Episode - 9

Days passed and Arnab got increasingly irritated with Sarah's calls and her constant

crying. Often, I used to pick up her call and tell her that Arnab was busy somewhere. I should mention here that Sarah was the first girl I ever talked to, over the phone; the first few times were terrifying.

And then, Sarah asked for my number. She knew I would be the only one who would

know about Arnab's whereabouts.

'Joy?' I could barely hear her amidst all the sobs.

'Sarah?' I said. I looked at the watch. It was eleven-thirty. Night calling, I guessed. Those

were the days when a minute of extra day calling cost two bucks. I was whispering for I

didn't want to wake my parents up; I wondered if they could hear Sarah's sobs over the phone.

'Is Arnab going out with somebody? Please don't lie to me.'

'Arnab? No!' I said. I had realized that talking over the phone was a lot easier because no

one is staring at my hideous face, no one is noticing how I shift my feet, or how I look here

and there and look like I am going to faint.

'Then why isn't he picking up my calls?'she asked, still crying.

'He must be busy.'

'Stop defending him. He was never this busy earlier. Not a single message the entire day?

No one can be that busy!'she said.

'I don't know what to say …'

From there on, I didn't have to say too much. Eight hours. Eight straight hours, she went

about every detail in their relationship. Hour by hour, day by day and month by month. She

conveniently skipped some portions, the kisses and stuf portions, but apart from that she missed nothing.

Though there was a lot of crying and sobbing and consoling in the entire phone call, it

was my first received phone call from a girl and I enjoyed every moment of it. For the first

time, I realized how soothing a girl's voice was, even seductive at times. Well, most of the times!

The following morning, I was greeted by an enthusiastic and an extremely happy Arnab.

'Hey!' he said.

'Hi …'

'Thank you, man! For talking to her. I think I can finally breathe easy. If you talk to her, I

am sure she will do the crying in front of you and save me the pain of going through it every

day.'

'Hmmm …' I smirked.

'Sorry, if she troubled you too much!' he apologized, as he shook my hand. He walked away and I pressed the send button. It was our thirtieth exchanged text that day, Sarah and I. She had just texted me that she was waiting for the clock to strike eleven so that she could talk to me again. I had replied with a smiley

A girl wants to talk to me. That was another first. Usually, girls only wanted to get away

from me, or pretend that I didn't exist.