was gone.
‘What’s going on?’ I asked Simar, offering her lemonade but looking at the main door.
‘Her boyfriend!’ Simar answered. None of us felt the need to ask more or explain more.
‘Sorry for this mess. My friends were here,’ I mentioned.
‘It’s okay. Chill!’ she said, squeezing her eyes shut as she pronounced
chill
.
I wondered if it was the tangy lemonade which had made her squeeze her eyes shut like that.
As we sat next to each other, I noticed that she was looking visibly uncomfortable. I assumed it had to do with the closed door and the conscious realization that it was just the two of us inside my home. I could see the discomfort on her face, in her body language, in her exaggerated smile, and even in her gestures as she repeatedly smoothened her hair.
But before she could have felt more uncomfortable, I jumped in to change the strained atmosphere. I got up from my couch and began telling her about the birthday celebrations that had taken place at home a short while back. Simultaneously, I started cleaning up the party mess.
‘How come you turned up this late?’ I finally asked her the question that I had wanted to ask her sometime back.
She relaxed a little. ‘Arrey, I had that finance class, na. I wouldn’t have been able to come at all, but the class got over half an hour early. And when I mentioned to Tanu that it’s your birthday, she got all excited about eating the cake. So …’ She left the sentence incomplete but raised her shoulders as if the rest was self-explanatory.
‘Oh, so it’s because of your friend Tanu that you are here. I thought you came to wish me,’ I said as I walked by her, carrying a stack of dirty dishes. I hadn’t missed the opportunity to tease her.
‘No. No. It’s not like that!’
‘Then what is it like?’ I smiled back, knowing the advantage I had.
‘It’s difficult to come out alone, na. So I wanted Tanu to accompany …’
I didn’t pester her further because I was trying to comfort her. I also kept cleaning the mess. She was way more comfortable now and got up from the couch to check my collection of music CDs and a few books I had on my shelf.
Eventually, we just talked as we did our own thing, our voices rising and dropping depending on where we were. Gradually, she seemed to be feeling less nervous and was laughing every now and then. She appeared comfortable talking about various things. Later, she even helped me in doing the dishes. I too wasn’t embarrassed any more at the prospect of exposing my messy kitchen to her. I was enjoying her presence. I don’t know why but I felt different. It all felt nice. Maybe because it had been so long since I had been with a girl in the privacy of my house at this late hour. Perhaps that’s why the air around us felt so stimulating—as if it was charged with some sort of mysterious, invigorating vibes. We kept talking, after which we made some coffee and, along with the leftover cake, shifted to the balcony.
It was pleasant being there with Simar in that dimly lit balcony and witnessing that beautiful night full of stars. I wasn’t able to see her attractive face clearly but the lack of light actually made it more interesting for both of us to be out there. I don’t know what exactly the darkness had to do with this, but it certainly added an overwhelming feeling to it all. Maybe it simply takes away the distance between two people who are talking and lets them be themselves. When you are not able to look into the eyes of the other person and read her thoughts, you don’t tend to verify what she is saying. You simply take her as being true to her words. And you love to do so more if she is a gorgeous girl.
It was refreshing out there and the gentle air around me was filled with a wonderful blend of various scents—at times I smelled the steam of coffee, at other times I smelled the fragrance of Simar.
We sat there for a long time.
Almost an hour had passed when the bell rang
‘What’s going on?’ I asked Simar, offering her lemonade but looking at the main door.
‘Her boyfriend!’ Simar answered. None of us felt the need to ask more or explain more.
‘Sorry for this mess. My friends were here,’ I mentioned.
‘It’s okay. Chill!’ she said, squeezing her eyes shut as she pronounced
chill
.
I wondered if it was the tangy lemonade which had made her squeeze her eyes shut like that.
As we sat next to each other, I noticed that she was looking visibly uncomfortable. I assumed it had to do with the closed door and the conscious realization that it was just the two of us inside my home. I could see the discomfort on her face, in her body language, in her exaggerated smile, and even in her gestures as she repeatedly smoothened her hair.
But before she could have felt more uncomfortable, I jumped in to change the strained atmosphere. I got up from my couch and began telling her about the birthday celebrations that had taken place at home a short while back. Simultaneously, I started cleaning up the party mess.
‘How come you turned up this late?’ I finally asked her the question that I had wanted to ask her sometime back.
She relaxed a little. ‘Arrey, I had that finance class, na. I wouldn’t have been able to come at all, but the class got over half an hour early. And when I mentioned to Tanu that it’s your birthday, she got all excited about eating the cake. So …’ She left the sentence incomplete but raised her shoulders as if the rest was self-explanatory.
‘Oh, so it’s because of your friend Tanu that you are here. I thought you came to wish me,’ I said as I walked by her, carrying a stack of dirty dishes. I hadn’t missed the opportunity to tease her.
‘No. No. It’s not like that!’
‘Then what is it like?’ I smiled back, knowing the advantage I had.
‘It’s difficult to come out alone, na. So I wanted Tanu to accompany …’
I didn’t pester her further because I was trying to comfort her. I also kept cleaning the mess. She was way more comfortable now and got up from the couch to check my collection of music CDs and a few books I had on my shelf.
Eventually, we just talked as we did our own thing, our voices rising and dropping depending on where we were. Gradually, she seemed to be feeling less nervous and was laughing every now and then. She appeared comfortable talking about various things. Later, she even helped me in doing the dishes. I too wasn’t embarrassed any more at the prospect of exposing my messy kitchen to her. I was enjoying her presence. I don’t know why but I felt different. It all felt nice. Maybe because it had been so long since I had been with a girl in the privacy of my house at this late hour. Perhaps that’s why the air around us felt so stimulating—as if it was charged with some sort of mysterious, invigorating vibes. We kept talking, after which we made some coffee and, along with the leftover cake, shifted to the balcony.
It was pleasant being there with Simar in that dimly lit balcony and witnessing that beautiful night full of stars. I wasn’t able to see her attractive face clearly but the lack of light actually made it more interesting for both of us to be out there. I don’t know what exactly the darkness had to do with this, but it certainly added an overwhelming feeling to it all. Maybe it simply takes away the distance between two people who are talking and lets them be themselves. When you are not able to look into the eyes of the other person and read her thoughts, you don’t tend to verify what she is saying. You simply take her as being true to her words. And you love to do so more if she is a gorgeous girl.
It was refreshing out there and the gentle air around me was filled with a wonderful blend of various scents—at times I smelled the steam of coffee, at other times I smelled the fragrance of Simar.
We sat there for a long time.
Almost an hour had passed when the bell rang
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