, rainclouds appeared over the horizon. My thoughts drifted to Cara. She wanted to work with me?! I didn’t know what to make of that.

  As soon as I got home I logged on to Facebook and looked her up. Not a single person by that name in the search results seemed to be her. Not believing that to be possible I looked up variations of Cara, adding and dropping A’s. Zilch. Feeling stupid, I logged out and poured myself a large drink of rum and downed it at once. It was a stupid thing to do because it burned its way down my throat and I had to rush to the fridge and take large gulps of water. Irritated with myself, I went to bed in the hope of catching a few hours of sleep.

  When I woke up, it was dark. I looked at the clock – 9 p.m. Fuck! I messaged Aanya asking her where the party was.

  At the Zenzi. You’re Late.

  On my way, I lied.

  I rushed into the bathroom, took a quick shower and then pulled on jeans and a black shirt. Running down to the parking lot I jumped into my car and drove like a maniac for the first half hour, trying to make up time. The JWT guys were great and though the party would go on forever, I wanted to spend as much time as I could there, and of course bump into Cara. When I finally walked into the restaurant it was ten-thirty. The place was chock-a-block. The hostess at the door asked me if she could help. ‘Alpha party,’ I replied. ‘Sorry, sir,’ she smiled back. Then it struck me that JWT were the hosts. ‘JWT party,’ I said, adding, ‘Sorry, we work with them.’ Just when I thought she wasn’t going to let me through, Roy grabbed me from the back and draped an arm around my shoulders.

  ‘SID!’ he yelled as we entered together. ‘Man, you are late! I’ve had two drinks already and one visit to the john.’

  ‘Bad traffic, Roy,’ I mumbled.

  We walked right through the crowd. I was sure I could smell pot which made me smile. Contrary to my earlier reluctance, it was just the kind of place I wanted to be in, at least this evening.

  ‘I’m getting a drink,’ I said to Roy, leaving his side.

  ‘Come back, I want you to meet people,’ he yelled after me.

  When I asked for directions to the bar, a waiter pointed me to the equally crowded terrace. I figured JWT were laying out the carpet though I didn’t remember them being this generous ever. I made my way through the crowd, most of whom I didn’t recognize, and asked the bartender for a large rum and Coke with lots of ice and a glass of cold water. When I turned, glasses in hand, Natasha was standing in front of me.

  ‘Hey! Finally!’ She smiled and brushed her cheek against mine. She looked and smelt lovely.

  ‘Yep.’ I smiled back.

  She held my arm and steered us to a relatively quiet corner.

  ‘What’s with the madness?’ I asked, wondering why there were so many people in the room.

  ‘The New York guys are here,’ she explained in a loud voice, trying to be heard over the din. ‘You should meet Matt. He seems tricky but we are talking about the new General Motors project. They have six new models planned for India and I really want us to do them, especially the videos. You get to shoot still, of course.’ It was a quick professional update – no room for idle chat – and she hadn’t answered my question. I smiled.

  ‘What?’ she asked, confused but amused.

  ‘Nothing,’ I replied. ‘Should we find him now?’

  ‘No, finish your drink first. You just got here, and he’s busy with the models they’ve lined up. Let him loosen up and then we’ll go.’

  I liked Nat. Not only was she very sharp but she also had the rare ability of bringing up things at the perfect time. I noticed her hands were empty.

  ‘You aren’t drinking?’ I asked her.

  ‘Not this week, I am on medication,’ she winked back. I wanted to find out what was going on, but this wasn’t the place.

  Just then one of the Delhi JWT guys walked over to me and we got talking. Nat leaned towards me and whispered, ‘Cara is here. You both should meet,’ before excusing herself. Last night’s dream flashed before my eyes. It was all I could think of as I stood there being agreeable to a man who was going on about how he loved Roy’s work while my eyes scanned the crowd for Cara. It was some time before I realized that I’d just been standing there like a fool, holding the two glasses. I drank the cold water, depositing the empty glass on a passing waiter’s tray. The JWT guy kept rambling, and I turned my attention to the rum and Coke, nodding at whatever it was that he was saying. The music was so loud I wondered why anybody would want to meet people in clubs in the hope of a chat. Someone walked between the JWT guy and me, and I used that as an excuse to shake him off and walk back into the restaurant to look for Cara. I weaved through the crowd, saying an occasional hello to the few I recognized, smiling at others. Finding her, I realized, was going to be difficult. So I did the next best thing and found Aanya. She was in a blouse and jeans, looking very lovely. She was talking to someone but as soon as she saw me she ditched the guy and walked over.

  ‘Hi, thank you for saving me, he was getting creepy,’ she said, giving me a big warm hug.

  I smiled back. ‘You always find such men.’

  ‘Shut up! Did you just arrive?’ she asked.

  ‘Been here about half an hour. Did I miss something?’

