The afternoon sun was the brightest, it has ever been. As if it had gotten a news which had lightened up it's mood to the fullest, making it smile from ear to ear towards it's fellow friends in the surrounding. Adolescents riding their bicycle in this beautiful afternoon, trying to take in as much as possible of this glorious weather which comes once in a while.
Sasha was currently in her bedroom sitting by the window as she witnessed the joy the weather had bought among everyone. Her heart palpitated in a rhythmic beat, unknown to the feeling. A small smile was spread over her face but they did not reach her eyes as a lingering thought in her existed. The conversation with Nathan earlier made rounds in her mind, taking its time like a merry-go-round, her mixed emotions taking the role of the different rides available in it.
Sasha bit her thumb nail as the unforeseen scene kept on repeating in her mind like a cycle wheel taking its round.
***
"Aiden wanted to talk to you.." He said in a somewhat low voice as if afraid someone would hear them.
Sasha froze for a moment as she heard his words. Lips parted, eyes blank, she just stared at him. The words as if were refusing to get in through the gate of her brain and get processed. Nathan raised an eyebrow looking around, unsure of what had got Sasha all out suddenly.
"Sasha?" He called out
"Huh?!" Sasha snapped back to reality.
"You good?" He asked suddenly observing her pale face with a worried expression.
"Oh yes yes!" Sasha said frantically.
"Okay great. So as I was saying...Aiden wanted to talk to you tomorrow, are you perhaps free?" Nathan asked biting his lips, his eyes going slightly bigger as he did.
"W-What?" Sasha asked unsure, whether what she heard was right.
"He wanted to talk to you" Nathan stated
"He wanted to talk to me?" Sasha said pointing at herself, furrowing her eyebrows.
"Yes you Sasha!" Nathan said suddenly feeling irritated by her reluctant behaviour.
Sasha's lips twitched a little as she thought of all the possible reasons as to why Aiden would suddenly want to talk to her.
"But why?" Sasha asked yet again.
"Just ask him when you meet him. So are you free tomorrow?" Nathan asked dodging the question.
Sasha frowned a little at the lack of response and decided not to push it. She sighed and responded with a nod.
"Okay then so, do you know the café near the university? The one which is like two blocks from here? The one beside the boutique?" Nathan asked raising an eyebrow, feeling unsure of her awareness of the place.
Sasha gave it a thought as she thought of all the shops nearby.
"Do you mean 'Coffee & Biscuits'?" She asked as she tried her best matching the description he gave.
Nathan's eyes lit up as she understood what he had implied
"Yes! That one!" Nathan exclaimed.
"Yes I know that café" Sasha said in a low voice.
"Okay great! Then can you come there tomorrow at 5pm?" Nathan asked as his lip biting began again, trying to analyse her answer.
Sasha felt a coat of hesitation, painting over her mind. It was as if, it was trying to imply on something but could not express it. Another part of her, however, felt all giddy and excited by the news. The latter had taken over her emotions as she slowly nodded.
"Alright then! Be there at the given time....I will see you around I guess" Nathan said rubbing his neck in akwardness.
"Yes.." Sasha replied not how to reply
"Bye then" Nathan said, reluctantly waving his hand in the air as he turned around.
"Bye" Sasha responded
Sasha blankly stared as Nathan's figure mixed into the hallways like dust fading into wind. Her mind was occupied with one matter at the moment.
She will be meeting Aiden tomorrow
****
It was currently four in the afternoon and till now Sasha is still thinking about it. Excitement and daunting nervousness, had got her brain blur, which was going through an insoluble dilemma to choose between the emotions.
Sasha's eyes travelled to the circular beige machine, ticking the signal of passing time. She cursed under her breath, realising how much time she had wasted thinking about the whole situation. She had to get ready and head to the café which was atleast at a distance of twenty minutes from her house. Sasha jumped up from her seated state and scurried over to her closet. She began rummaging through it, trying to find the best outfit she could but not over do it at the same time. She settled on a cotton blue t-shirt with a round neck and half sleeves, complimented by white jeans. She let her brown hair fall open the way they were. Sasha did not prefer make up but she just gave a light touch up, just not to look absolutely dull. She quickly grabbed her phone and small carrying bag and rushed out of the room. Her eyes fell to her wristwatch which read four-thirty. As soon as she neared the door, she heard her name being called.
"Sasha! Where are you going?" Sasha turned back to see her mother standing at the entrance of the kitchen.
