Another OS on Vivesha. Hope you enjoy.
The Real You
She couldn't help but feel that maybe she had made the wrong decision. She was literally cursing herself for this; after all it was not a good idea to arrange the date with a person whom she has not known, it was definitely a bad idea.
The fact was that her aunt has arranged this date, Tasha was going to refuse it rite back then but couldn't becoz of her aunt.
And now here she was. Her eyes were as glazed and she was actually having tough time to keep them from rolling back into her head far enough to displace what was left of her brain.
Her date, meanwhile, was finishing up his lecture..ahm story. His story. His very long story. …
"..and that's why I love aeronautical engineering," he concluded with a big smile.
For a very long moment, Tasha couldn't believe it. He was done? It was over? He wasn't going to talk anymore for a second or three? Really ? She wanted to sing. Instead she managed to pull up something that she hoped looked enough like a smile to be convincing, and said,
"Wow. That's so nice .."
He seemed perfectly content with that response.
"But my real passion is swimming…" And with that, he once again started explaining how he started swimming at the mere age of 4 and won state level competitions and Blah and blah.
Tasha suddenly wished she were somewhere else, anywhere on the whole planet but definitely not here, anywhere was preferable rather than this. Maybe once the food arrived, she could get a word in edgewise, though she wasn't holding out much hope.
As if by some answer to her unvoiced prayers, a digital song began playing, interrupting the flow of words coming out of the man across the table from her, just as Tasha was starting to become convinced that the man was a master of circular breathing. He stopped, looked at his phone, and dipped his head in sheepish embarrassment.
"I, err, need to take this." He rose from the table, throwing her an admittedly charming smile. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
As he left, Tasha found herself surrounded by an odd sound. Namely, silence. Was a beautiful noise it was, silence? Well, silence tempered by the conversation of the other diners around her.
She sighed. How was she going to make it to the end of this date with her sanity (and her eardrums) intact? That dinner fork was starting to look mighty tempting…
A second computerized tune made her jump. This time it was her own cell phone ringing in her purse. She quickly fished it out, silently wishing that whoever was calling her had waited a few more minutes until her long-winded date came back, so she would have an excuse to leave the table for a while.
Without even bothering to look at the caller ID, she flipped the phone open and put it to her ear. She was just that desperate for some sort of actual stimulation.
"Hello?"
"Having fun, I guess?"
just when she thought her night couldn't get much worse, he had to call in that aggravatingly smug voice of his.
"Vivek!" she dropped her voice down to an angry whisper. "What are you doing?"
"Just wanted to check on you."
"It's not appreciated, thank you very much. I'm having a fine time," she said haughtily. Or at least as haughtily as one can speak when one is merrily lying through one's teeth.
"Oh yeah, Tasha I'm sure you're having a great time," Vivek said from the other end of the line. "I know how interested you really are in aeronautical engineering."
"It's a perfectly respectable field—" when Tasha stopped in mid-sentence as her brain caught up with his words.
"Wait. Wait just one minute. How do you know he said that?"
There was silence on the other end of the line, but she could practically hear him grinning.
"You bas—you're spying on me?" she said incredulously.
"I wouldn't call it spying," Vivek said airily. "I would call it observing out of concern for a dear friend. I Don't want you to wind up with some weirdo somewhere or something. Then where would I be?" A dramatic sigh. "I'd be miserable without someone to argue with!"
"I can't believe you!" Tasha said. One elbow came down on the table, and her forehead dropped forward to rest in her palm.
"You are unbelievable, vivek. Now for real, what are you doing?"
"Just what I said," he replied. "Keeping an eye on you."
"Why do you think I need to have an eye kept on me?"
She was expecting a joke or a witty comment. What she got was a moment of silence. And then his answer.
"I just want to know that you're okay."
That stopped her breath.
"Vivek…"
"Are you having fun? Just answer that question, yes or no."
"…not really," she admitted. Somehow, the confession wasn't as hard as she thought it would be.
"That's because I know you better than he does, and I know that this really isn't you," Vivek said. "You're not the kind of girl who likes fancy restaurants and boring conversation and stuff like that."
Tasha could count the number of times she had known him to be this serious on two hands, taking into account all the time she had known him.
"What kind of person am I, then? What do I like?" she asked curiously.
A faint hint of smile in his next words.
"You like walking in the rain, and then curling up with a cup of hot cocoa and a good book or novel to read or sometimes to just watch the drizzling rain from your window. You like to dress up, but you're at your happiest in a pair of jeans and a tshirt. And you don't care about aerodynamic engineering. Or swimming."
"…and how do you know all this?"
"Because I know you. Whether you want me to or not. Now would you like a rescue, or am I going to have to sit over here in the corner by myself all night, watching your eyes get more and more glazed?"
With that clue given, Tasha glanced around, searching the corner tables until she spotted Vivek. She was a bit chagrined to realize that he wasn't even in disguise, yet she still hadn't noticed him. He was there as himself, his cell phone pressed to his ear. And he was smiling at her.
As she looked at him, Vivek added one more thing.
"I think it's starting to rain."
Tasha turned towards the window and found it was raining she turned once again back to him and flashed her smile,
"Damn you straight to hell.."
" & Damn you for smiling like that…"
Tasha dropped her phone back into her purse and got up, meanwhile Vivek also joined her
"Shall we?" Vivek asked.
"I don't know why I'm doing this," Tasha said. "If my aunt comes to know this, God knows how she is going to react..."
"Well..we can think about it later on..rite now we should leave, before he turns up and once again get started with his autobiography.." Vivek said while pointing at the man who was on date with Tasha.
"ahmm" Tasha nodded. "let's move.."
Vivek reached down to take her hand. They did fit comfortably together. She found that there were some things that it was just impossible to be sure about when it comes to Vivek. It was just
"I think it's going to rain harder.." Tasha pointed out
"Yes, but if you aren't out in the rain at the right time," Vivek said impishly as he pulled her away from the restaurant,
"then you won't get a kiss in the rain from someone who loves you."
"A kiss? from Someone who loves me? Vivek, who's going to—"
Before she could question him, she got the pleasant non-verbal answer rite on her lips.
AN
Hope you like it!
Share your views about it :)
TC
