Fairy Dust and Jazz

three

Chapter three

Take My Hand

‘The city sleeps

and we’re lost

in the moment.’

 “So, what kind of music do you listen to?”

“Nothing in particular,” I told him as I shrugged on my stole, wishing I’d got a sweater of some kind. It was turning into a cold night, even for pre-monsoon season. “I can listen to anything.”

“So Rock? Pop? Hip-Hop?”

“Not really.” I told him. “I hear it in the background but that isn’t my thing.”

“What is, then?”

“Indian, Classical, Bollywood. I wasn’t a Rock person as a kid.” I shrugged.

“So you’re an Indian at heart.” He joked.

“I guess so.” I realized. “And, I like people who aren’t so Indian.”

At that, he smiled blindingly at me.

We walked everywhere, and when it was night, there wasn’t much to stop you. All the signals glowed orange and every passerby was in a big rush to get somewhere. The air was so clean, like a freshly rinsed pot, ready for the taking. I stood still near the Cantonment signal and felt Nathaniel next to me. “We’re near the train station.”

He looked at his watch as if the time made a difference. “We could watch the trains.”

I had to smile at that. “I spend a lot of time at the stations.”

“Do you, now?”

“Between home and college,” my heart hammered against my hollow chest as he leaned in to me, brushing past a stray hair on my eyes. “It’s pretty much a third home.”

So we hiked to the Cantonment station entrance with my heart racing all the while, not just from the brisk walk. That late, we ended up at the platform looking like roadside idiots. We sat on the steps to the platforms side by side, our eyes on the tracks for a train to pass us by, our breaths deep and easy. Well, he looked cool and composed. I just felt like an idiot. A roadside one, at that.

“What should we talk about?” I asked uncertainly. Truthfully this was the first time I wasn’t in the presence of someone I’d known all my life. Friends or not, we felt awkward to me.

“Do we have to talk about what to talk about?”

He made me smile, my arms on my knees as I looked up to the dark ceiling. “I guess not.”

He didn’t say anything then, either. Quiet and uncomfortable, I tried to look confident and well thought out, like a neatly wrapped present with the bow and everything. If I appeared like the crumpled wrapping paper after the gift was opened, it wouldn’t be a big shock.  

“Come,” he said then, reaching for my hand. “You’re going to have to run.”

“What?”

“A train’s coming, and it’ll only be slow enough to hop onto.”

“And we’re getting on it?” I felt paralyzed as he pulled me to my feet. “No way!”

“It’ll be an experience.” He assured me as we walked onto the platform, the sounds of the train coming clear as bells in the air. “We’ll get off at Krishnarajapuram and catch a bus to your college.”

Absolutely mum, I stood next to him feeling like this was going to be life or death. “This is a really bad idea.” I breathed finally.

The train was already coming into the station when he clasped my hand tight. “On my word, you make a run for it.”