Nights Like This by Divya Sood Page A

hell was I doing? I had agreed to Anjali’s rules myself. Then how could I entertain anyone else? But I just wanted to talk to her. I wasn’t going to fly away with her. I closed my eyes to think harder and suddenly there it was, unmistakably…jasmine. It couldn’t hurt just to see her.
    I walked halfway around the fountain and there she was, incense and photos, squatting on the ground. I became nervous. What would she think? Would she think I was stalking her? Would she remember me? Was I just someone to whom she had sold a photograph? But then she had written her number on the back for me. But she hadn’t written her name. What about Anjali? What about what I had promised her constantly for four years?
    I walked to her slowly, admiring her more with every step that I took.
    She looked up before I stopped walking. Her eyes searched me.
    â€œHey,” I said.
    She nodded but did not smile or say anything. I felt like a fool.
    â€œI saw you yesterday so I was here today and I thought maybe I would say ‘hello.’”
    She kept staring at me and I felt embarrassment heating the back of my neck.
    â€œI’m sorry to bother you, I just thought I would say ‘hello.’ I wanted the photo of the rickshaw that you showed me yesterday and I was wondering if you still had it.”
    She laughed so hard that she placed her hand on the ground to steady herself.
    â€œYou don’t want a photo. You want my ass,” she said.
    I didn’t know what to say to that. It wasn’t completely true yet it wasn’t completely untrue.
    â€œI didn’t come here to ask for your ass. I came here to ask if maybe you would like to go for a drink sometime.”
    She rose to her feet and walked to me. She ran her tongue over her lips and smiled as she spoke.
    â€œYou want my ass. That’s why you came back. You haven’t stopped thinking about me. And I bet you a skinny dip in a fountain that you fucked someone last night because you were so restless at the thought of getting into my pants.”
    Was that why I had slept with Anjali? No, it wasn’t. But I couldn’t deny that I had thought of her throughout the night, amid Anjali’s caresses, when I came and long thereafter. Her audacity was striking but it didn’t offend me. I just stared at her, like recognizing her from a time where I had had the luxury of forgetting her. But I knew no such time existed. I also knew that I could walk away and spare myself the unraveling of a story or I could stay and live out what was destined to be. I chose destiny.
    â€œIf you want me, say you want me, princess.”
    â€œYes, I wanted to see you,” I said.
    â€œAnd you want to get in my pants.”
    â€œAnd I find you attractive. But it’s not just looking at you.”
    She came closer and whispered her words to me.
    â€œI know, princess. I wasn’t the best looking baby in Puerto Rico and I’m certainly not the best looking woman in Manhattan. But you know what? You want me and that’s all you can think about. I bet the girl you got to go down on you last night is a thousand times more ‘attractive’…was that your word for me? Well, she was gorgeous and after you came, you released her from your mind. But me you kept thinking about through the night. But you know what? I thought of you all night too. Just like that. Even as I lay next to a girl who was so eager to please me, I came twice.”
    â€œAre you in a relationship?” I asked.
    â€œAs much as you are.”
    â€œI’m not. I’m in a situation.”
    â€œAren’t we all damned?” she said.
    I tried to look at her eyes but she walked away and started fumbling with the zippers on her backpack.
    â€œSo, what do you want to do tonight?” she asked.
    â€œWhatever you want,” I said. “I had thought we’d just go for a drink.”
    â€œYou won’t get laid tonight so don’t