Fashionably Yours. Swati Sharma

Your credit card bill,” she looked down at me. “I knew you were poor but didn’t know things were so bad,” she said in a sympathetic tone.

      “How dare you read my personal documents?” I hissed through clenched teeth. “And I am not poor.”

      “Oh come on. Don’t be such a snob. I just accidently opened it, not like I meant to,” she feigned innocence.

      “I would really appreciate if you won’t repeat such accidents in the future,” I shot daggers at her.

      “See, some accidents are fortunate accidents. Now I know about your poor financial condition, I can at least help you. What are friends for after all?” she grinned. The nerve of the bitch!

      “For the last time, I am not poor and I don’t need your help. Just leave,” I said sternly.

      “Come on, babes. I can set up a donation campaign for you if you want. What about gofundme.com?” she ignored my warning and continued to spit poison at me.

      I was boiling with anger and ready to burst and burn everything within a hundred meters of me when I saw Natasha emerging from her cabin and thought better of it. Natasha hated me and if I started screaming or fighting with Veena, she would kick me out of the office for creating unnecessary drama. So instead of waiting for Veena to leave I decided to do the honors.

      “Excuse me, I have to go to the washroom.” Leaving her hovering over my desk, I picked my way out.

      Sitting on the toilet seat with a crisp sheet of the credit card statement in my hands I was thinking how sensible it would be to accept Veena’s offer of setting up a donation campaign. There was no way in hell that I could pay seventy thousand rupees in sixty days. How could I let myself so out of control? Ten thousand for a bloody perfume? So what if it was on sale? So what if it was Chanel N°5? Oh come on! It was Chanel N°5, it was worth every penny, I scolded myself. But how was I going to pay off this bill?

      After crying for ten minutes and practically using up all the water in the city for rinsing my face and rubbing away runny mascara marks, I got a hold of myself and went back to my desk only to find Anu sitting in my chair and browsing through the Harrods website.

      For a moment I thought of telling her about the bill but then thought better of it. I wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.

      “Look at those pins. You can give Kate Middleton a run for her money,” I mustered my brightest smile.

      “Thank God, at least you don’t think I am fat,” she gave a pinched smile. How could someone who weighed as little as a hundred pounds be fat? What was the world coming to?

      “Who said you are fat?”

      “Sameer,” she sighed. “He always asks me to lose a couple of pounds. Can you imagine?”

      Yes, I very well could.

      “A man with a brain that weighs less than a piece of popcorn could say such things. It’s not unusual.”

      “What?” she looked shocked.

      And I thought I was talking to myself. I usually never talked to her about Sameer because basically I hated him, but criticizing him openly could stain our friendship and I wasn’t ready to risk it so most of the times I keep my precious thoughts to myself. The things you do for friendship.

      “Nothing. Sorry for that. Anyway why are you here?” I asked, completely changing the subject.

      “Well I am here to tell you that we are going out for a party tonight,” she beamed.

      “You mean a real party with neon lights, loud music and delicious cocktails?”

      I couldn’t believe that we were actually talking about a party. Before meeting Sameer, Anu and I used to party like hopeless teenagers with no guardian in sight, but it felt like ages ago because when she met him, everything changed. He had practically replaced every other thing and every other person in her life. I personally thought he knew some kind of occult art. How could you explain her dating a man like him? I really missed those late nights and wild parties with Anu.

      “I knew you would forget. It’s Sameer’s birthday, you idiot, and he is throwing a party and you know that I don’t know half his friends. So, I don’t want to sit there and get bored to death while they laugh at their stupid, intimate jokes. I told him, if he wants me there, he has to invite you,” she grinned.

       Oh fuck!

      “So it’s you who is inviting me, not him,” I rolled my eyes.

      “Well technically it’s the same thing. Isn’t it?” she threw me don’t-you-even-think-of-bailing-out-from-this look.

      “But he doesn’t even like me,” I blurted out. It was true.

      “Oh come on. Don’t you give me that shit again,” she had made up her mind and since I knew I was going to lose this argument with her, I gave up protesting.

      “Anyways. Listen, you and I are going shopping after office and I don’t want to hear any stupid excuses,” she meant every word of it.

      “But my credit cards are over the limit and I can’t even afford to buy fake eyelashes, let alone splurge on some over-priced piece of clothing,” I played my trump card. Well it was true. I was way over my credit card limit.

      “Really?” she narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

      “I never lie about plastic money,” I confessed honestly.

      “OK. Then let me give you a loan,” she said in no-nonsense tone.

      “What?”

      “Yes. I will give you a loan to buy a dress for tonight and you can pay me back by coming to the party. Simple,” she smiled triumphantly.

       Bitch!

      “Nothing can stop you from coming to this party, darling,” she added and pushed back my chair, rose to her feet and walked back to her cabin.

      ***

      Walking through the large glass doors of Palledium Mall, we trotted along the shinning Italian marble floor and headed straight to GUESS. Once inside the store, betwixt all the gorgeous clothes, painfully beautiful shoes and enviously thin sales girls, I started to relax. What was it about stores that made you feel ecstatic as soon as you stepped inside the glittering world of clothes, shoes and accessories, rail after rail, rack after rack?

      After browsing through every single shelf and thoroughly examining all the clothes, I laid my eyes on beautiful baby pink silk shorts. As soon as I touched the butter smooth fabric, I felt the tiny hair on my hands stand fearing that I might stain its glossy texture.

      “Wow! They’re beautiful,” I jumped a good two feet in the air as Anu appeared by my side with her big, round eyes fixed on the shorts.

      “Aren’t they? Shall I try it on?”

      “Are you kidding me? How can you not try this beauty?” she frowned.

      Armed with possibly the most beautiful piece of fabric I could ever have found, I walked towards the trial room while Anu chose a sexy cream-black number and put it in the purchase basket without even bothering to try it, as always. Once inside the trial room, I stripped off my old Levi’s jeans and carefully tried to put on the feather-light shorts while thinking about which top I’d pair it with when suddenly I was jerked out of my thoughts.

      “Ohmygod! Ohmygod! OH.MY.GOD,” unable to breathe I screamed at the top of my lungs.

      “What happened? Are you alright? Maya?” I heard Anu banging on the trial room door. “Open the door.”

      “I can’t button it up,” I whispered as tears burst from my eyes.

      “What? I can’t hear you. Please open this