He’s here again, staring at me with an amusing look on his face.
I look down clasping my palms together. I look at him from the corner of my right eye.
He’s wearing a black shirt, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows with blue jeans and a pair of white converse shoes.
We’re the only two silent souls sitting on the floor encircled by a dozen of loquacious people.
I have seen him here before; I have seen him sitting on the same floor facing me. Sometimes I see him read; sometimes he plays poker with my other friends. Sometimes he talks about world famous issues.
I have seen him staring at me. He smiles, but he never talks to me. I have seen him enough to know his name.
And he’s looking at me again
I stretch my legs looking back at him.
A smile tugs at the corner of his mouth but the smile doesn’t reach his eyes
I smile back tentatively and slowly. A little smile won’t hurt I realize.
“Let’s watch The Hunger Games” I hear someone suggesting. I divert my gaze at others.
I hear certain people scowling.
“The Hunger Games suck. Let’s watch the Avengers. It’s cool” Another one suggests.
My friends eventually start arguing. I hear swear words, I hear various movie names, and I hear slapping and rattling.
And then there’s me wrapped my arms around my self speechlessly.
“I’d rather read a book than listening to this shit” I hear him saying patiently.
I sit straight and look at him. Now he has my attention. He looks back at me with a puzzled look on his face.
“You read?” I ask
“One of my hobbies” He says shooting a full wide smile.
“Cool, I read too” I reply with a serious face.
“What do you like to read?” He wants to know
“Everything, I read everything” I reply without a hesitation.
“I like fantasy” He says running his fingers through his hair.
“Have you read The Hunger Games trilogy?” I ask
“Yes. You?”
“Yea, I have”
“Another reason not to watch it” He says running his fingers to brush his neck.
“True that” I feel a hard knot in my stomach as I look away timidly.
“It’s my home, my DVD player. We’re watching The Hunger Games” I hear my best friend warning ridiculously.
“You want to read a book? He’s got a good fantasy book collection upstairs” He says pointing at my best friend’s brother who’s gorging on a pizza.
I look at his eyes. There’s something in them. Hope? Sarcasm? Anger? I don’t get it well.
“Yea sure” I say, lower my voice suddenly.
He grins as he uses his hands to stand up.
I signal my best friend and she winks. I ignore her.
We both scoot upstairs. He takes slow steps behind me.
We find my best friend’s other brother playing poker with friends and we wave at them.
“Do you read fantasy?” He asks, putting his hands in to his jeans pockets.
“I watch fantasy, but I haven’t read much” I reply as we enters to the room where my best friend calls the study room.
“Supernatural?” He raises his eyebrows
“Yea and Once Upon A Time, Vampire Diaries, Haven”
“Hey, I too watch Once Upon A Time. It’s my favorite” He’s delighted now. His eyes are sparkling and it’s too much to watch them.
I give him a wide smile.
“So what you want to read?” He asks looking down at the small unarranged messy bookshelf situated at a corner in the study room.
I walk near him, my hand brushes his hip and he stills.
I move a bit away looking down.
“There’s Time Traveler’s Wife, The Notebook, This Charming Man and all sorts of Meg Cabot’s books. I’ve read them all.” I say throwing my hands in the air slowly.
“You sound like an addictive reader?” He smirks and I nod.
“There’s a good fantasy fiction collection here” He says pulling out a book named a clash of kings. Oh that I haven’t read before.
“You like” He says showing me the book and I nod slowly.
He hands me the book and chooses another book for him.
He grins and we both set ourselves on a couch next to the bookshelf.
I open the book and flip over the first few pages. I try to concentrate on the story but I feel uncomfortable to do so with a strange man sitting next to me.
“What else do you like?” He asks me breaking the silence.
“I like Books, Cricket, Music and Bollywood” I reply in a glance
He keeps the book away as he sits facing me with an interested look on his face.
We keeps talking I don’t know for how long but well enough to know him better.
We talk about books, we talk about life and how we see life, we talk about love.
He tells me about his family, about his passions, his dreams, what he likes and what he doesn't’t like. We talk for seconds, minutes and hours about him, about me and about us. He’s witty, he’s intelligent, he’s patient, he’s strong and the list is endless.
I look at my phone to check the time. God, it’s been more than an hour since we came here and I can’t believe I spent so much time here without moving a single organ.
“I think we should go downstairs. It’s getting late” I put a clash of kings back in to the bookshelves and he follows me.
I walk towards the door and I hear him calling me
“I’d love to see you again”
I turn back at him confusingly.
He stands there in front of me with a hopeful look laid on his eyes. None of us say a word, none of us move a single muscle, and we just stare at each other speechlessly.It may have only taken a minute but I feel like days,months,years and decades have gone passing by us. .
And then I realize that he’s waiting for my reply. I want to giggle so loudly yet I control myself with much patience.
I want to say no, I want to say yes. Mostly I want to say yes more than anything. I want to see him again too. He’s not just another ordinary guy with a pretty face, there’s something that beguiles me about him. Maybe I will find out what it is if I see him again.
“Yea sure, why not” I reply shyly
He shoots me a thrilled look. “When?” He walks closer me.
“Are you free anytime soon?” He asks before I reply.
“I’m not sure”
“Can I call you? So we can arrange a date” He asks me, there’s something cute in his eyes
“Are you asking me on a date?” I ask him in a ridiculous way.
“Never denied that” He grins.
I laugh. Gee, he’s witty.
“Good lord, I thought you’d slap me” He sighs with relief.
We both laugh.
I ignore him and walk towards the door.
“Hey” He says
“What now?” I shoot him a wry smile
“It’s just nothing big. I’m so glad we didn't watch The Hunger Games” He says shyly through his laugh.
I blush and by nightfall I’m in love.
