Bombay Mixx (7 page)

Just as I was going to
apologise
for something I might have said to upset her, she put her hands on my face, tilted my head and
leaned in to kiss
me.

‘What the hell is going on here and why am I not pulling away?’ I screamed in my head.

The kiss was soft, passionate and actually very nice. It started off slow, with our mouths close
d,
with small movements then after a few seconds the pressure increased until I pulled away when some teenage boys started to wolf whistle as they entered the
doorway
, ‘I…I  have to go now
,
’ I stuttered as
I walked quickly onto the bus
.

The doors closed just as I got on and I stared at a shocked looking Sara
h standing alone at the bus stop
.

‘Am I gay
?
’ I asked myself all the way home.

**********

The rest of the week comprised the following:

1. Making sure I kept busy which meant always telling Ann when I finished the work she had set so she could give me some more. She seemed surprised but secretly delighted as I think she thought of herself as a teacher and I was her top pupil who was now getting, ‘A’ grades.
   

1. Avoiding Angus and Sarah, which meant when I knew he was in the office I was busy in another department and ignore Sarah’s email and telephone calls asking if we could, ‘talk’.
   

1. Meeting up with Renesh for lunch on Thursday as he left a voicemail explaining that he really need
   ed
   to talk to me. He never phones me unless it’s something serious or he is trying to get a night out planned so he can flirt with Anya some more.
   

Thursday came surprisingly quick and after all the work I had been doing, I felt slightly more confident in asking Ann if I could have an extended lunch
.
‘I would obviously make it up tomorrow by taki
ng the time out of my lunch
as I know Fridays are one of our busy days
,
’ I begged.

As Ann pondered all the work she was going to be able to give me tomorrow
at
lunch
time
, she granted my request and I went to lock my computer and gather my belongings.

Renesh was running late so I order
ed
a mineral water. Having a glass of wine was not an option for me as a flashback of the horrendous hangover I came into work with on
Wednesday slapped my memory
. Ann was not amused at my state on Wednesday and to help me ‘learn’ how to prioritise my private and professional life she expected the tasks to be done in half the time.

I couldn’t argue.

Renesh was wearing a crisp grey suit and looked very professional
.
‘
H
ey sis. How’s work going?’ he asked as he ordered a glass of wine.

The chit chat began and we made our orders. After a while I began to sense an awkward feeling
.
‘
S
o, I’m sure you didn’t invite me to lunch to hear about my tedious accounts job, what’s up?’ I enquired.

Renesh shifted around in his seat and avoided my gaze before he began, ‘please don’t tell anyone especially mum and dad
.
’ I sat straight up in
my seat and started to worry. 

Renesh was the golden boy at home. He told mum and dad everything as he could do no
wrong, so what’s going on here?
I started to get concerned
.
‘Me and Shilpa have been having a few problems recently and I’m not sure where to go next with us
,
’ he continued
.
‘
W
hat kind of problems? And what do you mean you don’t know where to go next with it? I hope you’re not talking about divorce, Renesh! You can’t just give up like that
,
’ I demanded.

The conversation was put on hold for a minute whilst the waiter delivered our main courses; we stayed in silence until he left, ‘Neets, it’s been very difficult! She’s always at the hospital, her shifts are crazy hours and I’m left at home twiddling my thumbs
! I’ve been so bored I practically live at
the gym and you know I’m usually allergic to exercise
until I see a slight bulge
. It’s not going to change either because as she goes up the ladder there she’s gonna be working more hours so I’ll see her even less’ he sadly expressed.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

A
part
my mum and dad, we all admired Renesh and Shilpa’s marriage.

The
ir
marriage was one we all wanted and Renesh knew how hard it would be
to end
.

I continued to listen to his concerns but felt there was something missing from this story so I continued to investigate
.
‘
S
o haven’t you spoken to her about how you feel and what has she said?’
H
e finished chewing
a piece of
his braised lamb leg and continued, ‘we
have
spoken about it. That’s all we do is talk! You know we haven’t had sex for a month because she’s always too tired when she gets home but yet she wants a baby! I don’t know how she expects that to happen? Maybe she’ll hijack my sperm at night and ask one of her doctor friends to inseminate her with it at work on one of her lunch breaks
.
’

We both looked at each and fell into a fit of laughter.

‘Ok, Renesh. All you need
is
to get laid! Why don’t you have a romantic night? Get the candles and massage
oil out, get Barry White playing
and get your groove on?’ I chuckled whilst tucking into my sirloin steak. ‘I’ll give it a try but I tried that last week and she
took a long bath without me, turned on her TV show,
put the roller’s in her hair and called it a night
,
’ he sulkily muttered
.
‘
Y
ou just need to try harder then, don’t you?’ I replied.

