The last thing I wanted was to see her become one with the crowd. And sadly, that realisation came only when the effect of the coffee, which had beaten the rose milk on the last lap, withered to zilch.

Thoughts of the enchanting curves of steam leaving coffee were replaced by thoughts of, well, other curves and all I could do was to sigh hard.

One glass of rose milk. It isn't as though coffee would've known! I cursed myself for giving into something as lousy as loyalty.

Just as I stood lamenting, Narmada, my best friend entered the scene. Only then did I realise that I had been rooted to where I was for such a great part of the afternoon that it was evening.

"I've been trying to reach you. Why are you not picking up your phone? I knew you would be here so I came. Don't worry about not having picked up the call. But you should be alert. Why did you miss my call?" she went on and on as she always did. She is the most ingenious nitpicker one can think of, but that is only a minor quirk.

"Hey! right on time. I don't have any money," I beamed at the prospect of someone wealthy enough to buy me a decent snack. "No wonder you are smiling like an idiot," she said, her purse (that she took pride in calling a clutch or a pocketbook) crashing against my head as we walked towards the billing counter.

"What have you been doing here for so long by the way?"

"I came with the guys for a coffee. They just left."

"Just? They must be uncles by now, the guys." I knew the bunch of ingrates had set me up for a royal dress-down after having eaten their fill, left me without a rupee more than ten and with a broken heart, having set me up to abandon the rose milk.

"Yeah. You know the girl I told you of? She was here. She thought I will buy us both some rose milk. But I cracked under pressure and bought coffee and put her off."

"What else is new?" my friend started off. "You are an expert when it comes to putting people off. At this rate, you will need to cut out the lady in the Starbucks cup and marry her," she said, smirking even as I wore a rare scowl on my face. I took it all as I always did. Now more so than ever, as my evening food depended on her and wore every insult that ensued like a medal.

"You know what? You should simply have had that rose milk then. A good dessert to finish off your lunch, you glutton. And then you could've had coffee in the afternoon. Doesn't hurt, you see," for the first time in ages, she was giving me some sane advice.

"Yeah! I should've done that. I will do that tomorrow maybe," I said, as there was finally some light at the end of the tunnel. "You are a blessing."

"What now? What do you want?" she asked apparently referring to what we could eat. I had other ideas. "Eighteen Rupees," I said, no, demanded.

"What for?"

"See. It is likely that she will come in some time. I can make up for the fiasco in the afternoon by buying her rose milk. I am short by eighteen rupees. If you don't have change, give me a twenty. I will give you two rupees tomorrow," I had it all worked out. Now, I was smiling and my friend wore the scowl that I had cast off some time ago.

"So, I need to buy you food now and then leave you some money for you to impress that girl?"

"Yes."

"And you will return two rupees if I give you a twenty now?"

"Yeah. I can't take undue advantage, you see."

"There she is," my best friend pointed in the direction of the entrance to the cafeteria. I was on cloud nine at the sight of my dream girl walking in. The seemingly unceremonious end to a dream date could finally be conveniently ignored and replaced with a pleasant evening.

"Thanks." I said to my best friend.

"Who told you I am giving you any money?" my friend was now at her fearsome best. "I come here all the way to check on you and for us to have a snack together. And you try to work on your prospects at my expense. The boys were right when they told me there was no point in coming to meet you. I should've listened. I will leave you and your sweetheart alone now." My friend started walking away. I froze.

"But the eighteen rupees?" I stuttered, but still asked. One can afford to be shameless only with his best friend, after all.

"You have some money right? Spend that. Don't bite off more than you can chew." With that parting shot, my grandmother, sorry my best friend left the scene and became one with the crowd.

"Hi," I said to the girl, still hopeful of my chances. She let out a nervous smile.

"How about a coffee?" I asked, knowing very well that coffee is all I could buy for ten rupees.

"I thought we will have the rose milk at last, but coffee should do," she seemed disappointed. Gladly, she was still sticking on. I rushed to the counter, jumped the queue, paid for a cup of coffee and came back in a jiffy.

"So, when you said a coffee, you meant a coffee?" she was now cross.

"Yeah. I didn't bring my wallet and I have only ten rupees. My friends refused to lend me money and all I could buy was this. Even my best friend deserted me," I said as apologetically as I could.

"You told your best friend that you were trying to spend some time with me then. Is she the one that you were talking to as I walked in?"

"Yeah. She is my best friend. She knows everything about me. Who else will bail me out but my best friend?" I gave the most logical response, uncaring of the fact that even the soundest logic is usually bereft of logic under such circumstances.

"It sounded more like, 'who else can I rip-off but my best friend'. And how do you suppose we both drink one cup of coffee?"

"I got these," I said triumphantly, flaunting the two straws that I had coaxed the man at the stall to give me.

The sun set on her face. She stood up, took one straw, mauled it as though it were my effigy and threw it away with with disdain. "Drink the coffee all by yourself and go on a date with the empty cup," she said and walked away.

My day was, in the end, a string of people walking in only to become one with the crowd at the most inappropriate time.

PS: Please ignore the PS from the previous part L or L. It turned out to be a rumour.