Bollywood music reached her first, followed by laughter and excited shouts. As she rounded the corner, she couldn’t help smiling at the familiar splashes of color everywhere. A shallow pool shimmered in shades of pink and blue.

Anu paused, suddenly aware that she was among strangers. A young woman doused in color from head to toe walked up to her, palms pressed together. “Namaste,” she said, smiling warmly.

Before Anu could respond, the woman brushed a streak of pink across her cheek and glanced at Lukas.

“You didn’t tell us you were bringing a date.”

Lukas looked embarrassed, mouthing a silent sorry.

Anu just laughed. “It’s okay.”

The woman winked and disappeared into the crowd. Anu turned to say something to Lukas, but found him looking at her. Really looking. Heat crept up her neck. She wanted to look away. She couldn’t.

Someone shouted his name from near the pool. The moment broke.

Anu soaked up the atmosphere—so familiar, yet so different from Holi in India. People stood closer than they would back home. Touches, casual embraces and lingering kisses added an intimacy that felt natural.

A couple were pressed together against the edge of the pool, kissing.

She wasn’t expecting this open intimacy and near nudity. It took her by surprise and should have felt strange, but it didn’t. Within a few minutes, she was drenched and covered in color, laughing like she’d known these people for years. Her eyes kept returning to Lukas. Each time, he was watching her. Her heart fluttered. Why doesn’t he look at something else?

When someone pushed her into the pool, it seemed more playful than shocking. When she surfaced wiping the colored water from her eyes, she was breathless but laughing.

At the edge of the pool, Lukas was watching her, his jaw tight, eyes intense.

Her wet traditional Indian clothes hugged her body, the semi-transparent fabric highlighting her curves—her ample cleavage, her deep navel, the dip at her waist, the flare of her hips. She knew where he was looking and what he saw — her nipples tightened against the wet fabric—hard, visible. She told herself it was just the cold water. She knew she was lying.

Her eyes dropped. Just for a second. He was hard. Heat rose to her cheeks and went straight to her pussy. She felt naked under his gaze, but strangely, she didn’t feel exposed.

Something pulsed between her legs—a slow, insistent ache.

Instinctively, she reached for her dupatta. It had floated away to the kissing couple in the pool. They were still kissing, their hands exploring each other’s bodies. Sex was in the air and her body felt charged.

Someone walked up to a guy lounging on one of the pool chairs and said, “You should clean that color off before it dries. Once it sets in the sun, you’ll be neon for a week.”

Anu looked down at her arms and body, then back at Lukas. “I should probably get out of these wet clothes.” Her voice, barely a whisper, cracked a little as she spoke.

Lukas blinked. For a second, he just stared at her. Then he cleared his throat and extended his hand, pulling her out of the pool in one smooth motion.

“There are private shower cubicles in the back.” His voice was lower than usual. “Through that hallway.”

“Show me the way?”

They walked side by side in silence, the noise of the party fading away as they entered an adjoining building. They walked through a narrow, cool hallway lined with lockers on both walls. Opening one near the shower cubicles, he pulled out a clean, thick towel.

As he handed it to her, their fingers touched. His hand was warm and dry against her wet skin. Electricity coursed through her, but neither of them moved to break the contact.

She looked at the closed door of the shower, then back at him.

“Want to join me?”

Continue the story in Holi Colors Away From Home.

All images are AI generated and do not depict any real person.