Swati Sharma - Fashionably Yours

“I knew you would forget. It’s Sameer’s birthday, you idiot, and he is throwing a party and you know that I don’t know half his friends. So, I don’t want to sit there and get bored to death while they laugh at their stupid, intimate jokes. I told him, if he wants me there, he has to invite you,” she grinned.

Oh fuck!

“So it’s you who is inviting me, not him,” I rolled my eyes.

“Well technically it’s the same thing. Isn’t it?” she threw me don’t-you-even-think-of-bailing-out-from-this look.

“But he doesn’t even like me,” I blurted out. It was true.

“Oh come on. Don’t you give me that shit again ,” she had made up her mind and since I knew I was going to lose this argument with her, I gave up protesting.

“Anyways. Listen, you and I are going shopping after office and I don’t want to hear any stupid excuses,” she meant every word of it.

“But my credit cards are over the limit and I can’t even afford to buy fake eyelashes, let alone splurge on some over-priced piece of clothing,” I played my trump card. Well it was true. I was way over my credit card limit.

“Really?” she narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

“I never lie about plastic money,” I confessed honestly.

“OK. Then let me give you a loan,” she said in no-nonsense tone.

“What?”

“Yes. I will give you a loan to buy a dress for tonight and you can pay me back by coming to the party. Simple,” she smiled triumphantly.

Bitch!

“Nothing can stop you from coming to this party, darling,” she added and pushed back my chair, rose to her feet and walked back to her cabin.

***

Walking through the large glass doors of Palledium Mall, we trotted along the shinning Italian marble floor and headed straight to GUESS. Once inside the store, betwixt all the gorgeous clothes, painfully beautiful shoes and enviously thin sales girls, I started to relax. What was it about stores that made you feel ecstatic as soon as you stepped inside the glittering world of clothes, shoes and accessories, rail after rail, rack after rack?

After browsing through every single shelf and thoroughly examining all the clothes, I laid my eyes on beautiful baby pink silk shorts. As soon as I touched the butter smooth fabric, I felt the tiny hair on my hands stand fearing that I might stain its glossy texture.

“Wow! They’re beautiful,” I jumped a good two feet in the air as Anu appeared by my side with her big, round eyes fixed on the shorts.

“Aren’t they? Shall I try it on?”

“Are you kidding me? How can you not try this beauty?” she frowned.

Armed with possibly the most beautiful piece of fabric I could ever have found, I walked towards the trial room while Anu chose a sexy cream-black number and put it in the purchase basket without even bothering to try it, as always. Once inside the trial room, I stripped off my old Levi’s jeans and carefully tried to put on the feather-light shorts while thinking about which top I’d pair it with when suddenly I was jerked out of my thoughts.

“Ohmygod! Ohmygod! OH.MY.GOD,” unable to breathe I screamed at the top of my lungs.

“What happened? Are you alright? Maya?” I heard Anu banging on the trial room door. “Open the door.”

“I can’t button it up,” I whispered as tears burst from my eyes.

“What? I can’t hear you. Please open this damn door,” Anu shrieked from the other side of the door.

“I can’t button it up,” I shouted.

“What? Is that it? Don’t worry, I’ll get you the bigger size.” She dashed inside the store and before I could blink, she was back, “Open the door and take it. It will fit you.”

Moved by her inhumanity and fueled by anger, I pulled open the door with as much force as possible.

“Don’t you understand the seriousness of this situation?” I hissed while standing in the doorway in my plain white T-shirt and undone shorts.

“You are overreacting. It’s not a big deal. It’s just a bit tight around the waist,” she said nonchalantly as if trying a size bigger than your regular size was no big deal. Listen to this girl.

“It’s not just a bit tight and you still don’t get it,” I couldn’t believe that she couldn’t see the severity of the situation.

I opened my mouth to say something but couldn’t find my voice. Before I could control the building lump in my throat, I broke into sobs which in no time became uncontrollable and utterly embarrassing for Anu. Her face went bright scarlet because of a fat, crying friend in the middle of the shop.

“OK. Let’s get you changed into your jeans and get you out of here,” her voice softened as she led me inside the trial room and shut the door behind her.

***

“I am sure you can find something in your closet,” Anu tried to cheer me up.

I was so embarrassed by my new and much bigger waist size that I wasn’t listening to her words. I was trying to sooth my wounds with a red velvet cupcake I had picked up on the way out of the mall.

“You all right?” She asked as she stopped in front of my apartment.

“Yeah,” I said flatly and hopped out of the car while balancing my purse on the nook of my elbow. How I could be all right?

“Shall I come and pick you up for the party?”

“No. It’s fine. I will see you there.”

***

A half-hour and two glasses of Pinot Grigio later, I succeeded to push the memories of the disastrous evening from my mind and dug out a ruby red tunic which I bought from my first salary but never got the chance to wear thanks to my limited social life. After spending nearly ten minutes under bearably hot water, when I peered into the mirror, I found a girl with a shiny nose and a fresh rosy complexion looking back at me with big, twinkly eyes.

Dressed in my ruby red tunic, I applied au natural makeup on my face, straightened my hair, slapped on a moisturizer-foundation concoction on the exposed parts of my body (one of the best tips I had picked up from the magazine) and slipped my feet into the black pumps which I bought in a sale last month but had never had the opportunity to wear either. Fine. I was lying. To be honest I was afraid that I would stain it with something ridiculous which would spoil its suede texture forever or worse; I might fall flat on my arse, which I would say had slightly more chances of happening considering the deadly combination of super high heels, bumpy Mumbai roads and my wobbly legs. But tonight I didn’t have any other option.

Before leaving the apartment I dashed into my room to take the one last look at myself in the full-length mirror on the wall just next to my not-so posh bed. How had I gained so many pounds and not realized it until this evening?

June 1

My heart was beating fast, my palms were sweating, my head was throbbing and I could feel my nerves shrinking. Oh shit! Was I having a heart attack? Panicking, I struggled to open my eyes because they seemed stuck together. After trying for a few seconds, I used my fingers to peel them apart and in the process felt something sticking to my fingers. Mascara. Gazing around the wastebin identical flat of mine, I was trying hard to think what I was doing lying in my bed when I should have been at a birthday party and oh my god what the hell was the sun doing out in the sky in the middle of the night. Before I could make the sense of anything, I felt something turning, tossing and churning in the pit of my stomach and attempting to come out. Hopping off the sofa I ran towards my bathroom, not here not here and fell flat on my face over the pile of empty pizza boxes. But I had no time to wince as my forehead smacked the ground, instead I hoisted myself up from the floor and barged into the bathroom, ran for the basin and vomitted. Yuk!