  ‘Nothing much. JWT made some speeches. There’s a guy called Matt who’s here and he said something about how much he loved the Taaj Mehaul,’ she smiled mockingly. ‘There he is.’ She pointed him out.

  He was American all right – tall, aquiline and blonde.

  ‘Blonde?’ I asked Aanya, rolling my eyes.

  ‘Thi
nks he’s Daniel Craig,’ Aanya said.

  ‘Does he think he’s Daniel Craig, or do you? Basically you find him hot!’ I elbowed her.

  ‘Shut up!’ she retorted, reminding me of her limited vocabulary.

  ‘God! He’s coming here,’ she said through her teeth. Nat was walking him over to where Aanya and I were standing.

  ‘Sidharth,’ I said, offering my hand.

  ‘Oh, you know me already?’ he replied, preening.

  ‘Of course. Did you visit Fatehpur Sikri?’

  ‘Did I go where?’ He leaned forward, smiling. I realized again, with all the noise, this just wasn’t the place to have a proper conversation.

  ‘I believe you liked Agra,’ I said instead, loudly.

  ‘Yes, it was good fun,’ he shouted back. ‘We got a bit wet because of the rain but I loved it. Didn’t get to shop though.’

  ‘Not much to buy there,’ Aanya piped in. ‘You can find much better stuff in Delhi.’

  ‘Will you take me?’ he asked immediately, a glint in his eye.

  ‘Sure,’ she replied, holding Nat’s elbow and leaning into her. Probably her way of seeking approval, I thought.

  ‘Would you have time this week?’ Nat asked. ‘We’d like to come over and meet you.’

  ‘She can bring me back to your office after we’ve been shopping tomorrow,’ Matt replied, sounding surprisingly clued in and confident.

  ‘That would be great. You can do that, Aanya, can’t you?’ I asked, and winked at her. ‘Bring him back to office?’

  It was dark but I knew she blushed.

  ‘I want you to meet someone,’ Nat said then, smiling, and cocked her head to one side. I nodded and downed what remained in my glass in one long swallow before following her.

  As Nat walked away, Aanya leaned towards Matt and began to say something about Dilli Haat.

  ‘See you later, Matt,’ I said, patting him on the shoulder.

  He did say something but in the din all I caught was ‘alligator’.

  I found Nat at the bar, talking to a girl in a little black dress. It was Cara. My pulse began to race. I walked over to them and hiked myself up on to a bar stool.

  Nat introduced us. ‘Cara, meet Sid. Sid, this is Cara.’

  ‘Hi.’ That’s all she said, tilting her head to one side, her long hair falling on her shoulder, her lips curving into that million-dollar smile. Desire began to build in me again and I shifted in my chair.

  ‘I saw your show,’ she began.

  I was still rebooting.

  ‘Show?’ Nat asked, surprised.

  ‘In New York. The one on the lost havelis of Gujarat?’ she turned towards Nat.

  ‘Bharuch. When did you see that?’ I was pleased to meet someone who had caught the show, especially after so long.

  ‘When you showed in New York,’ she repeated, placing her palm on my thigh.

  I smiled. Nat caught my eye and grinned. I wondered what she was thinking.

  ‘I was at the ICP at that time and it was one of those shows we were asked to see, not just because of the shots themselves but your use of noise,’ she continued in a tone of fervent admiration that I was sure Nat had noticed too, especially since she didn’t miss much.

  ‘Yes, that was fun,’ I said without absorbing her words, all my attention focused on her – her beautiful face, her vivacious energy. I even loved her American accent.

  ‘I loved it. We waited quite a bit to meet you but then you disappeared.’

  ‘Am I supposed to say sorry?’ I asked.

  ‘No, no I was just saying . . .’ She was rubbing my thigh. ‘That’s not what I meant, sorry.’

  While I was forming my response, Nat came closer. ‘What did you think of Matt?’ she asked.

  ‘Strange guy. And why is he being so friendly?’

  ‘I thought that too. I think it’s Roy’s work and the CLIO; they haven’t had anything with a winning chance in a while.’

  ‘You’re probably right,’ I agreed, wondering why Nat had interrupted us. I was a tad annoyed.

  I finished my second drink and asked the bartender for a refill. ‘Nat?’ I asked.

  She said, ‘No,’ eyes wide that I had forgotten, and mouthed, ‘NOT DRINKING.’

  ‘Cara?’

  ‘I’ll have a cosmo,’ Cara replied, smiling, and then leaned over the bar, her hip pressing against my thigh, and asked him to make two.

  Seeing her from that close, I noticed her gorgeous breasts strain against her dress, and got a glimpse of her cleavage. I was instantly aroused. I willed my eyes to look away from her body and turned back to Nat, who was fortunately on the phone, otherwise she’d have definitely caught me checking out Cara. Moron! I cursed myself.

  Cara kept leaning against my thigh until the drinks came. She straightened taking hers and I shifted in my chair, hoping no one would notice my state of arousal.

