The moon was out, it was a starry night. She sat across the fire talking and drinking. I was a helluva drunkard myself but for the first time I had seen a girl drink like that. She was definitely drunk and laughing at anything. In fact most of us were, some more than the others. College was over. None of us really knew whether to be sad and angry or happy and relieved. Luckily somehow we were managing both. Sam had imported some mangoes god knows where from so we sat there chewing and losing ourselves in their sweetness and the bitterness of rum. It was a cold night but the bonfire kept us warm. We doggedly munched sausages and salamis using the fire to warm them. As we all sat around the fire cooking our prize with our sticks I couldn’t help thinking about her. I had been infatuated by her since forever but had never had the courage to open my mouth in front of her. She on the other hand hadn’t been so uh... shy. She had changed boyfriends every year till the last one. Rumors had it she was committed but people like her, you know them better than that. We had been childhood friends same class, same school, same college and now same company but through the years we had grown apart. Knowing how long we had known each other you would expect us to be chums or at least good friends, maybe we even were but we rarely talked so I really don’t know. I still have feelings for her, not the one that teenagers have for pretty celebrities or men have for voluptuous women but like the sea has for its rivers, the rivers has for its banks, the banks for villages and villages for farms, gosh I am so drunk…She had met my eye earlier and I had felt something, some kind of electricity something I can’t figure out, can’t explain, I daresay the way she looked at me, she had felt it too. The last time I had felt it was 6 years back in tenth when I had kissed the same girl the first time. After that there had been a little more than ordinary smooches an envious number of times…but in the midst of it we had been caught once, just once, and that had been our last time. Our class teacher had found us in a rather compromising position on the underground floor (I say underground cause all that it consisted of was a couple of dilapidated labs where no one ever came), far as I can remember we had just missed our chores for a couple of minutes to catch up to each other and met there. In those days we were taken by lust, the element of risk was exhilarating and we just couldn’t keep off each other. When our slayer came our lips were in a deadlock, bodies intertwined, my hands on her hips and her in my hair. It was a tragedy. Very few are lucky enough to feel what we had for each other at such a tender age and even fewer unfortunate enough to get caught. It was definitely over the moment that old lady set her eyes on us. But we had tried to keep the fire alive, yes even after that we had. We stayed in touch for a while but then the bliss was gone… Parents had come into picture and that it possibly why it had ended. No child wants to lose his parents trust and No one wants their sixteen year old infant to fall in love…Love, man that is one strong word. Too strong…
But those were happy memories and I still cherish them and whether she accepts it or not she does too somewhere in the bottom of that heart. Somewhere inside her lies my girl but I guess it’s too late now. How wrong I was…
All day I had dreaded this, feared this refreshing activity of memories, cause like an unfinished story love just doesn’t end, it is not like us, it doesn’t give up and when it is defeated it leaves its faithful commander called pain in charge. No, this is not going to happen today! Today I am going to celebrate and be merry. I took another peg and another and another, all neat and forgot about us the next moment. It would have been forgotten but destiny has mysterious ways…After the rum had settled we decided on a dance, bloody drunkards…we couldn’t stand on our feet for more than a minute and we were dancing. Well that is what dancing is about I guess. It was fun but then Deepak happened. He called for a timeout and said
Guys this here, Riya is my girl…
Since the second year they had been madly in love and everyone knew that so this was nothing new but yes now unexpected…
Girl, will you dance with me?
Riya: forever sugar…
Riya this song is for you.
Guys find a partner and join in…
He played it…hell broke loose…It was an old Sonu Nigam song…the one I and she had performed on stage six years ago…the song that had started everything…
Tonight…everyone had come with their partner except for me and her…I hadn’t been in a relationship since ages and she had just broken up…we stood there everyone else was already lost…
We couldn’t look at each other…we hadn’t tried it for a long time and now the force stopping us seemed irrepressible.
But it was now or never… Six years ago, something had happened, dad had never said no he had just told me to wait… the wait was over and even if it wasn’t I was ending it right there…
I finally spoke up,
Care to dance?
She said nothing for a while then nodded. As soon as she touched me I became stronger, with every elapsing moment we became stronger. As we swayed I could feel her energy coming into me through the palm of her hand intertwined in mine and I could feel her warmth. Our eyes met, the fire was alive again. A tear trickled down her cheeks and fell into the vastness below. The kind of drunk that I was I thought I heard it fall down into the sand below with a Thud.
Words escaped me now but somehow I wiped off the trail of that tear from her heavenly face with one finger and bleakly smiled. She said
“I missed you so goddamn much.”
