Beautiful Stranger (How I Met Your Mother)

14. Friends?

"There is a diner right around the corner. We could go there." Barney suggested as Nisha carried her stilletoes in her hand, wondering if there were some blood stains inside. The cold roughness of the pavement immediately relaxed her cuticles. Suddenly everything felt great to her. But the feeling lasted not more than a few seconds when she heard Barney's voice again.

"Have you eaten anything?" Barney asked while his hand was stretched out, offering the giant pretzle that he had only taken a bite of.

Nisha shook her head, refusing to eat a deep fried savoury at night. "Not yet. I'll get something in the diner." They both walked another block. Barney had put the dessert back in the paper bag. His appetite was compromised seeing Nisha's dry face. She had been carrying a lot of emotions even he could tell. A strange feeling creeped his mind. Barney felt a bolt of attraction for Nisha. Was it the sadness in her eyes? Or was it mostly because he was a deuche? His hand unknowingly started playing with the top button of his suit. Was he nervous? Or embarrassed?

STEVE's walk-in diner was a seven year old joint run by a Texan couple who had moved in to New York to live with the man's lonely mother. Barney knew them from the very first day the diner had opened, and were offering free food for the first fifty customers. Barney was one of them. Then, he was also new to the city and after sharing a few words with Steve, they had formed an immediate bond. Barney had utter respect for the man for altering his life just so he could be with his mother. Barney was also a child of a single mother, and couldn't help but feel proud of his own eternal bond with her. He rarely ate at the diner, but visited frequently.

"Oh Hello, Barney!" A man waved almost shouted from behind the cashier's desk. "We are just opening up for the next shift."

Barney noded at him. "That's alright Steve. We can wait." He signalled Nisha to follow him to the last table in the first row near the glass wall looking out the street. Nisha walked behind him to the spot. Barney sat down first. His back was facing the wall. Nisha took the seat in the opposite, facing him.

"I'll be back." Barney got up from his seat and walked toward where Steve was. Nisha's gaze followed where he was headed. She saw him exchange a few words with the man. He grabbed a few cans of juices from the freezer behind the desk and headed back to the table. He smiled at Nisha as he got closer.

"Here. These are all sugarless. Take whichever you want. Food will arrive soon." Barney said, as he put down four mini cans of fruit juices in front of Nisha.

"Did you order for the both of us?" Nisha enquired, taking a can closest to her. Mango, she read.

"Well, I just asked them to bring everything they specialized in."

"Okay." Nisha didn't know what else to say. Nisha used the bottom of a straw to make a hole on the box, and took a sip. No way was it sugerless, she thought.

Her eyes suddenly met Barney's, and she knew he had been looking at her all this time. He was waiting for her to relax before they could start talking.

Taking her cue, Nisha asked, "Have you ever been in love?"

Barney's soft gaze turned into a frown. He wasn't sure whether talking about his romance was what they should have been doing. But he decided to answer her with the truth, hoping Nisha wouldn't ask any further, and start talking about her.

"Once." Barney continued. "How about you?"

"Twice."

"Including Ted?" Barney asked. He didn't care if he was wrong about presuming she loved Ted. He just wanted to know what was going on in her head.

"Yeah." Nisha replied. It was the first time she admitted it to a person. She wondered if Barney thought she was too weak in the matters of the heart; falling in love in just a few weeks, and letting herself get so affected.

"I don't know if it's my place to say anything, but maybe you and Ted need to spend some time together. I mean you haven't even slept with each other."

Nisha was taken a back by Barney's casual jab at her sex life. Did he know that I was a virgin? Nisha felt her cheeks warm with embarrassment. "You sure know how to talk to a woman."

"Oh come on. I don't think we should be sitting here if we are not going to keep it real." Barney replied.

Nisha smiled. She felt more at ease now. "So, what do you think? Sex is important for two people to be with each other?"

"I don't know what else there is. I don't know what it is that people want in a relationship if they are not in it for sex." Barney stared into space as he said that.

"You don't mean that. Do you?" Nisha asked.
"I don't know. But so far I haven't met anybody I want to have more than sex with."

"I understand. Finding that person isn't that easy."

"Do you really think Ted is that person you want to have a relationship with?"

" I don't want a relationship right now. But what I want is to form a friendship before we go further. I think that's the best form of love. When two people get so accustomed to each other that their lives get connected, and they can't imagine themselves without each other."

"Great. I hope you find what you're looking for. But, I gotta ask, how are you still a virgin?" Barney finally let out the words he had been holding in since the time he found out that Nisha had never had sex. A girl so perfect hadn't been touched by anybody. He hadn't believed it at first. He even joked about it with his friends, especially Ted.

Nisha's eyes widened before her lips gave in to a shy smile. "I don't know. I guess I'm still waiting for the right person. Do you think I'm weird?" Nisha asked even though what Barney perceived of her lack of a sex life didn't mattet to her. She knew she wouldn't change.

"Well, yeah." Barney said, raising his eyebrows. "I mean, do you not want to have sex?"

"It's not that I'm a prude. You know. It's just that I need to feel comfortable before I take the next step, and so far I've been too busy making my life right. Sex is for later. It'll happen when it happens."

"Hmmm... I still don't get it."

From sharing about Nisha's annoying habits to Barney's childhood without a father, they talked about everything important going on in their lives. There were times Nisha saw sadness in Barney's eyes, mostly when he talked about his family. She felt much more better knowing Barney wasn't just a scum as she had first thought. She found it amusing how much a person can hide behind a cool, tough, charming exterior. At some point into the conversation, as the food arrived, and was finished, they had started playing a game - they got to ask any questions and the other person had to answer with the truth. They both took turns. While Nisha's curiosity revolved around Barney's lack of emotional intimacy, Barney's questions were much more uncomfortable. But since they had agreed, they both answered what was being asked with sheer truthfulness.

"I touch myself twice a month." Nisha replied, looking away from Barney.

Barney gave out a heartfelt laugh. Nisha smiled back.