One amusing love story

February 9, 2019Fictionfiction, oldieskal

Of the many ways in which people fall in love, I happened to witness two which were highly amusing if not weird. Here is one.

Heard of ‘love at first sight’? Of course. Everybody has. Countless movies have been made woven out of this concept. They say it’s some kind of instant connection you feel with a stranger the first time you see them. The first eye contact and the happy feeling of Mr. Cupid trying to poke his way through your chest.

One evening as usual, I and my roommate (let’s call him Lion) were staring at the ceiling, brooding over important questions like- where exactly do we have our dinner today?

There were only two options available anyway, either a Punjabi Dhabba or a Chinese Diner. But we used to spend fifteen minutes daily vehemently arguing over the question before picking out one option and then another ten minutes despairing over our sad state of food habits. That evening, we came up with the brilliant idea of skipping dinner altogether and going to a really big pastry shop for a change. We were in the mood for sacrificing lots of money for creamy bite sized pieces of cakes at the altar of hep and cool.

We were yapping away at a table after ordering some chocolate pastries when I noticed Lion getting distracted. He sensed it and gestured towards the counter. I followed hint and saw a family crowding there- a dad, a mom and a very beautiful teenage daughter. She was beautiful. Very beautiful in fact. I checked her out a bit, turned back to Lion and opened my mouth to talk when he stopped me again.

“Hey stop and look at her”, he gestured again with his eyes.

“Yeah I saw, she’s gorgeous, and that’s exactly the reason we came here”, I said all knowingly.

Lion made a disgusted expression and told me, “Look at the top she is wearing”

I looked again, this time searching for some ‘message’ on her top, but it just had some flowery pattern on it, when Lion interrupted, “Look at it closely… She has worn it inside out!”

Yes, it did seem inside out, but then you really can’t trust the prevalent fashion wave these days. My friend proceeded to make things clear for me.

“Look, I know you might be thinking it to be some weird fashion, but you see even if it was meant to be like that, they won’t stick a hanging label on its neck… See? It would have been okay had the label been fixed with some company logo on it. That’s okay, but this one has small text written on it, probably washing instructions and its hanging, not stuck! See the difference”, he said with a flourish and a contented smile. He was quite animated by now.

I did realize my friend was talking nuances and advanced methods of thinking here, but I couldn’t stop admiring the sense he made. I was now gaping at her! We were so excited with this discovery we didn’t realize she was standing within audible reach and I suspect she actually did hear us. She casually turned around, and faced the glass windows, with just a split second glance at us in between. She stood that way for a couple of moments before turning back to the counter. I think I saw her looking down at her dress and shaking her head ever so slightly. She stood there pondering, asked something to the guy at the counter and went inside (probably to the bath room). She came out in a couple of minutes. We were eager to see if we managed to be of any help to her. The results were rewarding. She was not only ‘properly dressed’ now, but she even looked and smiled at us for approval.

Imagine a really gorgeous and pretty young girl singling you out at a crowded restaurant and giving you a wonderful smile. I could have lived happily ever after just remembering the incident! I guess it was the same case with my friend. He was a changed man at that moment. He looked startled and pleased at the same time. He not only smiled nodded his head in approval, but also gestured with his hands complimenting her on her good looks. You should have seen her and a moment later, him blush. That was the magic moment, when both of them had their first love attack.

It didn’t take them too many days to become a couple considering she stayed in our locality and they met more often after that incident. I was slowly ‘phased out’ of his life and she took the place. But then I am not complaining, at least I don’t have to argue over where to have the dinner. He is always on a phone call with her or dreaming about her leaving all the decisions to me. I am happy… and jealous. Only if I had nodded first 🙁

originally published on Sep 23 2005, salvaged from waybackmachine