Sasha felt a shiver run down her spine, as her palms suddenly felt clammy from sweat. A huge gulp made it's way down her throat as thousands of ways to tackle this situation flashed through her mind and she decided to settle on the most feasible one.
"I am going to meet Aaron and Noelle" Sasha tried to lie as confidently as possible, as she was miserable at lying to her mother, who knew about every cell that travelled through her body.
"Aaron and Noelle?" Her mother spoke raising an eyebrow.
"Yes them.." Sasha as her leg began to twitch in restlessness.
"Okay do you need me to drop you off?" Her mom asked making Sasha surprised that she believed her so quickly.
"No it's fine. It's just a twenty minute walk anyway" Sasha said laughing a little.
"Are you sure?" Her mother asked again
"Yes I am. Don't worry" Sasha said going forward hugging her mother.
"Bye love you!" Sasha said as detached herself and head to the door.
"Love you too! Be back by 7pm" Her mother said in a playfully warning tone.
Sasha slightly rolled her eyes and nodded her head, heading out of the door. A sudden pressure of guilt took over her. She felt terrible lying to her mother but she knew if she told her, she would not allow her to meet him as she knew how he was to her. On her way to the café, numerous thoughts had flooded Sasha's mind.
Her eyes fell upon the busy streets of the afternoon, everyone was heading back to their homes, a place solace. Sasha had no idea where she was headed to at the moment. It felt like the boundary between hell and heaven, she either gets treated well or things go downhill. Despite knowing the possible consequences, Sasha agreed to walk through this confining boundary.
A shop with a mordern exterior came to her view with bold cursive writing on the signboard which said 'Coffee & Biscuits' in the color brown.
Sasha's heartbeat, which was silent till now, began to speak out it's emotions as it hammered against her chest like a sledgehammer hitting the ground. Sasha took a heavy breath of nervousness as she neared her footsteps to the café. She was soon standing the before the glass door of the café which seemed to give off a great ambiance of sophistication. The cold air from the air conditioner hit her feet from the gap below the door. Another intake of a sharp breath and Sasha opened the door. She got in to see the café almost empty with few people sitting in there. Her eyes began to scan the place like an eagle scanning an area for its prey. When she did not find the specific person, she sighed and entered reluctantly. She found a seat by the window, and made her self comfortable. A smile crept upon her face as all the positive things that could happen went through her mind, as she felt herself getting impatient. She checked with her writstwatch to see it was five past one. She began tapping her fingers on the marble made table top. She saw a waitress heading her way.
"What would you like dear?" The waitress, who was seemingly older then her, asked sweetly.
"Oh! No I am fine. I will order later, maybe when the person I am waiting for arrives. Thank you for asking" Sasha answered politely
"Is it your boyfriend?" The waitress asked with a playful smile on her face. Sasha felt her face heat up from the question as it turned into a shade of crimson red.
"No! No! He is just a classmate of mine!" Sasha replied frantically.
The woman before her laughed heartily at her response.
"You seemed happy that's why I wondered who it was. Okay then! Call me when you are ready to order" The waitress told her
"Okay thank you very much" Sasha replied in an embarrassed voice.
As soon as the older woman left, Sasha looked down as a smile crept upon her red face.
"Boyfriend.." She whispered to herself before shaking her head at the thought.
Sasha looked at the window to see if there was any sign of the person she was impatiently waiting for. Her eyes fell upon her wristwatch to see twenty minutes have passed by. She regretted not taking Nathan's contact. Just as she was cursing to herself, she heard the door open as a familiar silhouette walked in with heavy steps. Sasha saw a boy with the very brown eyes and tanned skin. Her body went rigid as she saw him. He was looking around the café. Suddenly her pair of brown eyes fell to his pair of brown eyes. It was his eyes.
Aiden...
As if time had stopped ticking it's signal to the clock. Sasha sat there trying to decipher the situation. Lips parted, eyes round from shock she just stared at him. Her fingers did not stop fiddling. She saw the boy start to move towards her which made her snap out of trance and abruptly stand up. This time Sasha took her time to stare at the male. He was wearing a denim jacket coupled by a white shirt and black jeans. They seemed to have coincidentally match the colour code of blue. The boy head towards her while rubbing the back of his neck. He soon stood infront of her standing akwardly, not knowing what to say and Sasha remaining absolutely frozen did not make the situation any better.