As he nodded, the waiter came over with dessert menus and I chose the chocolate torte
,
with Renesh opting for the white chocolate roulade
;
he continued the conversation with a focus on me this time
.
‘
A
nyway
,
enough about my marriage, how’s your love life going? Any potential husbands at the new workplace, eh?’

‘Oh why are people always talking about love lives? Can’t they just let me be?’ I screamed in my head as I tried to divert him away from that topic
.
‘
O
h
,
no real talent there
.
’

Renesh laughed and we continued the conversation on more settled ground, Sunday dinner and what mum would be announcing this week (last week it was her holiday idea to Majorca, however dad was having none of it, saying, ‘I will not go to that Brit packed island to be served cheap tasting beer and only having English breakfast for breakfast, lunch and dinner
.
’
H
is stereotyping does amus
e
me at times but mum usually ignores his protests and goes ahead with her plans regardless and dad always has to give in. It’s very cute and very funny).

I get back to the offic
e half an hour late and with a
lovely filled stomach feeling; I check my telephone messages and emails before I settle back into the humdrum tasks Ann has piled on my desk in my absence.    

As if she has a tracker on me
,
which tells her when I’m sat back at my desk, she comes up behind me, ‘I trust you’ve had a relaxing lunch? Well forget doing th
ose
tasks at the moment, Mr
.
Maguire has asked us to join him in a meeting with the managers from Advertising, Sales and
M
arketing and Research to go through a new client profile
s
. I think it should only be for half an hour. He will just be telling us who the new client is? What the plan of action is for the month? And how much money they will be letting us invest? Make sure you have a note pad and pen please
,
’ she announced and without a response she walked off.

‘I’m sorry, what was the last department she said? Oh bloody hell, she said Research, didn’t she? Shit
, shit, shit. Ok stay calm Nita
. You can do this! Just cos Sarah will be in there, it doesn’t have to be awkward, does it? Just stay professional! Explain that you have been very busy and have been meaning to respond to her messages but haven’t found the time. That’s a good excuse, right?
’
I thought as I started panicking and the sweaty palms made an unwelcome reappearance. 

‘Ok, Mr
.
Maguire would like us to be the first in the meeting so are you ready?’ Ann asked without it really being a question
.
‘I tried to think of an excuse to not go in…food poisoning from lunch time? Nope cos doesn’t that take a few hours to set in? I have a banging headache all of a sudden? Nope cos she already thinks I’m an alcoholic after Wednesday so she’ll be shipping me off to AA before I could say I was joking! Ahhh I know what to say. It never fails!’ Ann regarded impatiently
.
‘It’s my time of the month and I’ve got very bad cramps. I think maybe I should go home early as I can never concentrate properly when I first come on
,
’ I explained as I held my stomach with an Oscar winning performance.

Ann did not look impressed.

She came closer to me and I must admit I got a little nervous.

With the look on her face I thought she was going to give
me
a wallop. She looked like a mother in a supermarket who is at the end of her tether with her child who is throwing a
monster
strop because he/she was told they wasn’t going to get the new novelty toy which is advertised everywhere
.
‘
Y
ou wi
ll not be going home early, Nita
and if you need some pain relief you will go to Human
R
esources and ask them to get some Paracetamols from the medicine cabinet and be in that meeting before everyone else. You will not let this department down like you let yourself down on Wednesday. Are we clear?’ she whispered to avoid others hearing her anger.

I couldn’t believe she played the Wednesday card! Was she never young? Fighting the urge to tell her to chill out, I just nodded in agreement and enter
ed
Angus’s office.

Luckily he was on the phone when we entered and he ushered us towards our seats and continued. The others entered five minutes later and when drinks and biscuits were distributed by the catering staff, the meeting started.

Angus was very different to the Angus who followed me to the toilets on Tuesday. He didn’t even look at me. He was full of facts and figures, presentations, reports, booklets, graphs, etc, and I sat there trying to avoid
the gaze of Sarah, who was giving
me a shooting look
s
when I looked up at the presentation
,
but I cleverly avoided her.

T
he meeting was over
within an hour
and Ann stayed with Angus to get further information.

I was alone at my desk, trying to look busy when I looked up and
saw Sarah next to me.

I didn’t know what to do? I didn’t want to look like I was repulsed by her but I also knew (very much so) that I wasn’t gay and didn’t want to hurt her feelings. I have never been the one to have these talks so it was very strange. I was usually the one getting dumped.

‘Hi Ann, can I borrow Nita
for a few minutes? I just need her to get some notes from my office for Angus
,
’ she shouted to Ann who just nodded and continued to write down notes that Angus was dictating to her.