I love cards. Specifically, card magic. I learned my first card trick when I was 10, and started learning seriously at 15. The thing about cards is, you can show your magic up close and personal rather than far away on a stage. Soon, I started getting attention from my classmates, which was a great thing for a socially awkward guy like me. I may be an amateur but I'm the best card magician I've met, and that's good enough for now. What I didn't know is, sometimes there can be unexpected rewards to such skills.
Meet my childhood friend, Sarika. She's 20, and engaged to be married in a month from now. We're from the same school, same town. Both of us came to Pune for college. The difference is, she got dragged back home within two years because her parents found out about her boyfriend. They had a nice 'well-settled' boy from their caste lined up within a week and got her to say yes in a day, without any shouting or slapping.
Did I mention she's also a little stupid?
But I'm going off track, so let me describe her to all you guys and girls reading this piece. She's plump in all the right places, beautifully large breasts with an ass so perfectly shaped that half the boys in town had wet dreams starring her. Fair-skinned, a Snow White with killer curves. Her lips are full and red like the strawberries she loves to eat teasingly. And yet, the most amazing thing about Sarika isn't her figure. It's her eyes.
Damn, those eyes.
Bright green eyes with flecks of gold, sparkling with playful joy. The second most beautiful pair of eyes I've ever seen. Eyes so amazing, you could keep staring into them for hours and hours, getting lost in their depths.
As you can tell by now, I had a crush on her when we were kids, and when we were teens I'm quite sure she wanted me too. But we were already dating other people back then, so we didn't get involved. Also, I thought she was a little stupid.
I was a fairly innocent guy till a year ago, so I didn't try to take advantage of her. Besides, our town is too small and gossipy to sleep around without getting caught.
And now we come to the actual story.
It was a rainy, foggy, September afternoon. I was at Sarika's house alone with her, listening to her talk about her fiancé. We were in her bedroom, sitting up against the wall and sharing a blanket and a cigarette to avoid the cold. She's stupid, but even she understands that she's not in a good situation. Her boyfriend ditched her immediately when she told him about her engagement, and her friends were siding with him. As she droned on and on about her sad life, I found myself thinking, "What the fuck am I doing here?"
See, by now my 'friendship' with Sarika was limited to being smoking- and drinking-buddies in a town full of orthodox old people. Yes, she's an old friend and yes, we have fun sneaking out and getting high once in a while, but that's that. We barely knew what was happening in each other's lives. But still, it would be rude to leave, so I stayed. I was waiting for a phone call for a business meeting later.
To survive the boring conversation, I found a pack of cards she had and started practicing my tricks. I performed a few basic tricks for her, guessing her selected card and showing it in a few different ways. She was blown away. "Show me more, Omkar," she said excitedly.
Then I showed her a trick called the Jacks' Party. It's a fun trick, where I show the audience all the face cards and shuffle them properly, and then separate them out in stacks without any effort at all.
It's a simple self-working trick that any ten-year old kid can do. But to those who don't know it, it can be quite awe-inspiring. So when I showed it to Sarika, she began strangling me to tell her the secret.
"I'll never tell you the secret," I choked through the grip she had on my throat. Yeah, she actually was strangling me.
"Tell me, Omi! I need to know!"
So, for those who don't know this, there's a thing called the Magician's Code. It's an unwritten rule among magicians that you must never explain a trick freely to a non-magician.
"You're not a magician, darling. I can't tell you how it's done."
She had rolled onto me, sitting on my torso as she tried to get a hold on my neck. Her hair fell forward onto my face, tickling my nose. I thrust my hips and threw her off, getting her under me this time. She was laughing, her breath getting heavier with the effort of pushing me off. Her full breasts were just around my crotch, and junior Omkar was waking up. It was fun wrestling with her. Any physical and exciting activity can lead to a lot more exciting physical activities, if you know what I mean.
She slapped me in the face, giggling, and I replied by caressing her neck. In a few moments, I could see the effect it was having on her. Her nipples were standing to attention, visible through the T-shirt she was wearing.