Pain, happiness, desperation. An odd combination of emotions. Usually someone with emotional problems deal with this mixture. But that's exactly what Sasha felt right at this moment. The tension in the air was thick and intense, making the both feel somewhat uncomfortable. Four years. After four long years they have come face to face, to put aside their differences and talk to eachother. Little did they both realise, that they had pushed eachother away so far that even the exchange of a word would seem like a whole akward sentence. Sasha just looked at him intently. All the scenes and lines she had imagined had faded away into thin air when he finally stood infront of her. Her throat went dry. It was as if she had forgotten how to breath. He had an massive effect on her and he was oblivious to it.
Aiden looked at Sasha who was looking at him with a look he could not decipher. It was incomprehensible to him and he decided not to bother himself with it further. Sasha felt a series of mixed emotions go flow through her, in contrast to Aiden who felt nothing but akwardness.
"Hey..." Aiden spoke
His low pitched voice sent a shiver down Sasha's spine, as she felt the hair on her body stand up accompanied by goosebumps.
"Hey..." Sasha said as the twitching of her left leg began.
"Shall we sit?" Aiden said pointing to the chair.
"Yes.." Sasha just quietly replied.
The both sat down on the leather seats of the café. The shop was quite a sophisticated one and the decor was aesthetically pleasing. Sasha's eyes flickered to everywhere except him. Her subconscious was mocking her in every way possible for being a coward but she couldn't help it. Aiden was observing her wired state as he leaned against the leather chair, his one hand over armrest while the other remained on the table top. Sasha, on the other hand, sat rigid. Aiden decided to break the tension.
"So...how have you been?" He asked as his fingers drummed against the marble surface.
"I have been well?" It came out more like a question from Sasha, making Aiden cock an eyebrow at the odd response.
"H-How about y-you?" Sasha stuttered, mentally cursing herself for doing so.
Aiden suddenly scoffed as he looked away towards the window which gave full display of the busy streets.
"Do you really have to ask that?" He spoke in a bitter tone. His jaw clenched as his eyes held nothing but frustration. Sasha felt guilty for asking such a question and said.
"Sorry...I didn't mean to" She said looking down to her finger making Aiden look at her. He took a deep breath and said.
"It's okay. I understand...Anyways let's come the point, the reason why I called you here..." Aiden trailed off taking Sasha's attention.
"I wanted to thank you helping me that day and apologize for my rude behaviour... I was drunk you see" Aiden explained moving her hands in gesture.
"And you know how we are not on the best terms, so when I saw you I felt angry and my unstable state did not make it any better. So I am sorry for the behaviour" He apologized leaning his both arms on the table
Sasha felt surprised to see him apologizing suddenly but decided to shrug it off. Sasha observed his features which she had seen only from afar for the past few years. His tanned skin looked golden as the afternoon sun peaking through the window kissed it. His hair styled properly not a mess this time, and his brown irises whose pupils became visible from the impact of the light. To others he shall look like every other normal male, but to her he seemed strikingly handsome. Sasha decided not stare further and weird him out and instead reply.
"It's okay... I understood you were drunk" Sasha said in a low voice.
"Thanks.." Aiden said looking down.
There was a moment of silence, both just taking in their presence. Suddenly, Aiden looked up and gave a small smile..
"What do you want to have? It's on me!" He exclaimed.
"No no no no! It's fine! You don't have to!" Sasha declined his offer feeling embarassed.
"I insist. Excuse me?!" He called out to the counter.
The waitress from earlier came forward hearing his voice. She head towards them and as soon as she noticed Sasha, her eyes lit up. Sasha looked down feeling embarassed.
"Yes how may I help you?" She asked
"We would like to order. What would you like?" Aiden said looking at Sasha.
Sasha wanted to say something but her words were not forming out of embarassment.
"A-Anything is fine.." She replied feeling small for some reason. Aiden cocked an eyebrow at her strange behaviour but just ordered what he thought was right.
"Okay your order will take roughly ten minutes. Thank you for ordering" The waiter said going away.
Aiden turned his attention to Sasha, who looked at him in the same time.
"C-Can I atleast pay for my meal though?" Sasha suddenly spoke. Aiden gave her an amused smile and said.
"You don't have to feel guilty Sasha. Take this as a sign of gratitude for your gesture." Aiden said in a comforting tone.
Sasha just nodded not being able to say anything else in defense.
"Also I was thinking..." Aiden spoke all of a sudden with an unsure voice.
It's like he was contemplating whether or not to say it. The next thing he said had surprised Sasha to the fullest.
"If we could fix things between us.."