The Sober Friend

Tara’s phone buzzed on her desk. She sneaked a peak at it before the screen turned black again. Message from Neha. Normally she would have texted her best friend  back instantly but her boss was just two cubicles away and the last thing she wanted was to be ticked off by him on a Friday.

Now, her boss was in her neighbor’s cubicle . 

Her phone buzzed twice before going silent completely. Tara desperately prayed for it to stay lifeless. After 10 minutes of unnecessary lecture and small talk her boss finally returned back to his cabin. Immediately Tara sprang up and rushed to the washroom clutching her phone in her hand.

Sitting on the pot putting her feet up. She whispered “Hello”

“Tara you were supposed to join this conference call 10 minutes back?” Neha’s shrill voice greeted her.

“My boss was around” I whispered.

“You're always late” Neha Whined on the phone. I rolled my eyes and wanted to snap back that 

unlike her I didn’t work from home.

“Quit it Neha . Stop giving her a hard time” Payal’s voice intervened.

Tara thanked her under my breath .

Neha sighed on the phone  and spoke “Fine. So let’s decide what’s the plan for this weekend?”

A shiver ran down Tara's spine. Even though this happened every Friday deciding what to do at weekends was  ritual that three of them followed since we were in school. but since the last couple of months it had more or less been the same.

Shopping  on Fridays and clubbing on Saturdays. Because of their clubbing plans Saturday had become the most hated day on her list. Not that Tara didn’t enjoy going to clubs or partying. I mean dancing away all your troubles was a definite stress buster but the problem was that she didn’t drink which always left her to be the sober friend.The Naina Talwar from Ye Jawani Hai Deewani of the group.

As expected Neha started ranting about some  new place at Hauz Khas that we had to check out 

.Before she could completely convinced Payal I had to put my plan in action I breathed in and said

“let’s just have a girls night in this Saturday ,we will order some pizza, watch a movie and have a home make-over”

The line went silent went  for a minute

 Till Neha spoke “but Tara I was really looking forward to going to that place”  Of course she did because the moment Neha entered there were Men queuing to buy her drinks and then dance with her in the end it was always my responsibility to make sure she wasn’t  being taken advantage of. With her I always felt like a mother of a toddler ensuring she wasn’t getting into any sort of bad company.

“I agree with Neha” Payal piqued “infact Tara you could wear those new shoes you bought last week” she rambled on excitedly “pair it with your new dress from Zara”

I rolled my eyes. I would love to wear my new  4 inch stilettos but Payal seemed to forget that after every party when she is throwing up on the sidewalk after drinking too much, I am the one dragging her on my back to her house and its not easy doing that while wearing sky high pumps.

“Plus we can have a girls night in on  Sunday” Payal added.

I sighed, Sundays were worse because both of them woke up with a hangover and half the day went in nursing them back to their senses and the other half they just wanted to rest or discuss of what little they remembered about the night before.

 Of course, Tara had tried to blend in but according to her alcohol reminded her of the painful sour medicine at the doctors. But What she never understood about her best friends was that even after all this they were more than ready to repeat it again the next weekend.

“Tara so you in?” Payal’s voice blared through the phone feverish with excitement.

Tara Sighed maybe this last time she could tag along with them,Next weekend she would surely 

convince them.

“Yes” She said trying to sound excited “but I am wearing flats”.