Things That Bang

"I am not going to be milked for free!" Sampurna glared at her best friend who flung her hands up in protest.

"Ok! I hear you. I was just arguing for the heck of it." Rachna leaned against the black granite slab of the TGIF bathroom and watched her friend rummage through her Gucci bag for a lipstick.

"No! Seriously, Rachna. If Indra gets sex, food and company from me why the hell would he marry me? And no, don't start with the living in is as good as being married. I want to have kids later on and don't want them to wear the tag of bastards!"

Another woman entered the washroom and adjusted her bra straps. She then proceeded to cup her breasts and push them upwards as if her actions would automatically defy gravity. She then leaned towards the mirror, retouched her lips with a engine red shade of lipstick, ran slim artistic fingers in her lush dark hair and smiled a benevolent thirty something year old smile at the two twenty-somethings before leaving the loo.

The two friends grinned at each other.

"Men like women like her." Sampurna tilted her head towards the washroom door the stranger had gone through. "Her type are the female versions of the bad boys kind."

Rachna laughed "You mean good in bed, good for partying but not the marrying kinds?"

"Sure!" Sampurna agreed "But what makes her different from us? Sex with her comes without any kind of strings. And men love her kind of women."

"Really?" Rachna asked as she headed towards the cubicle to take a leak.

Sampurna raised her voice so she could be heard over Rachna's energetic alcohol laced pee "Yes! That woman won't feel regret after a night of passion. She would even make sure the man wears a condom. Fact is a woman like her would leave at the heat of the moment if the man refused to wear a condom. And men respect that in women who are freely available and yet have certain standards."

Rachna stared at the cubicle door and felt her thighs strain with the hovering she did over the pot. It had been a while since she had hit the gym and had lost most of her flexibility.

"Ok, so what you mean is she is a slut who is good at self preservation and that gives her the air of being high maintenance."

"Exactly! She is a bad boy who knows she comes first. The man she is with has to wear a condom and the man has to give her orgasms or else he is as good as a roach under her heel."

Rachna somehow managed to get out of the narrow cubicle without bumping into the walls or the inward opening door.

She grinned at Sampurna who was brushing her hair and spoke up "You make it sound as if she has more balls than us."

Sampurna raised a patronizing eyebrow. "Recklessness is not the same as bravery. Women like her end up alone whereas women like us have successful marriages, we keep our men in line and grow to be old content ladies having lived stable lives."

Rachna nodded her head and repeated herself "True! True!"

The girls looked at themselves in the mirror one last time and headed out of the washroom.

Music thumped around them and in the muted lights of the bar the girls saw their dates sitting at someone else's table. Sampurna frowned and Rachna gasped when a waiter ducked out of the way and gave them the view of the table their dates were sitting at - the woman they had been bitching about.

"Should we go to our table?" Rachna asked Sampurna and before she could reply the men waved them over.

"Here! Here!" The men beckoned. Sampurna and Rachna reached the table with pasted smiles.

It was a table of four people and the men had pulled up additional chairs. The woman they had been bitching about was with two children and an older man with peppered hair and a dashing smile.

Sampurna's boyfriend Indra introduced the woman and her family "This is Samya. She was my senior back in school and a topper in school and went to Oxford or was it Cambridge?"

Samya got up from her chair and shook hands with the girls "Actually Stanford. I teach there."

Indra gave a sheepish smile and apologized. "I'm sorry. I guess the grapevine got it wrong."

She laughed and introduced her husband and kids. "Prashant and my two naughty kids!"

The kids gave toothy smiles and Prashant moved the children to the nearby empty table with their food.

Samya looked over her children who happily munched away at the chicken tenders and then sat back. "Did you know this is the only place where they don't spice up the chicken tenders? Since we've come to India on a break, the kids have driven me crazy with their demand for spice-less chicken."

Prashant pitched in. "Only the kids? A while ago you were complaining about me as well."

Samya rolled her eyes and laughed. She nudged the girls and replied, "Oh you know men are such babies. Even after twelve years of marriage I have to take care of all his needs."

Prashant laughed. "But you know I like you taking care of me."

