The sky had a pink glow and soft beams of sun rays peek-a-boo from the marshmallow clouds. In the approaching winters, the wind was dry and cold and Garima wisely draped herself in a purple wrapped skirt, white peasant top and thin-knitted grey shrug. She rubbed her calf with her heeled foot and gazed outside the window, waiting at CCD with a hot cocoa before her.
She was ingratiatingly smiling, cherishing the anticipation of seeing her handsome companion and sighed dreamily, insulating her hands with the warm cup. This ‘coffee date’ would clear the way for their friendship and she hoped to form an unbreakable bond with him. She finished her cocoa and rubbed the coldness from her arms before folding elbows on the table and checking her phone to see any text from him.
None, she huffed, flipping it close and drummed her fingers on her cheek. In a week, he had just sent her one text. ‘Sure. I will be there at time.’ Except that, there were just some casual greetings exchanged between them. However, they made little progress as they became friends on all the available social media and she appreciated the fact that he earnestly liked her old pictures as well as new ones. It also provided her the chance to stalk him and get to know him better but they never made any efforts to go beyond the informal chit chat.
While she was dilly dallying in her thoughts, she spotted Abhay entering through the glass door and her face lit up. She straightened up and smoothed down her skirt before waving at him, “Hey!”
Abhay heard her and grinned, holding a palm up. “Hi.” He sauntered his way through the people and stopped before her. “Hope you didn’t have to wait much. I was stuck in traffic.”
“No. I just arrived.” She lied, shrugging with ease and gestured towards the empty chair, “Please sit.”
“Thank you.” he smiled, sinking into his chair and picking up the menu card, perusing it with great interest. He flipped the card and read the contents while Garima waited impatiently for him to say something. Without thinking much, she grabbed the card away from him and set it aside.
“I ordered us coffee already. You are ten minutes late by the way.” She abruptly said in an attempt to drive the conversation and winced under her breath as his knowing eyes caught her and she saw his lips forming a smirk. Her eyes narrowed slightly, “I mean didn’t you say coffee was on me?”
“I did.” Abhay agreed, nodding his head and tilted his chin towards her empty cup. “And, I guess you enjoyed it.”
Garima flustered, looking down on the table and compressed her lips together, “No. I was… actually I felt a little cold.”
“It’s okay. I was pulling your leg.” He added, cutting the awkward air and leaned back into the comfort of his chair, “Is there nothing you want to add to the coffee? I mean any other…”
“Not necessarily.” She interrupted with a casual wave of hand and folded her palms under her chin, “Tell me, how are you?”
“I am doing great. How have you been doing? You didn’t wait that day.” He trailed off, unwontedly slipping that he was hurt. Obviously, he had no mood to hear why she left without a bye.
“I already gave you a reason.”
“Sounds more like an excuse.” He retorted and closed his eyes to remind himself that he wasn’t there to confront her but he was somewhat hurt when she neglected his presence and absconded, leaving him alone.
“You were too shy.” She answered honestly and caught him off guard. He faced her, blinking perplexed. “What?”
“Yes.” She maintained, “I mean you are a generous, obliging gentleman but honestly, you are way too reserved. It was hard to imagine a car ride with you without a word.”
“I beg to differ, lady.” He took an offense and uncomfortably shifted on his seat. No one ever told him off on that front, “I heard every word you said during the flight and I was very attentive.”
“That just proves me more correct. You heard not said.” She established, victoriously and he banged his eyebrows together, “You are twisting words.”
“I will say you are talking more now.” She grinned, getting a life from teasing him and laughed offhandedly. “I have proof. You didn’t take my number.”
“I was planning to…”
“Until it was just too late.” She interrupted, sizing the amount of time with her thumb and index fingers, “I could have gone without any contact detail and we wouldn’t be meeting.”
Abhay withdrew from the debate and straightened up, crossing his arms over his chest and she dropped her smile on seeing his lips twisting into a disarming smile. “But, we are sitting here, talking to each other. You know why? It is because we were never too late. We were supposed to happen.”
Garima blushed and inspected her fingernails, mumbling. “I sort of looked for you asking for my number. I mean I wanted to keep in touch with you. You are nice.”
