Walnuts (Short Story by Smruti Choudhury)

The boy was adamant that the housewarming party would include her. His roommates were less keen. She was known to be random and weird, and they didn’t want to spoil their moving in day with bouts of anxiety about what she was going to do next. But the boy was adamant. And he always got his way.

Pic Courtesy: Google

The housewarming party then became a chore for the roommates. They didn’t even bother unpacking or hanging up their prized collection of Star Wars posters. Not even the Epic one between Batman & Darth Vader.

The boy made sure there were enough beers and chips, he didn’t bother much that his roommates were morose. She was going to be there. She had confirmed. If you can take a hard stare followed by a brilliant smile as a confirmation. But it was still better than walking away.

On the eve of the housewarming, the boy sat his roommates down and laid the code of conduct. They couldn’t care less, they had already envisaged the worst. But this time, they had secretly made a pact and kept emergency supplies handy. In the kit were torchlights, water, six pack beers, walnuts, chocolates and smokes.

The party started and there was no sign of her. The roommates started thanking their gods for such small mercies. The party picked up pace and the roommates had now thrown caution to the wind and were grooving to the music, drinking more than they could handle. There was no sign of her. The boy was sulking in the corner. Slowly, the beer ran out and it was almost midnight.

The boy got up angrily and started hunting for beer. He finally wanted to get drunk. No more waiting for her. The roommates were suddenly overcome with love for him and joined the hunt. All they could manage was 2 fingers of beer in a glass, drained from various cans. It tasted horrible. The boy was almost on the verge of tears.

The roommates decided to use the emergency beer in the kit. She walked in, right when the beer was being popped opened. Nonchalant.  Fear struck terror in the roommates and all three of them dove for the emergency kit at the same time. As they grabbed at it, the content spilled out. The bag with the walnuts broke open and ricocheted like sharp edged confetti.

One hit the boy in the eye. He stumbled back to avoid the next one but crashed into the side table and cut his arm on the edge of it. The girl laughed so hard that everyone stopped in their tracks. Someone switched off the music. The roommates sighed. The boy smiled. He knew that she would always be there with him now. The laughter said it all.