Samya laughed back.

Rachna's date Druv asked, "So, you guys have been together for twelve years?"

Samya agreed as she took a sip of her Bloody Mary. "Yes! But time flies. It feels like yesterday when we got married. We both were drunk and in Vegas and the natural outcome was marriage. The next day we woke up with a hangover and decided to stay married."

All eyes except Prashant's popped open.

Prashant chuckled and winked at his wife. "We get the same reaction every time we tell people how we got married. You see, she wanted to do her PhD with me as her best friend and not husband. She called me a distraction. But then after she submitted her thesis we went for a break to Vegas, got drunk and woke up married."

He shook his head and continued speaking. "I thought she was going to be mad with me but she just looked at me and said that marriage was an eventuality between us and it just happened faster than she had anticipated and hence it was no biggie. So much for romance."

Sampurna shifted in her chair and found herself inhaling Samya's light perfume.
She shifted awkwardly under Samya's open glance. "Have you ordered yet?"

Sampurna shook her head. "We are here only for drinks but will be eating somewhere else."

Samya nodded and then smiled at Rachna who returned a wilted smile that didn't quite stretch across her cheeks.

The waiter came with their drinks and the girls took dainty sips of their frothing beers.

"So Prashant what do you do?" Druv asked.

"Oh, I tinker around at the NASA."

"Tinker around?" Indra asked.

Samya laughed. "Yes literally. He tinkers around with rockets!"

Then both Prashant and Samya started laughing and Samya spoke up "Don't go by our jobs. We are just regular folks earning our bread and butter like other people."

She then looked at the menu and asked, "Hey! why don't you guys eat with us? The food looks good here."

The younger group looked at each other. The men wanted to stay. Sampurna gave a slight nod to Indra who gave her a pleased smile.

"Yes! We'd love to dine with you two."

Prashant beckoned the friendly waiter who handed over menus.

They each ordered their food and the men then excused themselves to go to the washroom with Druv muttering, "There is only one way beer goes - down the pipes!"

Samya flicked a look at the departing backs of the men and then leaned over and muttered, "These underwires are digging into my flesh. Can you girls tell me where Marks And Spencer is? I need to buy good bras. I can't breathe in any of the bras I picked up in the US. Even now my boobs are hurting."

Sampurna couldn't look into Samya's eyes. Guilt caused her to blink before she peeked into the warm brown eyes and replied huskily, "The Garuda Mall has a Marks and Spencers and so does Lido. Though I am surprised you are having trouble with your bras. I got mine from Victoria's Secret and they are fine."

Samya shook her head. "I've been here for over a month and eaten like a hog. I've put on a lot of weight. Since I had my angels I've been putting on weight. Between work and family I have no time for myself."

The other two women made sympathetic noises and waited for the men to return.

The evening progressed well with the older couple keeping the younger couples entertained. Each of the little ones curled up on their parents' laps and were sound asleep.

The bill came just as they finished drinking coffee and the older couple insisted on paying it.

As they walked out of the restaurant, Samya gave her e-mail address and phone number to the girls and Prashant gave his to the other two men.

"Call me," she insisted as she pulled her sleeping two year old closer to herself.

"Have a great time," Rachna gave Samya and her sleeping child an impromptu hug and moved away.

Sampurna nodded and said, "It was nice meeting you and I will call."

They smiled at the older couple as the men walked the young women to Sampurna's car.

"Drive safely and call me once you get home." Indra hugged Sampurna. She smiled back and got behind the wheels.

"Bye Indra, bye Druv." Rachna smiled at the guys and sat in the passenger seat of Sampurna's Santro.

The men waved them away as their car drove off.

Silence reined in the car for a while. Rachna looked out of the window and Sampurna looked straight ahead. There was little traffic on the road.

"Won't take too long for me to drop you." Sampurna said eventually.

"Yes" replied Rachna.

Sampurna cleared her throat and spoke. "Nice lady."

Rachna nodded. "Yes, she was nice. Will you call her?"

Sampurna didn't bat an eyelid and replied. "I may. I liked her."