Half Girlfriend

Riya didn’t come to college the next day. I briefed my friends-cum-
relationship-experts about the proposal while eating lunch in the
dining hall.
Shailesh felt I had come across as desperate. Ashu thought I had
handled it well.
‘Well, did she tell you her decision afterwards?’ Raman said, ‘No.
And today she is absent,’ I said.
‘See? Desperate. She's skipped college to avoid you,’ Shailesh said.
‘To avoid me?’
Shailesh shrugged.
‘You better get an answer,’ Raman said.
‘You better do it with her,’ Shailesh said. Everyone fell silent.
‘Do what?’ I said. The boys guffawed.
‘You guys are sick.’
‘She’s using you. Time pass until a real guy comes along,’ Shailesh
said, picking his teeth with a toothpick.
‘Ignore Shailesh. Find out why she’s absent. Message her,’ Ashu
said.
‘Should I? She’s supposed to answer my question,’ I said.
The boys didn’t answer either. I came to my room after lunch. I
had a mobile phone now. Even though expensive, I would use it
sometimes to call Riya.
I composed a message. Did not see you in college. Everything
OK?
I deleted the text and re-typed it three times. Finally, I pressed send.
The worst wait in life is waiting for someone to text back. Riya
didn’t answer for an hour. It felt like a week. After that one hour, I
sent the same message again. That way, it would come across as a
double delivery rather than me being desperate. It is funny how, when
friendship moves towards a relationship, every message requires
awareness and strategy.The second message went, disguised as a
screw-up of Airtel.
She didn’t reply for another hour. I wanted to call her. It felt lame.