Dinner Under the Stars

It was six in the evening. Nitya had already taken a short nap after she returned home but now she was wide awake and nervous about her first date. She had never imagined her first date to be this way and with Tarun of all people.

Taking a bath, she got dressed in a blue embossed frock-style dress which she paired with a silver chunky necklace. Putting on her pair of orange pointed-toe flats and brushing her hair straight to rest on her shoulders, she grabbed her clutch on the way down just as it struck seven in the clock.

"Oh, my doll! You look so pretty tonight. Let no one's evil eye be on you!" Chachi put a dot of kajal[1] behind Nitya's ear as she doted on her daughter.

"Where it is you're going, again?" She asked like a conservative Indian mother.

"Chachi, I told you I'm going out with Tarun for dinner," Nitya replied.

"Ah, Tarun. Nice! Is Avyan coming too?" She asked to which Nitya sighed in reply. Chachi and her love for that damn guy, undeterrable!

Luckily the doorbell saved Nitya from answering any more of Chaachi's questions. She walked towards the door nervously and opened it to reveal Tarun on the other side.

Nitya could admit that Tarun had cleaned up really well. In a violet plaid shirt paired with cream trousers and his sneakers, he looked pretty handsome with all his boyish features. He was holding a bunch of Fuschia orchids in his hand which he forwarded to Nitya upon seeing her.

"You look really beautiful, tonight." Nitya smiled at him accepting the flowers from his hand.

"Thanks, Tarun. You look handsome too." She returned the compliment. She put the flowers inside the vase kept near the door and ignored Chachi who was trying to tease her.

"Let's go." She hurriedly stepped out of the house before Chachi could do something embarrassing in front of him. He chuckled a little and followed behind her. He came to a stop near a silver Honda City where Nitya was already standing confusedly.

"Where's your bike?" She asked turning towards him.

"Oh, it's at Shanaya's. She lent me her car for our date tonight." He answered. Nitya didn't know what to think of Shanaya's gesture.

"That's sweet of her but honestly Tarun, I really liked the bike." She said carefully.

"Oh, I thought you would be more comfortable in a car." He grew a little gloomy listening to her words.

"It's okay. It doesn't matter what vehicle we go in, right?" She tried to uplift his spirits, thinking that maybe he was feeling embarassed. That was the thing that she was noticing about Tarun lately. Even though both of them belonged to middle-class families, he was a little hesitant of accepting that, especially when he was put alongside his friends, who all belonged to rich families.

"Yeah, come." He nodded and motioned towards the car. Opening the door to the passenger seat, he helped Nitya inside before taking his own seat behind the wheel.

It was silent during the whole ride. The two people, apparently a couple and before that friends, didn't know what to talk to each other about. It was kind of an uncomfortable, awkward silence that had been stretched between them. Tarun wondered how he didn't notice this before. He and Nitya had never talked about anything apart from anything related to their University or any drama involving his friends whenever they had come across each other. And from what he was noticing now, he knew very little about Nitya. And he had no clue how to begin amending that!

He parked the car in front of a steel gate that looked like an entrance to someone's bungalow. He got out first and then opened the door for his date while forwarding his hand to her. Nitya accepted his outstretched hand and smoothed her dress out of any wrinkles after stepping her feet outside.

"What place is this?" She was confused when she saw him entering inside the seemingly desolate private garden after pushing the steel gates open. In her heart, she was a little wary imagining all sorts of scenarios.

Honestly, her imagination had a habit of running wild owing to her love for crime and mystery fiction lately. However, she thought that Tarun was her friend first whom she had known for quite a few months now and he didn't seem to be the type who would go all Ted Bundy on her. Calming her heart down, she followed behind him.

He led her along a stoned path towards a garden near a wooden cabin-styled house and stopped near a small gathering of trees decorated with fairy lights and lanterns. Among them was a table set up for two people. Tarun pulled out a chair for her to sit which Nitya accepted though she was still waiting for the answer to her question. Finally, he took a seat opposite her.

"It's beautiful, Tarun. Whose house is this?" She asked.

"It's Shanaya's farmhouse. She helped me arrange all this tonight." He replied with a smile as he thought of his friend.

"Wow. She's a very good friend of yours, isn't she?" Nitya prodded.

"Yeah, she's one of the sweetest people in the world. In fact, among all my friends, I'm the closest to her. She helped me with everything including asking you out and motivating me to get into a relationship with you." He had a big smile spread on his face which Nitya noticed.

Dinner was served to them by waiters which were arranged by Tarun or Shanaya; Nitya wasn't sure anymore. As the two quietly ate their food, they were engrossed in their own thoughts.

Tarun's thoughts were centered around Shanaya as he thought about the recently changed equations between them. Nitya, on the other hand, was noticing the change in expressions on his face and chuckled sarcastically inwards. She knew it was not right but she couldn't help but blame Tarun and Shanaya a little for all that had happened to her.

Had Tarun properly analyzed his feelings for her beforehand, she would have been with Avyan on her first date, hopefully.