Skip to main content

Things and Places - I


Hello everyone,
This month I've decided to do a series kind of thing. This is the first part of the story. And I'll be completing the story in the months to come. I might post something else in between but I'll definitely finish this one. Hope you like it :)

Sameer


She was browsing through the fiction section at a book store. She looked thoroughly engrossed yet was consciously glancing sideways. I suddenly looked away, embarrassed. As I glanced back at her general direction after a while, she was nervously taking out 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' from the shelf. I smiled. After that she disappeared once more  into the stacks and stacks of books. I picked up the book I was looking for and lazily made my way to the counter. Just when I handed over the money, she came along carrying 'The Great Gatsby', a Sidney Sheldon book  along with Harry Potter which was on the bottom of the bunch. Taking a cue from the universe about her meticulous timing, I decided to make conversation.

"Nice Choices", I said.

She smiled guiltily, handing over the books at the counter, she said,"Err....thanks. I've been meaning to read The Great Gatsby for a long time"

My smiled broadened. "What if I tell you I wasn't taking about Gatsby at all"

She blushed and laughed nervously. "Harry Potter is for my little cousin, actually. I've never read it. I'm too old for it"

Knowing that it was clearly a lie, I said, "Well, no one is ever too old for it......"

"Ugh... who am I kidding? I started HP series 7 days ago and I'm hooked. I'm on half-blood prince right now. I'll be over with it tonight and after that I'm waking up early morning tomorrow to start the last book",she said.

I laughed."I kinda knew it was for you. Anyways,Don't rush it. And brace yourself for an existential crisis after you finish it. The world will never be the same again"

"Ugh... Isn't that always the case? You want to finish the book but you don't want to finish the book. I'm constantly torn between the two. "

She paid for the books and we slowly walked our way towards the door. After we got out, we hovered outside the bookstore for a while.
"So, what's your favorite HP book yet?", I said.

"My favorite is Sorcerer's stone. And hatest is Order of Phoenix.yet. You?"
"Mine is Half blood prince...it has so much dra......"

"Nuh uhuh... No spoilers please!!!!!"

"Sorry...." I laughed.

"And tell me something. Do you hate Snape as much as I hate him ? I mean, he is ridiculous. Why is he so ridiculous ? I'm sorry if I blaberring, you know how it is. I'm Sneha,btw"

I laughed. "I'm Sameer. And let me tell you, after that last book you are totally going to change your......."

"Shut up Sameer. No spoilers, remember? And to be honest, I like Voldemort more than Snape.  The way Snape treats Griffindor gets on my nerves"

" Tell you what, I'm sure you'll feel differently about this situation after the last book. And I want to know all about it, So I'll give you my E-mail and you promise me that you'll write back. Deal?", I smiled .

She bit her lips and looked me in the eye for the first time, smilling she said, "I'll write back only if I actually feel different about it. Okay?"

I looked over at my watch. I was getting late .
"Okay. Listen, I'm getting a little late here. I gotta go now. And nice meeting you . Can't wait to hear more from you Sneha!", I waved back as I moved away.

"You too...Bye !", she said, waving her hand.


Sneha

I had replayed the conversation with Sameer atleast 20 times since the day I met him.He was smart and adorable. And after finishing Deathly Hallows, according to the deal, I had promised to write to him. I just didn't know if I should.He seemed like a nice guy but what if he was a total creep beneath those innocent layers.

"Well, you are not agreeing to marry him. It's just an email, It's nothing", other part of me argued.

Ah, screw it. Who was I kidding? I wanted to talk to him again. I searched for the email address he gave me and fired up my laptop.

Dear Sameer,
I finished Deathly hallows . AND IT BLEW ME AWAY. I feel so bad for Snape! :(
He might or might not have gained the top spot as my favorite character. You were kinda right :P And it still hasn't sunk in that I finished the whole damn thing yet.
Omg, where are my manners. How are you ?
-Sneha

I re-read it a few times and sent it hoping that ':P' emoji didn't come out too flirty.

After a few minutes, my laptop pinged.  Reply already?

Dear Sneha,
Haha, I completely understand the lack of manners. And I'm fine. It'll sink in soon and I promise you atleast one whole day of misery. lol.
And aren't you sleepy yet? It's 3 in the morning. You should sleep. Goodnight...or goodmorning for that matter.
-Sameer

I smiled like an idiot.

Dear Sameer,
You know....just nerdy things. lol. I was engrossed but what are YOU doing not sleeping at 3 ? Please tell me you're not a Vampire. That would change things completely.
-Sneha

I qucikly sent it. And waited for the reply which came after a few minutes.

Dear Sneha,
haha, Ofcourse I'm a Vampire. Couldn't you tell by the way I combusted to ashes in the sunlight that day? ;)
What if I tell you, I was thinking of you? And I've waited for your email since the day I met you?
-Sameer

After a minute my laptop pinged again.

