A lazy Saturday mid-morning;
sun’s scorching and from a distance, at the horizon, I see a wavy mirage. Am
seated outside my house in campus; a satisfying feeling deep down because I
just finished doing my laundry. As I stare into the emptiness of the horizon, I
see a figure rise from downhill up towards my direction. I notice long curly
hair and an organized poise that speaks confidence and self-awareness. As the
figure becomes clearer, her body figure becomes more noticeable. I see a girl
in blue jeans and a green top. She walks majestically with no side-turn. Her
gaze is focused on the direction she is walking towards. With time, I could
fully get a full glimpse of her face… she shines in radiance (probably aided by
the sun) and her beauty just sent chills down my spine. As she approaches, our
eyes meet and interlock for a few seconds. Then she looks away. I keep staring;
throwing away the norm that staring is bad manners of sorts. I just can’t get
my eyes off her.
Should I say hi or what? Naah, dude. She is practically not of your
league. I mean, you can say hi, then what? What vibe do you have? These are thoughts that went through my head. I had conflicting
thoughts, but finally I decided not to say hi. So I watched her meticulously
walk away, as I cooped up in my cage of self-doubt. “Hi, my name is Jacob. But
you can call me Jake, you know”, suddenly I was in front of her, like a meter
or two away, stretching my hand to greet her. “Hi Jake, am Molly. My friends
call me Mo.” As that statement met my ears, I went blank. What to do? What to say? Told you dude, you can’t even hold up a
conversation. Awkward silence. “So, Molly… headed to the shops? I could
take you if you don’t mind.” By now I have gathered confidence. “I don’t. But
seems to me you were busy watching your clothes dry at the hang lines?” We both
laughed.
So we take a walk
with Molly and arrive at the shops. Half of the journey was, of course, graced
with awkward silence while the other half was seasoned with random jokes, some
dry and some pretty hysterical. All the same, I had taken the initiative to
start a conversation with a pretty lady and managed to make her laugh… well it
was her mostly who did the rib-cracking. Oh
yeah! You did it mayne! There’s
nothing that I did really. Nada. I
walked her back to her hostel and went back to my sitting area with just a memory
of her face. A memory of her smile, her big brown eyes and her fairly smooth
skin. I didn’t even get her number. But beyond her smile, beyond her eyes, is
what I really longed to explore… will I really make it?
To be continued..
