15:30

Seven

Jay slept satisfactorily that night. When you've not had a partner for a long time, even the little action that you get makes you feel elated. He was determined that in the time he had, he would get to know Tara more, and if it all worked out, the idea of being in a relationship with Tara thrilled him.
He was a one woman man. He always looked for long term potential. He avoided one night stands, even though he had needs. His entire focus was work, off late.
But the next morning, he woke up with a crazy urge to have sex. With nothing else to focus on , his body began to inform him of the needs. He woke up and sat in bed till the feeling passed. But it wouldn't budge .His head was buried in his hands. Eyes closed, a dirty visual image came into his head. He shook his head violently and pushed all of his hair back. He began to take deep breaths and calmed himself.

He pondered about whether or not he should call Tara. He had decided to take it slowly, and obviously she wasn't going to agree to do it before three dates. It was too early, but he was really desperate. He tapped his feet and stared at Tara's saved contact on his phone. No. No. No. He couldn't do it.

So instead he switched on the TV in his bedroom, to distract himself, and the morning news channel appeared. But he luck was bad, because it was time for the weather girl to give the weather report. And her wearing plunging neckine dress and exposing her cleavage wasn't helping him at all. He stared at the round huge boobs she had, huddled together because of the dress being too tight. And then he realized he was being a pervert and looked away. He was irritated.

"Fuck you, morning news," he muttered as he got up sloppily and banged his pinky toe to the chest of drawers by his bed side. He wailed in pain. "Well atleast I banged something this morning," he thought as he re- sat on his bed, clutching his pinky to stop the pain. And then he laughed in shame because of the pathetic-ness of the joke.

Then he looked around his room. His sheets were dirty. Some of his clothes were on the floor. His closet doors were open. Everything was a mess. He was leading the perfect bachelor life, in terms of house organization.
He decided to wash the sheets, but he couldn't find the laundry basket, anywhere. Everything was out of place.

"Damn it laundry basket! Where are you?" But when he found the basket, he realized that he had run out of washing powder.
Then he found the solution to his urge. If he spent time cleaning his house and going grocery shopping, maybe his mind would stop thinking about sex. And that's exactly what he did.

He had breakfast at a diner and then went to the supermarket. He did his laundry, folded his clothes, vaccuumed the carpet and put everything back in place. He also resolved to clean up every cupboard of the apartment. He had moved in six years ago, and that was the first time he felt like he should throw out any unnecessary stuff.

And so they all came out. Boxes and boxes of unused things. Finally he found a box that was covered in brown tape. Remember Jay's old hobby mentioned earlier in this book? The one about maps and old territories. When Jay tore open the box he found his treasure there. All his maps with territories made in Sharpies were folded and kept neatly in the box. He opened every map and felt nostalgic. It felt good to see all of them.

But beneath it all was something that was the most treasured to him. His tenth grade Geography textbook. When he laid his hands on it, it smelled stale, like any old book. But the memories it brought back were fresh. He turned every yellowed page, smiling uncontrollably. That was a good year. Some pages had coffee stains, and he recalled having coffee while reading this textbook.

And in between pages 84 and 85 he found a piece of paper folded neatly and kept inside. The paper had been torn off a small notebook. There was a line drawn in the centre, in a pencil, that was fading away. This page too had turned yellow.

On the left hand side , in blue ink, someone had penned down a poem in English. It was an untitled poem
Jay read ahead

Take a chance ,
Ask that girl out to the school dance.
Test your fate,
Ask that guy out on a date.

Challenge your luck,
Trust me, life won't suck.
If you give it a try,
Only then will you have the chance to hold your head high.

Do amazing things,
See what life brings.
You never know how your fate will change,
You never know what the universe will arrange.

So go ahead and take that drastic step.
Everything you do becomes your rep.
Say the words, wear that dress,
Taking a chance is the key to success.

And on the right hand side , some words were written, that weren't English. It was a different language, and Jay was far from understanding. He decided to skip the translated version, but then his eyes landed upon two words fortunam tempta. They corresponded to test fate. All of a sudden he remembered the tattoo at the back of Tara's neck.

Finally at the bottom of the page he read

The Latin and English versions of a poem written by Verita Maxwell.