You are in your hostel. It's a co-ed hostel. They all have gathered at your place. Three of your female friends, two of your male friends. One friend of a friend, too. And one once-upon-a-time-friend-with-benefit, except he thinks you're in love with him. He clearly is, for he can't take his eyes away from you. Light music is playing in the background. Prateek Kuhad serenading the room with his sex voice. You are drinking beer along with the other girls. The boys are drinking old monk with coke. Cheap, like always.
The ambience is charged with sexual tension. Between whom, it's not clear. Among two of your male friends, one is an old acquaintance. A writer, to be referred to as Writer in the story. You'd both met at a blogging meet in CP once upon a time. He had tweeted you before the meet, asking if you were going to CP from South Delhi and maybe, both of you could go together, saving on the auto-money. Cheap, like always. You hadn't entertained his request but you became good friends later. You turned into his editor too when he wrote his books. Everything so far has been strictly professional. The editor-writer bond has broken some walls, for now you can call his writing shit and he won't mind. In return, he motivated you to enroll into this university that taught a little bit of everything. The same university whose hostel you are in right now. You found friends and also, a friend-with-benefit there.
The friend-with-benefit technically isn't a friend-with-benefit. He is like a condom. His benefit lapsed after the first use. Sex with him was so bad that it never happened again. He followed you like a fruit-fly wherever you went, hoping for action. Well, he never did but at least the entire university thought he was getting some. You didn't mind his company because he was not a bad person. He was boring, but smart and sweet. The kinds who parents find to marry their young daughters. His name is of no consequence to this story, hence we will call him Sablay henceforth.
The third guy present in the gathering is a friend of the writer, Sheesh. He's not a part of the university but he and the writer are incubated in the university's political analysis cell, helping curate the voting patterns of the Delhi elections. He's the most handsome of the lot. And the most shy. There's little chance of anything happening with him because Newton's Third Law won't work with him. You flirting with him won't make him flirt back. You aren't even thinking of flirting with him. He's not your type and you're not the one-night-stand type either.
#paidstory
