The Patient Sikh: Part Thirty-Three--Friends
This an excerpt from a novel in progress and a work of fiction.
So Mona and I have been hanging out more. I guess she likes me, and it makes me feel cool.
She’s Sikh too, so we were both invited to this birthday party of a family friend of ours, Shelly. I know Sonny was going to be there. I’m not sure if he’s bringing his girlfriend. So the real question is, what am I going to wear?
I look in my closet and decide I hate everything that I own. I tell Mona about this over the phone. “You can borrow something of mine,” she says.
“Oh, OK, thanks,” I say and we decide I will go to her apartment to look around.
Mona lives alone in this studio with a blue couch and some random African Art, like these wooden people, sitting on her bookshelf. She’s definitely got style. I notice a blue and red lava lamp in the corner of her bedroom.
She opens her closet and wham, bam, there it is. That’s the stuff. She’s got all kinds of very stylish clothes as well. I don’t know where to start, so she picks out this suede army green top with a black skirt. I try it on and it fits. Perfect.
Because I’m wearing Mona’s clothes, I feel like we look even more like twins. But I’m totally OK with that, as I mentioned, I’m completely flattered that people think we look alike. She wears this brown top with lighter brown pants. She looks absolutely amazing as I watch her drying her hair in her tiny bathroom.
She says I need to wear black eyeliner. I usually don’t but she applies it on my eyes and I think I look like a new person. So we are all primped and ready to go to this Chinese restaurant somewhere in Canton.
I walk over to Shelly, give her a hug and say happy birthday. She’s one of those really good acquaintances, she’s not really a friend. I take a quick preview of the room and there is Sonny. His girlfriend is nowhere to be found. That’s interesting.
I let him walk over to me, I don’t want to seem too excited to see him. Because I’m excited to see him. “What’s up?” he says and looks me up and down.
“Not much I say and flutter my eyelashes. I wonder if he notices the eyeliner. I think it makes me look like a rockstar. He looks at me differently, in a way he hasn’t ever looked at me before. I personally think it’s because Mona has made me look sexier.
We chat for a minute and then Mona walks over. She knows Sonny casually, I told her about us. She starts talking to him and I walk away for a minute. I come back and I swear to god she is flirting with him. What’s going on? What is happening?
I mean she flirts with everyone, even women, which sort of makes me wonder. It’s kind of like an I need your attention flirting, but still. I can’t believe this is happening. I don’t know what to do, so I smile like a fool as I watch Sonny flirt back with her. I have to walk away because I feel my face getting red because I’m so upset.
I watch them from afar while I grab some Diet Coke. Mona puts her hand on Sonny’s shoulder. I have to look away. I don’t what to do. I came here with her, I don’t know what to say. I look back again at them and it seems as though Sonny is loving the attention and so is Mona. They are feeding each other’s egos.
I want to scream.
I walk to the back of the restaurant and bump into one of Shelly’s friends that I kind of know. She starts talking to me non-stop. She cannot tell that I am not listening to her. That I could care less. She is still going on about some work thing or something, and I suddenly turn around and there is Mona.
I look at her and I want to cry. I want to slap her. Instead, I say, “Hi,” nicely.
“What’s up?” she asks. “I talked to Sonny, he’s totally still into you. We talked about you, I told him how cool you are.”
“Oh,” I say wondering what is going on. She was clearly flirting with him.
“That’s why I was talking to him for so long,” she says and stirs her punch.
“OK,” I say and try to act like I have somewhere to go, but I don’t know many people at this party. So I just stand there. Mona looks a lot taller than me in her heels.
“Anyways, I think he so wants to hang out with you, so I told him to call me so I could set it up,” she says and takes a sip.
What? You gave him your number? Why is this my life? I want to vomit the orange chicken and cashew shrimp that I ate. “I told you, I kind of don’t want to hang out with him anymore.”
“Oh I know, but he totally wants to hang out with you because of that reason,” she says and smiles.
“I-I just-I don’t know…” I say holding back tears.
nina
If you would like to read the beginning of this novel in progress, The Patient Sikh, visit the following links in chronological order:
The Patient Sikh: Part Two–The Wonder Years
The Patient Sikh: Part Three–Sonny
The Patient Sikh: Part Four–Song Lyrics
The Patient Sikh: Part Five–Your Song
The Patient Sikh: Part Six–Coffee Talk
The Patient Sikh: Part Seven–Chocolate Covered Love
The Patient Sikh: Part Eight–Kiss And Tell
The Patient Sikh: Part Nine–Street Chess
The Patient Sikh: Part Ten–Ravi
The Patient Sikh: Part Eleven–Understanding
The Patient Sikh: Part Twelve–Hey Jealousy
The Patient Sikh Part Thirteen–Me
The Patient Sikh: Part Fourteen–The Telephone
The Patient Sikh: Part Fifteen–The Dress
The Patient Sikh Part Sixteen–The Car
The Patient Sikh: Part Seventeen–Silence
The Patient Sikh: Part Eighteen–The Talk
The Patient Sikh: Part Nineteen–Oh Brother!
The Patient Sikh: Part Twenty–Coney Island
The Patient Sikh: Part Twenty One–Love Sick
The Patient Sikh: Part Twenty-Two–The Date?
The Patient Sikh: Part Twenty-Three–What’s Love Got To Do With It?
The Patient Sikh: Part Twenty-Four–Fairytales
The Patient Sikh: Part Twenty-Five–Acting
The Patient Sikh: Twenty-Six–The Paper
The Patient Sikh: Twenty-Seven–Studying Life
The Patient Sikh: Twenty-Eight–I’m Done
The Patient Sikh: Part Twenty–Meta Me
The Patient Sikh: Part Thirty–The Trial
The Patient Sikh: Part Thirty One-To Believe or Not To Beleive