  Nat finished her conversation and turned towards us. ‘I just spoke with Aanya. She’s taking Matt to Dilli Haat tomorrow and then bringing him to office. I’ve said we need at least an hour with him so no later than three.’

  ‘Good,’ I replied and checked the time on my watch as we spoke: it was a little past midnight.

  ‘Okay, I am splitting. Cara, do you have a ride?’ Nat asked.

  ‘Mm hmm,’ Cara nodded, sipping her cocktail, not turning to look at Nat. I assumed she was annoyed with her too and didn’t gather if that was a yes or a no.

  ‘Okay, drive safe, and you too, Sid. I’ll get the team prepped tomorrow. We won’t make a presentation yet – the Delhi guys will mind – but just a walk-through of some of our work. I want him to see our films, mostly.’

  I nodded back. ‘Got it! See you tomorrow.’ She was right: the films were more ka-ching.

  As soon as Nat left Cara turned towards me and inched closer.

  ‘What’s your story?’ she asked, looking me straight in the eye.

  I leaned back, surprised. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘How about I tell you mine?’

  I smiled back. ‘Okay . . . Why do I think I am going to hear it anyway?’ She gave me another of her million-dollar smiles, and put her hand on my thigh again.

  ‘I was born in Nepal when my dad was posted there and I schooled in Delhi, Dubai, Moscow and Turkey for a few years before Dad decided to find a permanent teaching position in New York.’

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘You say okay a lot. Do you know how the word originated?’

  ‘I’ve watched Silver Linings Playbook too,’ I replied.

  ‘And then I got into photography in college,’ she changed the subject, unable to contain her grin.

  I raised my brow.

  ‘Yeah! I was editing the college magazine, the photographer fell sick, and we were chasing a deadline, so I shot them myself. We were covering the Obama campaign in Milwaukee. Everyone loved it.’

  ‘Will you show me the pictures?’

  ‘Of course. You will come home with me at some point?’ she asked, looking me in the eye again, making it sound like a foregone conclusion.

  Then she turned to her drink. I noticed her black dress was not quite black and a bit transparent. She was wearing red panties.

  ‘Do you want another drink?’

  ‘I’m not sure,’ I replied.

  ‘Will you drop me home? I don’t have a car and I didn’t want to go with Natasha.’

  ‘Sure,’ I replied immediately, and then wondered if I had responded too quickly.

  ‘Can we go now?’ she asked, tracing patterns with her finger on my thigh.

  Roy walked in just then. Cara swiftly removed her hand, downed her drink and began on the next one.

  ‘Nice party, man! Hi, Cara!’

  So he has met her already.

  ‘Thanks to you, Roy, to the CLIO,’ I raised my glass. Cara raised hers.

  ‘Thank you. Did you meet Matt?’

  ‘Yes, and why is everyone going on and on about Matt?’

  ‘Because Matt is a Car
leton,’ Roy replied.

  ‘And that means what exactly?’ I wasn’t being sarcastic.

  I really didn’t know what that meant.

  ‘Carleton founded what is now JWT,’ Cara replied. ‘This guy must be third generation, or fourth?’ She turned towards Roy.

  ‘Smart kid,’ said Roy. ‘Fourth.’ And he clinked his glass with Cara’s.

  Cara leaned back around Roy, caught my eye and mouthed, ‘Should we go?’

  I nodded and hopped off the bar stool.

  ‘We are meeting him tomorrow apparently,’ I said, draining my glass, making it seem like I was in a hurry and ready to leave.

  ‘Yes, and he likes my work too . . .’ Roy began, but realizing I was done for the night, just said, ‘okay, I am leaving too. See you tomorrow.’

  As I watched Roy turn and walk away, I was filled with a rush of excitement. I looked at Cara. I had no idea what I was going to do, or where the evening was headed, or if indeed she wanted me to guide the evening.

  5

  As soon as Roy left Cara took my hand in hers and said, ‘Let’s go.’

  I held back and she got the hint; she released my hand and fell into step beside me. Neither of us said anything as we walked into the lift and went down to the parking lot. She was checking her phone all the time, smiling into it. I couldn’t quite believe that I was going to drive her home on the very first night that we met. This is a good thing, I told myself. It was a much better way to meet than if it had been in the office where there would have been no opportunity to do something as casual and intimate as this.

  I looked at her body again and let out a deep sigh. She must have felt my eyes on her because she glanced up from her phone and smiled at me.

  We got to the car. I went ahead and held the door open for her.

  ‘Don’t worry, I am not used to this,’ she said, rubbing my back. I left the door and strode to my side.

  The lights in the car illuminated her legs and most of her thighs when her dress rode up as she sat down. She bent forward, giving me a good look at her cleavage, and removed her stilettos. My eyes were drawn to her pedicured feet, the toenails painted red. On her right ankle was a brightly coloured tattoo of a dragon.

  ‘Do you have any music?’