Raindrops in the Ashes

A Couple of Dates

Dating is a concept that I have never did a practical on. It's not that I don't want too, it's more like I don't get to. That was until someone successfully accepted my "date" request. As to why I have put the "date" in quotes, I shall reveal as we proceed. As for my crush, let's call her Janet. The names used are all fictional.

The winter of December 2023, I wait for my crush on the spot we promised to meet. A week prior, I had asked her out with expectations of a failure. Failure because she lived too far from town and had to take two buses to reach there. But to my surprise, she accepted, that too quiet willingly. As you would expect, that caught me off guard. Never I've ever been on a date, nor I've been alone with a girl for more than 30 minutes.

We planned the outing on top of a small hill near our school. Yes, it was my idea, but she agreed to it so that's that. I stand at the entrance, waiting. It was 11:30 am, so the sun was blazing in. Maybe Kerala was in the mood or something because that's how hot it was. I stood there planning what all were we going to do.

An auto stops by at the other side of the road. I prepare myself mentally. Out she comes, looking as beautiful as the day I met her (cheesy). I smile at her, she smiles back, I feel my social awkwardness kick in. That's when I realize there was someone else beside her in the auto. A guy, tall, clean shaven, long hair. This guy looked like those Korean models with an Indian touch.

Probably her cousin or something, I thought to myself.

After paying the auto, they came towards me. With a swag of an anti-social teenager, I held out my hand to both. I died of embarrassment inside. She shook my hand with a giggle as she knew of my plight. As I turn towards the guy, he takes my hand and dabs me up like we had been brothers-in-arms for centuries.

"I'm Arjun, nice to meet you."

Bear in mind that I'm translating this from my native language.

"Nice to meet you da, I'm Ashley."

We are still holding hands like an arm-wrestling competition when Janet drops an Oppenheimer on me

"He is my boyfriend......"

I kid you not, the words repeated themselves in my head like a broken record. Each one slightly sounding lower than the previous one. I composed myself in 0.1 second because I didn't want to make this awkward.

"Oh Damn!"

That was legit my reply to her. Even though my brain short circuited, I had to act as though nothing happened. Just to sum a long conversation on how they became a couple; they met at college, joined a dance club together, did a hip-hop dance at freshers, BOOM! To be honest if getting a girl was that easy, I would still not be getting any.

After a little introduction session consisting of Veed Evedeya (where is your home?), Eth College (which college), Eth Course (Guess), we started trekking to the hilltop. It was more of a walk than a trek as the way consisted of more roads than rocks. As couples normally do, they were holding hands. But his hand would sometimes land on my shoulder. This gesture warmed my heart as this meant he wasn't hostile towards me and considered me as a friend. I typically pick and choose my close friends, so this was an automatic YES in my books. We walked, we talked and somehow, we reached the top without even knowing it. We sat down at a bench conveniently made for a family of three (or in this case, a "date" of three).

Arjun rummaged around his bag and magically brought out three cans of soda: A Coke and two Limca. For your Information, Coke is Janet's favourite. Obviously, he handed the coke to her and divided the Limca among us. Then he started rummaging his bag again and I was like

Oh my Otherworldly Gods! this guy is prepared to the boot!

He brought out packet of Jackfruit chips which, as you guessed, was also Janet's favourite. I realized that even if I didn't get to be with her, she has someone who is way better than me taking care of her. This did ache my heart as well as soothe it too. I looked at her to show my approval of the guy's behaviour, she looked back with pride in her eyes. We sat there munching on Jackfruit chips and drinking soda, talking about the most random things mankind could come up with.

***

In the evening, I came back to my humble abode, tired and hungry. I turned on the geezer in the bathroom and waited for the water to warm up. As I was relaxing in the dining table, Dad brought me the leftover dates (the fruit), which I absolutely despise due to it making my tongue itch. There were exactly three in the plate and the position there were lying in was a slap to my face. Two of the dates were sitting beside each other while the third was way at the other corner. This was as if the world was telling me that I third-wheeled today. I popped the third-wheeling date into my mouth, chuckling at the stupid meaning I had made for a couple of dates.

Fast forward some months after, I'm in a once-in-a-while call with Janet talking about what all is going down in our lives. Couple of minutes into the call, I ask her about Arjun. She says he is doing fine and talks about me quite a lot. And I was like

Eh?

She laughed at my reply for a solid minute while I tried to piece to piece together why it was funny. She then proceeds to say that I left a mark on Arjun (eh?) and that he had never seen a guy as awkward and shy as me. Then she proceeds to Oppenheimer me (like always) by saying that

"Arjun said that if you were a girl, he would've ditched me to be with you"

EH!?

The End...