Abhay gathered courage to seize her cotton soft hands in his firm grip and smiled, keeping his eyes pinned on their joined hands. “I am glad you made the effort. I wanted to be in touch with you too. I might’ve not asked for your number as I deemed it inappropriate. I mean I was the one to say that this association ends when we land in Delhi and I will be damned if you’ve gotten me misunderstood as some perv…”
“Don’t finish that.” She stopped, placing the same palm over his lips that had been in his hold a moment ago. They both felt a fierce electric current running through them just as his warm lips touched the cold flesh of her palm and their eyes locked. They both were surprised and shocked at the intensity of their touch and Garima quickly snatched her hand back, avoiding matching his eyes. “You are nowhere to that.”
“Garima,” Abhay solemnly called her name and she experienced a flutter in the pit of her stomach. She gingerly lifted her eyes to set eyes on his gorgeous face. He maintained a sublime control over his emotions and brought his hand to flick at her button nose, mischievously. “You are really something.”
“What?”
“Nothing.” He dismissed the conversation and looked at the approaching waiter, “See our coffee is here.”
“Thank you!” he chipped as the waiter dashed away to attend to other customers and he inhaled the aroma of freshly brewed beverage. He lifted his cup and swigged, sampling the taste. His lips twisted in an awful manner and he placed the cup down. “I can make you better coffee than this one.”
“Honestly, I never liked coffee.” She confessed and he raised his eyebrows in fascination, “Why did you offer me then?”
“It was an excuse to meet you.” She sheepishly told him and he chuckled, dropping his head to hide his face and folded elbows over the table, “You… just… never-mind. Do not change, Garima. Never.”
“Why are you saying it as if this is a bad thing?” She frowned in defense and he surrendered, shaking his head but the remnants of joy still evident on his face. “No, no. It’s nothing like that. I just… I liked the fact you are quirky and bold.”
“Bold?”
“Bold to say what you are thinking.”
“Sounds like a juvenile move with no mouth filter.”
“Are you generally so guarded or this is a special tactic for me?” It was his turn to look offensive. She had suddenly grown into someone difficult to converse with and he wasn’t finding it attractive that she was misreading his every sentence.
Garima looked at him shamefacedly, unconsciously nibbling on her lips and exhaled, closing her eyes. “Okay, I admit I am nervous.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.” She admitted, staring at him and her expression dulled like a soaked biscuit. “I think I am messing up because I want to do it perfectly. I want to look prim and confident and intelligent but I am making a complete fool of me and ending up being a mess.”
Abhay was taken aback, “Why do you want to look prim and confident and intelligent? I mean why are you infusing extra efforts?”
“Because…because I…” Garima hesitated, dropping her chin to her chest. “I think I… I like you.”
She said out in a breath and Abhay gaped at her. She managed to look at him and his wide eyes and open mouth made her squeeze her lips together in anticipation. She blinked, bracing herself to face the humiliation but when it became evident that he wasn’t going to come up with any reply. She endeavored to tap his elbow to generate any response from him.
“Abhay?”
“I like you too, Garima.” He confessed and finally breathed in sparkling glee. He snagged her hands and covered them with his hands, looking intently at her surprised face. “I like you so much that I couldn’t bring myself to hurt you with my actions. I just hated making a move because I thought what if you didn’t feel the same for me. I know this is rushed but I am sure about how I feel and I really want us to give this a chance. This connection, this yearning and this chemistry is something we can’t ignore but I want you to be sure about it.”
“Why didn’t you ever chat with me?”
“What?”
“On Facebook or Instagram or Whatsapp? Why didn’t you send me a text or an emoji?” She asked impatiently. “You didn’t even call me.”
“I didn’t want to mess up. I wasn’t sure how you felt.” He shrugged with urgency and she nodded, “Yes.”
“So…”
“So what?”
“Will you come at my brother’s engagement?” He asked out of the blue and she pondered over this for a moment before slowly nodding. “Okay. When is the function?”
“In a month. I will drop by your home to give the invites.”
“Okay.”
“Alright.”
They both didn’t know how to end the sudden shift of the topic and how to fill up the silence but then there was their coffee and it had turned cold. Howerve, they both were already feeling warm to let the cold coffee douse the flame kindled within them.