Dear Sneha,
I WAS KIDDING. I realized the last line made me sound like a total creep. I was reading...just nerdy things, as you put it, lol. I'm off to sleep now.
Sleep nice. bye
P.s. Looking forward to talking to you.
-Sameer

I read the email for the 10th time and grinned from ear to ear.
What was it about boys who could put up a decent conversation about books? I thought to myself as I waited for sleep to envelope me.

This was going to be interesting.

To be continued.....




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

about love

When I was 10, love was Familiarity. Love was big eyes and sweet smile, coming over to give me his share of chocolates that he got for someone's birthday. Love was getting picked to play with him first. Love was random calls to my house that my mom picked up. Love was waiting for his silly emails over long summer breaks. Love was knowing I was his best friend. When I was 14, love was a Secret. Love was staring at his pretty eyes from far away. Love was the music in my ears whenever I heard him call my name. However, love was also sly. Love was accidentally brushing against his skin while walking beside him. Love was catching him looking at me and at once looking away. Love was the crescendo of heartbeats that came after. Love was... finding out it was love. When I was 17, love was All-knowing. Love was thinking pretty eyes wasn't love at all. Love was realizing I hadn't met love yet but knowing exactly what he looked like. Love will.... definitely be taller than me....

Purple.

it all began one august day as the sky bled into hues of purple, a coy smile from me, some words spoken in the dark from you and with the silent heat of our barely there touches, the yearning turned to longing. and come september, the longing will turn to love.  and all it will take is an epiphany,  an unintelligible distant symphony, a moment of chance miracle and you will know, that answers were never outside but within. you’d expect it to be earth shattering  but it is a mere revelation it’s a switch you flick in your own mind  that surrenders your soul. no matter what other say,  it was a choice then and it will continue to remain so. 

On moving 6629km alone away from home

It was a fresh start, one that I needed desperately. Applications and documentation had taken so much of my time and sucked so much of my energy, I don't think I quite comprehended what the move was going to entail. While I was open to changes, I don't think I was aware of how much transformation across all aspects of life it would take to acclimatise myself to my new reality. I was just happy for a fresh start. Nothing else mattered.  But turns out, getting on the plane is the easiest step in all of this. The amount of transformation I've gone through and learning I've done in the past couple months is truly insane, to say the least. Recently, a friend back home asked me how I was doing living alone and I thought about it. Honestly, it hasn't been all good or all bad, but the important thing has been rooting and balancing myself despite it all. Not sure if anything I've written will be groundbreaking or something that hasn't been already said 7 million time...

Rust & stardust

There's not much to say about love beyond what has already been said But in the past, every time we fell apart I always used to find new ways To bleed on paper about you. Yet, this time has been different Because the words I spit out about you now don't make any sense Just like how we fell apart doesn't             make                        any              sense. Every time I sat down to write this, My thoughts always went back to that one time  When you said I'd never be able to write anything without you in it, ever again. I laughed and rolled my eyes at you then But I knew you were right Even during the long stretches of radio silence between us,  my words always seemed to find their way back to you.  You were sometimes the hero in my stories Sometimes the villain And yet,  you were there Car...

(un)finished business

By Vincent van Gogh - Starry Night Over the Rhone You were a ship passing by my ship during a sunset.   Ours was a chance encounter, so it was never about staying close forever Nor was it about helping each other traverse the tides together.  We had both set sail to reach far away lands from different ends of the earth With our journeys laid out in front of us. But when we met amidst the vastness of the sea  It was difficult not to believe that something about our closeness made sense. There was comfort and ease in existing together, A never before felt sense of synchronicity, That all was unfolding as it should.  I was the first to say goodbye though,  Not because I didn't want you,  But because I wanted you too much and I knew we weren't on the same page.  But why is it that even if I was the reason we sail separately today, I find myself thinking about you more frequently than I care to admit.  Sometimes, memories of you feel like a fervent fev...

How it all started :)

As I start my very own blog from today.... I'd want to commence by stating how I started writing stuff  ...have fun reading, even though, it's my very first piece of write-up here...And  I'd love it if you comment on how it went. Thank you :) Writing is not something that I started doing from a very young age and  yet I just love how it makes me feel every time I do it. As of now,  It has spread inside of me as a  poison because even if I try to fall out of this habit now, I just simply can't! It all started out some 5 years ago when my very first piece of writing was published in 'The Himalayan Times', in the 'Schoolpost' section, for the very first time. The encouragement and appreciation I got at that  moment  made me want to try my hand at this....and now I am what I am today all because of the feeling of being appreciated  It was not that I started to write out-of-the-blue. Since a very young age, my father used to take me out  to...