They ate dinner at the
roadside diner that had been their usual haunt during their schooldays. Being
back there brought back memories of the birthday treats, spilled coffee, and
the laughter and gossip they had always shared. As they ate, she felt herself slipping
into the easy rapport she always shared with him and found herself relaxing for
a while.
"....and
that tall, pretty girl who's dad owned a sugar factory, what was her
name?" he was saying.
"Anita", she
replied.
"Oh yeah" he
smiled at the memory, " I was crazy about her once."
"As I recall, you
were crazy about a different girl every single week."
"Yeah well, a
guy's got his interests," he said stretching back and ordering dessert.
Vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and nuts. That hadn't changed either.
"You've grown
up," she said. He smiled. "Coming from you, I'll take that as a
compliment. You always said that i was an immature-what were the exact
words?"
"-self centered,
girl-crazy moron" she finished.
"Yeah, that"
he grinned sheepishly.
"So long since
all that happened, yet seems just like yesterday when we were walking together
down the road to school," she said, her eyes locking with his.
For
a long time they stared at each other in silence, till she turned away, her
heart thumping in her chest. No, she told herself, not now. He seemed to
continue to stare at her so she pretended to be interested in what the couple
at the nearby table was up to, while a storm of emotions raged inside her. She
had loved him, ever since the first day he had pushed her in the puddle when
they'd been seven years old, had loved him every day since then. But she, of
all people, knew what it was like to throw her heart at him and expect him to
love her back. He had always been good looking but who had expected his looks
to grow with age? His maturity only seemed to accentuate the charm that always
had girls falling at his feet.
"Do
you remember the day we first met?" his voice brought her back to her
senses.
She turned to look at him and saw that his
face had grown serious.
She laughed, trying to
ease the tension. "Oh yes, how can i forget? You pushed me in the puddle because
I'd taken your favorite cricket bat."
He drew a deep breath
and looked straight into her eyes.
"That was when I
first fell in love with you....."
"I-what?"
she blurted.
"I remember how
cute you looked, all wet and angry. I-I fell for you right there," he
said, his voice shaking a little.
"You
can't-seriously-I mean," she blabbered, wondering if it was all a dream.
He just stared back at
her, his heart beating wildly, and wished she wouldn't stare at him as if he'd
just struck her.
"But-but what
about all those girls, all that nonsense about you never falling in love?"
she said, while inside she was jumping with joy.
"There's never
been anyone like you," he said, making her already high spirits reach
astronomical levels.......
