The voice of the night

GOA!!!

My feet gently dipped into the sand grains and the lose end of my cotton dress caressed my knees. Wrapping a hand around myself I stared at the setting sun. The beautiful shades of orange which disappeared on the horizon in a halo of pink. Sucking in a deep breath, I took this all in- I took in the essence of Goa, the city of beaches, parties and casinos.

" This is the best place our college could have taken us to", Vir complimented as he pushed his hands into the pockets of his khaki shorts.

"Yes, it is beautiful." I smiled and sat on a wooden bench lying under a coconut tree.

"What if a coconut falls on your head?" He commented as he pushed his sunglasses further down his nose bridge to stare at the tree's great height.

"I will pretend that the question was not actually as childish as it sounded." I crossed my legs and stared at the food stalls and shacks in the distance.

A sea gull flew over our head, its shrieks- an evidence of the retreating day.

" But surely it can happen, the coconut can drop right on your head, like poof", he did a downwards accelerating hand action.

"No cases have been reported where people died because a coconut fell on their head!" I countered, now irritated by his baseless question.

"Uncle Newton said that everything follows the law of Gravity. Is your dear Coconut an exception?"

He fixed me with a challenging stare and I raised my hands as a sign of giving up.

"Fine! You win genius!"

He laughed and sat next to me.

"I miss Dave. I hope that he could have been here with us." He mused, suddenly solemn.

Dave's vacation coincided with our trip to Goa and he happily gave up on Goa. Anything to be with his father- those were his words.

"I'm sure he is having a better time than us. Chasing hotter girls, I suppose."

Vir laughed, "I think so."

After that we both settled into a comfortable silence.

The call of the sea was loud, the way it's water rushed in was enchanting. The sound of swishing of waves against changing lands was like a silent lullaby. A child laughed in the distance as he ran away from his protesting mother and straight into the incoming wave.

I glanced at Vir. His sunglasses were still low on his nose bridge as he inspected the people on the beach. Receding sunlight played on his high cheek bones  and the collar of his almost see-through cotton shirt flapped lazily in the breeze. He looked so innocent, so relaxed that I almost did not voice my question but this thought had haunted me for weeks and I couldn't think of a more appropriate time, given Dave's absence.

"Um.. Vir I was thinking.." His questioning gaze fixed on me and like a coward I said," nothing."

"Oh come on, Kathy! This shy girl persona does not suit you." He teased and earned himself a punch on his chest, "Ow! that hurts."

"Well, I don't hit or act like a shy girl!" I glared at him but cooled off, "well, its just that, do you remember that I called 2 weeks ago and you disconnected saying that you were busy?"

"Yeah", he answered but his gaze remained on the ground. What was he hiding?

"What are you hiding?" My voice held a confidence that I did not really felt.

His gaze found mine. Those eyes were shining and clear- like open books just waiting to be read.

"Kathy", he breathed, " It's just something that I tried." He broke off.