You Were My Crush: Till You Said You Love Me! by Durjoy Datta, Orvana Ghai Page B

a while. We figured we could not remain angry at each other for long. We were back to our usual conversations, and she began to analyse me like a certified psychiatry practitioner, something she loved to do.
    ‘But how can you make out with someone you barely know, Benoy? That’s disgusting,’ she snapped.
    I had told her about my friends, all of whom were rich and slept around. My school life was pretty happening. I had a serious girlfriend, but all my other guy friends were good-looking and popular, and they led scandalous and colourful sex lives. In fact, the school basement was out of bounds during our last year in school because our headmistress had caught two of my friends having sexwith their girlfriends in the music room in the basement, together. It was a huge scandal!
    Diya refused to believe I wasn’t one of them.
    They did this to ensure privacy!
    ‘It’s their personal choice,’ I said. ‘It’s their lives. Let them do what they want to. It’s not as if they are doing it in your bedroom.’
    ‘Don’t lie! I am sure you did it too. Serious relationship, my foot! You seem just the kind of guy who would do such a thing,’ she accused.
    ‘Why don’t you believe me!’ I said and refreshed the browser on my phone. Shaina hadn’t uploaded anything new.
    It was very important for me to drive it into Diya’s head that I was not as bad as she thought I was, that I was not a flirt, and that I didn’t sleep around. It was bad enough that I was stalking her sister on Facebook. Tired of trying to convince her that I was the good guy, I steered the conversation away from me.
    ‘Why do we always talk about my relationships? Why not yours?’
    ‘Mine? Be serious, Benoy. Who would date me? I am every guy’s worst nightmare. And plus, my parents would have killed me had they known.’
    ‘Oh c’mon. You haven’t dated anybody?’ I asked.
    ‘Umm … I have … one. Two, really. It’s pretty daring of me to do so. I felt like Lady James Bond, and I had to be all sneaky when I used to meet them. I don’t date now. I don’t want to break their trust in me. I was young and foolish.’
    ‘Aha! This is interesting,’ I said. ‘So tell me
everything
about the guys!’
    Her first relationship was in school when she was in tenth standard and they were together for two years. After school, he went off to do his engineering from somewhere outside Delhi. And as it happens, differences crept it. Different schedules, different timetables, new friends and new insecurities. Not to forget, expensive STD calling too!
    ‘Long-distance relationships don’t work,’ she sighed.
    ‘I know. My ex-girlfriend went to Australia after school,’ I said. ‘We used to Skype or use video chat on Yahoo! for a few days. But, it didn’t work out!’
    ‘We used to Skype, too!’ she exclaimed.
    ‘Aha! And do
what
on Skype?’
    ‘Shut up!’ she said and looked away, smiling. It was hard for me to imagine Diya acting naughty on the webcam. It’s like imagining kittens having sex. There’s nothing sexy about it, and it’s totally wrong. The only things I thought she would sleep with would be books, notes and exam answer sheets. If anything, maybe a picture of a professor.
    Her second relationship was more of a fling, even though she never admitted it. It lasted just a month. The guy was in Hans Raj and thought Diya would be an easy lay.
But Diya? An easy lay?
Well, whatever.
    ‘So, it was really a fling!’ I said. ‘I can’t believe you fell for the guy. You are too intelligent for that shit.’
    ‘I’m a girl too. And the smartest of girls get their hearts broken by the dumbest of guys,’ she snapped.
    ‘Yeah, behind those spectacles, I really can’t see anything.’
    ‘Whatever you might say, it wasn’t a fling. Now, shut up,’ she said.
    ‘So? Who was better in bed?’ I asked.
    ‘You cannot ask me that. And I asked you to shut up!’ she said.
    ‘I can,’ I said. ‘You said that day I can talk to you about