Long Distance is a Bitch by shiprat

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"Bye Anar." he said. "I'll text you when I land. That is, if you care about that sort of a thing."

And he walked out. I followed him to the front door. One of my roommates was in the kitchen.

"Bye Parag." she said. Then she noticed the tears in my eyes and looked away. I hated myself for letting her see me with tears in my eyes. My ego kicked in and I immediately wiped them off and composed myself.

Parag left the apartment and walked down the stairs. His taxi was waiting on the street. I was still following him. So he stopped.

"I told you I don't want you to come to the airport."

"I know. Would you do me a favor and drop me off downtown? It's on the way to the turnpike anyway." "Okay."

We got in the cab. I told the cabbie the intersection I wanted to be dropped of at, and then to go to Newark airport. Ten minutes later, the cab was at a traffic light, a few blocks from where I would be getting off. We had both been staring out of the our respective windows in silence. I finally looked at him and asked the question which had been on my mind.

"So is this your way of breaking up with me?" I asked. He looked at me.

"Is that what you want?" he asked.

"Is that what you're doing?" I asked.

He looked out of the window again. I repeated the question.

"No." he said, still looking away, and then after a pause added, "Not yet."

The cab stopped at my intersection. I got out of the cab. And it drove away.

I needed something to distract me, something to immerse myself in. I knew of a multiplex on that block. I walked in, bought a ticket to a random movie, and watched it. It was some sort of a buddy comedy movie. Very stupid, but it did the job. It made me smile a few times. Once it ended, I went and watched a movie playing on another screen. Then another. It was 8 PM by the time the projector light started making my head hurt, and I walked out of the multiplex.

I checked my phone which had been on silent all that while. 1 text message and 2 missed calls. The text was from Parag.

"Reached Charlotte."

That's it. I replied, "Okay".

The two missed calls were from Dustin. I sighed. I wondered if his girlfriend was still obsessed with meeting me. I really did not need that right now. I called a cab and went home. The roommates fortunately kept their queries and thoughts to themselves. I made myself a sandwich, ate it, then took two big swigs of Tylenol. And slept.

------------------------------------------

The next few days were absolute hell. There was a lot of studying to do, and assignments to finish. And there was the drama to deal with. Parag didn't call me on Monday, nor Tuesday, nor Wednesday. I was too angry with him to make the first move. He had asked me to change who I was. And when asked if he was breaking up with me, had said, "not yet". Fuck him!

I was also doing my best to avoid Dustin. I didn't answer his calls. When I ran into him in the department, I walked the other way. When I went out to smoke, I made sure he wasn't around. He kept sending me text messages, all of which were variations on, "Please let's just talk" and "I miss our friendship."

Wednesday evening, around 8, I had fired off some printouts of a few papers, and was on my way to the copy room to pick them up. The corridor was almost empty. Just as I passed by a door, it opened. I saw Dustin. He stepped out, caught hold of my arm, and pulled me in.

"Dustin! Let me go!" I said, not quite shrieking, but in a loud voice. He slammed the door shut behind me and dead-bolted it. I noticed that we were in a janitor's closet.

"For Christ's sake, just talk to me Anar!" Justin said and let go of my arm.

"I am not a Christian." I couldn't help blurt out my standard jocular response to whenever someone invoked Christ when talking to me.

Justin smirked. I couldn't help but smile either. It broke the tension.

"Why are you giving me the silent treatment?" he asked me.

"Dustin.... it's not really that."

"Do you believe I forced you in some way? Drugged you with the weed?"

"No, don't be ridiculous!"

"Do you think I somehow took advantage of your emotional vulnerability?"

I thought about the question.

"Did you?" I asked him. He seemed taken aback. He thought for a couple of seconds and responded,

"Not by design anyway. Whatever happened....I just caught up in the moment. I mean.... don't get me wrong. You are an absolutely amazing woman. I find you attractive in every way. If you weren't dating someone, I'd totally be hitting on you. But I think of you as a friend. A great friend."