"Gimme the key!" she said holding her hand out. Raising her entire arm up to slide the pallu of her saree to her shoulders along with the bag hanging under her arm.
"I don't have the key." Said Anjali. "You do." Standing in a saree as well shuffling in her place the same as the other woman. Digging through her bag looking for the key.
"Well... I don't have the key!" she said. Confused for a moment before she started digging through her bag, searching for the key.
"Well then who has the key?" Anjali asked.
"I don't know, I thought you did." She said confused. "And why would you think that I would have the key?"
"Coz you were walking up front like you always did." Anjali snapped back.
"Okay so how are we supposed to get in?" she asked annoyed by the back and forth.
"Mom! What are we going to do?" Anjali asked.
"Ugh!" grunted the woman when a door opened from down the hall. "We need to call someone to get us in the house."
"It's almost midnight. Who could we call?" asked Anjali.
"What about your friend? Chris, was it? He's an engineer, right?" said the woman.
"MOM! Picking locks, is not what engineers do!" spoke Anjali, her upper lip curled in disdain.
"You ladies, okay? Need any help?" came deep masculine voice from behind them.
The two women turned to see two white men standing dressed clean in t-shirt jackets and a hat.
Anjali smiled and pulled the pallu back up to her shoulders. "Hi." She mimed fidgeting in her placed.
"Hai" smiled the woman, bending and leaning in for the pleasantries, "I think we locked ourselves out of the apartment?" she lingered off, trying to seem clumsy.
"Oh, isn't that a bitch!" laughed one of the guys, laughing softly getting Anjali's attention. "I'm Eric!" he said offering his hand to Anjali.
"I'm Steve!" said the other one offering his hand to Anjali's mom.
She took Steve's hand and noticed how giddy Anjali stood shaking Eric's hand not saying a word.
"Hi! This is, Anjali." She said breaking the awkward silence pointing at Anjali, and continued, "And I'm her mother."
"Mother!?" said Steve clearly in shock. "No way!"
She blushed at his expression and shook her head, "I get that a lot." She laughed at her own joke.
"As you should" he spoke openly, "You're way too cute to be a mom!" spoke Steve. Having realized what, he said moments after he's said it. "Sorry! If that was weird."
"Oh no please, don't be. What woman don't like a compliment or two." She giggled awkwardly.
"Oh well in that case, I gotta tell you, you're incredibly gorgeous." He concurred. "And that makes two."
This wasn't the first time she's flirted with strangers. "Oh well...It's always nice to hear that. Especially from young handsome talent." She laughed along. "But not that I don't enjoy such sweet compliment, I gotta ask. Do either one of you happen to be a locksmith?" she sounded playful, but noted her seriousness.
The two guys shared a quick glance and shook their heads in unison, "NO!"
"But, we're actually on our way to a party downtown." Said Eric.
"Yeah, we have a friend who might be there Ricardo, he might know someone who could help you ladies." Said Steve.
"Oh, I don't know... We don't wanna impose." She said and the moment she did Anjali turned with her puppy dog eyes. She saw Anjali and still held her ground, "And I don't think we're dressed right, anyways." She spoke.
"Oh, non-sense." Said Steve. "If anything, we're the ones dressed too casually for a party downtown." Laughed the guys. "You two would blend in just fine. No problem. Please, we insist."
"I don't know." She repeated, holding onto her last straw which was evident to the guys.
"Oh, come on, it's not every day we get to hang out with such gorgeous Indian women." Said Steve taking her hand in his.
She saw the shine in his eyes and especially from the way he was flirting with her, she just couldn't resist. "Oh, what the hell. We'd be stuck out here anyways. We might as well party." She laughed. And locked hands with Steve and saw Anjali do the same with Eric.
Once the cab arrived Steve suggested since there was four of us, that one of us ride shotgun, and Eric should. But the driver intervened and announced that anyone sitting in the front is required to put on the seatbelt, and the one in the front doesn't work.
After much discussion, it was declared that they all would sit back and one of the ladies would have to sit on one of the guys' laps. And Eric was happy to have Anjali on his lap.
The location wasn't far but they couldn't have the women walk to a party. The four of them were crammed in and Eric had his back to the corner of the door and Anjali on top of him diagonally, facing her mother who was in the middle with Steve on the other side. She had her back partially pressed against Steve with his arm around her back over the seat.
"I'm sorry, I didn't get you name." said Steven almost surprised at himself.
"That's coz I didn't give you, my name." she giggled shifting slightly to meet his eyes.
"A cheeky one, aren't you." Said Steve leaning in playfully poking her shoulder.
"I'm known to be a lot more." She giggled chiming in.
"I'd love to know." He said leaning in further.
"You're gonna have to start with just my name." she said.
"Which is?" he quipped.
"Susheela" she said.
"Susheela." He repeated. "That's sounds sweet." He said with a big grinning smile.
