Chai, Love?

 

"You're not a wild soul but you used to be, I remember that." Naira told Avi as they sat in their favorite restaurant that they had forsaken a long time ago when they both moved out. They waited patiently for their order to arrive, it had been just over twelve years. As amazed as they were to meet each other, they were equally astonished that Gia Aunty's Cafe was still standing. None of them said it but both of them knew that if Gia Aunty was still alive she would have been so happy to see them.

"And I remember you not being interested in people, any of them. What happened?" Avi replied sarcastically.

"Oh but I definitely noticed you." Naira remembered the time she used to run free in Dehradun streets and how Avi used to be the subtlety to her iridescent chaos. "Maybe I didn't let you know enough back then because I was so busy being non-chalant but I saw you." She added.

"Yeah." Avi let out a smile. "Do you remember the last time we were here?" He asked.
"I remember bits of it, I remember Gia aunty was standing there in that corner next to the fire place..." She pointed towards the fake fire place in the center of the room. " And we were sitting right there by the show window eating blueberry waffles but I don't remember what we talked about." Naira never liked to sit by the show window as she felt like she was on display the entire time. Avi however loved it for entirely the opposite reasons, he liked to see people outside running off to work, going on short walks with their children and the cars passing by. Avi felt protected while Naira felt restrained.

"I hated that fake fire place just as much as I loved Aunty's Waffles." Avi's astute interior design sensibilities made it very difficult for him to ignore absurd design typologies. Avi's distaste for fake things was precisely why he fell in love with Naira all those years ago. She was radically, wholly and unconditionally herself. He hated people who pretended to be anything but themselves, pseudo people and pseudo places always bothered him. It was unfortunate that so much of his time would be spent among people like that. In all those times he remembered the first time he met Naira in sixth grade, she came through the door, sat next to the most quiet person in the class, opened her lunch box in third period and gobbled up her Egg rolls. She might have just sat there because she knew Avi wouldn't rat her out but the point remained that she sat alongside Avi through the entirety of their school life and always opened her lunch box in third period. Her blatant disregard to several warnings and punishments was a testament to her individuality.

"Do you think the waffles will still be as wonderful as they were?" Naira's question might not have been limited to just the waffles. She often wondered about Avi through the years, maybe not in an exclusively romantic way but definitely not too far from it. Perhaps she missed having a friend like Avi. Time hadn't been kind to her. Over the years she met people that broke her heart, clipped her wings and hollowed her out to the point where being herself again felt like a distant dream. In all those moments when she didn't know whether to cry or scream or both, she thought of Avi as a refuge. There was nothing that a cup of chai with him couldn't cure. She regretted having lost contact with him, she regretted pushing him away when he mustered all his courage, went against all his instincts to confess his love. Naira hated the expectations that people had of her so she lashed out at him. She wanted different things then but above all else she missed a friend like that.

"I don't know yaar, I'm really anxious right now!" Avi gave out a nervous laugh.

"I'm really glad we got to connect again though. I missed you man!" She said.

"Ditto! However I would also like the waffles to be just as good."

"Did you know about aunty's death?" She asked.

"I heard about it but I was in Qatar back then so I couldn't come back. However, I did make a bunch of awfully bad tasting waffles that day in her honour, just made me miss her more."

"I had no idea, I lost touch with Dehradun especially after my parents moved out to Delhi to be near me." They both felt sad not being present for her funeral. "Do you remember how annoyed she used to get when we would sit here for hours fighting over the silliest of things. Like the time when I said that your obsession with that stupid fire place was worthless, you got so offended." Naira laughed at the stupidity of it all.

"Yeah! Gia aunty made me wash the dishes in the restaurant that day because she felt that I told you off a bit too rudely."

"You deserved that I guess." Naira said sarcastically.

"Chai, Love." Avi and Naira were shocked to hear a voice that sounded just like Gia Aunty. They looked up to see their server, a middle aged woman who even looked a bit like Gia Aunty. They were both astounded. It was Gia Aunty's daughter Eve who had taken over the restaurant after her mother's death. She put cups of chai on their table.

"You look just like Gia aunty." Naira said.
"I get that a lot. Mom gave all her best features to me." Eve was always amused by people's love for her mother. Gia Aunty would talk a lot about her daughter who lived in America working for a big MNC.

"Wait, I'll just bring your waffles too." She added and went back to the serving counter. She brought in a plate of blueberry waffles. Avi and Naira were both dying in anticipation. They both looked at each other nervously and picked up their spoons to dig in. They both took a bite together, it had been long since they had felt at home. The waffles were just as crispy and fluffy as they remembered. A burden came off and they felt relieved. They laughed and fought over trivial things through that night. The restaurant was completely empty by the time they asked for their bill. Eve brought in their bill with a gentle smile that seemed to be ever present. She placed it nicely on the table and went back to the store to look for something.

Avi looked at the bill completely confused.

2 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-2/3 cups milk
3 eggs, separated
1/4 cup butter, melted
SAUCE:
1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup orange juice, divided
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon cornstarch

It seemed to be the recipe to Gia Aunty's blueberry waffles. Avi showed the recipe to Naira, they were amused and ecstatic. Meanwhile, Eve dragged in a bunch of construction helmet, two sledge hammers and protection glasses. It all seemed a bit unreal and funny. They had no clue what was going on.

"What's going on?" Avi asked.

"My mom would talk a lot about you two. She told me that two idiots would come who would fight over that stupid show window and that stupid fake fire place and when they do, hand the boy my recipe for Blueberry waffles and the girl a bunch of hammers to tear that fire place apart. It was one of her final wishes before she passed away. I heard you guys talk and it just clicked."  

Avi stood up from his seat, hugged Eve and thanked her for the recipe. He took the hammer and went to the fire place, Avi looked at Naira and gave her a comforting smile. She picked up the other hammer, all was good.