Page 154 of A King's Oath

“Will you race me on a horse then?”

“I would. But unfortunately our ponies are sleeping in our stables far far away,” she grinned. He grinned back and held his left hand out. She grabbed a full lemon from the mojito corner and dropped it into his palm, grinning at the bartender. He was enjoying their banter too, as was visible from his hands working drinks on autopilot while his eyes were on them. Now that Avantika checked, half the party’s eyes were on them — and all of the Saraswati Crest alumni, including Harsh and Kirti didi, were gathering around.Wait. They were standing together so close?

“What happened, Raje? Forgot how to hold a bat?” Samarth taunted, taking steps back from her, tossing the lemon up and catching it back.

“I can chuck your balls left, right and centre holding this bat upside down,” she trashed back just as Gopi brought a stack of trays to build a wicket behind her. “This looks cute, any chance of a reconciliation?” He muttered in her ear. Before she could respond, Kresha’s loud holler summoned him back.

Within seconds, a semicircle was formed. More lemons were fetched. Samarth doffed his shawl with a dramatic flick and handed it to Vishnu. Her stomach tightened. She pulled her sunglasses off and handed them off to whoever was behind her. Hoping there wassomebodybehind her. There luckily was, and they took her glasses.

“Take care of your hair, princess,” she warned. He ran a hand through it and it didn’t fall on his forehead. “There, it’s coiffed now.”

Samarth did a mock wind-up, lemon in hand.“Let’s see if you can still bat without Coach Dhillon telling you where to stand.”

He bowled. She whacked. The lemon ricocheted off a tree and landed in someone’s cocktail.

“Six and a twist of citrus!” She announced. Cheers resounded.

“Beginner’s luck,” he muttered, fetching another lemon. Avantika got into her form. Their banter and Samarth’s presence here in her home notwithstanding, the thrill of whacking balls again got to her. They went back and forth, lemon after lemon, taunt after taunt. He bowled overarm with actual spin. She nailed three more, missed two, and then —

“This is boring now!” Gopi announced. “You are the cricket pro, Ava. It’s not a fair game.”

“Gopi, I think we are done playing cricket,” Kresha glowered from behind him.”Let’s get the dance floor opened…”

“One last game and then the party starts, promise, babe!”

“Swim it up!” Vishnu called out.

“Great idea!” Gopi glanced at the pool. “Samarth will hold his upper hand in polo, Ava in cricket. This is perfect — neutral ground.”

“Naa,” Samarth shook his head. “We swam laps all the time for practise. I still do. She’ll lose and then cry.”

“Cry, is it?” Avantika threw her shoulders back and stepped up — “Let’s go princess. We’ll see who cries.”

“What’s the payout?” He leisurely crossed the space between them, hands going behind his back again.

“Payout?”

“When you lose, what will you give me?”

She snorted — “Mann behlane ke liye khayal accha hai, Ghalib.”

Say something in Hindi. Say something in Hindi. Make a fool of yourself with your Gujarati Hindi,she prayed. He knew where she was pushing him and kept his feet firm — “Last one to the other end has to kiss their ex.”

“You are my only ex here.”There was no other ex.

“Exactly. Don’t lose.”

Loud hollers went up. Avantika sweetly offered her noodle to him. He frowned.

“You’ll need your floaties, no, baby?”

They walked to the pool’s edge, side by side, pretending they didn’t notice how close their arms brushed. A hush fell as people gathered again. This time in a circle around the pool. Phones were already out to record their cricket match. Now they were on the pool. Avantika stretched her body taut, wanting to get her best profile on this video. She would show it to their kids one day — as long as it remained safe and decent enough.

“On your mark…” Vishnu shouted.

“Get set…” Gopi added.

Before either one of them could say ‘go,’ they were both shoved in. A blur and water and then she was gliding down the pool in a wave. When she came up for air, he was a smidge ahead of her. Avantika tried to create rippling waves towards him to nudge him off-track but he kept going.

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