As the girls’ saw me coming near, I can swear the look they gave me, undoubtedly reflected their feelings about readily wanting to kill me.I bet they saw the smile the stranger was giving me and infuriated them. I’m a brave girl and anyway, I really wasn’t afraid of them.
The Stranger, although, had the opposite reaction to my approach. All the sadness wiped from his face. Joy had taken its place instead. I couldn’t wrap my head around his reaction, but it still brightened my mood. At least, someone is happy to see me, and I smiled.
Why was I smiling! God, I think I’m finally loosing my mind. This is the payback from the time I didn’t when Sam－ I stopped short. I had promised myself I wouldn’t think about him, but it came back anyway. I composed myself and again looked at him. His face reflected the same hurt that I was sure I had on my face about a minute ago. He looked so old in that mask of agony; it looked as if it was crippling him from inside, just like it did to me. When I thought about Sam.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breadth to calm myself. I was not going to think about him, I was not going to be sad today. I was angry and in order to pass that mood I’m going to have fun. I was not going to think about... I chanted in my mind again and again. I slowly opened my eyes again and saw him again wearing the same joyful smile and I felt better at once.
Why was I feeling happy for God’s sake? Why was his smile making me forget everything? His smile had a hypnotic effect on me, like he was radiating energy in high spirits and I had to feel happy no matter what. I was such a fool. I was going to have fun and enjoy and forget about the paper till tomorrow. I walked towards him.
“Hi...” I started.
“Hello,” he replied with the same smile on his face again. It was getting a bit irritating now...
“I’m Alia. You are..?” I had no idea how to talk to boys much less flirt with them, when you needed a date to cheer yourself up. I had only one boyfriend till now and I had broken up with him after Sam. After Sam I had gone less in socializing and had been mostly alone except for my best friend Alexis. She would give me advice in situations like this, but she isn’t here right now. She is with her parents in Hawaii for her holiday. She wanted me to come with her and for the first time, in a long time I had agreed, but this paper came in between－
“I’m Danny,” the stranger replied, bringing me back to the present.
“So, Danny you wanna have a bite?” what the hell was I saying. I suck at flirting; he’ll just stare at me like I was mad and bail.
Instead, he laughed. “Sure, why not,” he replied sweetly.
He gently closed my mouth, that’s when I realized it was hanging open. I held myself in check and was about to speak, when he added, “You were going to Harpy’s, right? But I think it’s already closed.”
“How did you know I was going to Harpy’s?” I asked suspiciously, with all the dramatics. My eyes scrutinizing his face and my lips set in a hard line. He laughed at my expression and said, “You were going in that direction so...” he gestured towards the street that would have taken me to the diner if I wasn’t here standing, talking to a stranger and trying to be spontaneous. I was still hungry and my food is just around the corner, if...
“You wanna have a bite?” He asked and maybe my expression already told him it was beyond a bite to saturate my hunger, so he continued. ”Let’s go,” he took my hand and started walking towards the black limo.
The twelve pencil necks were watching this, with their mouths hanging open. They looked beyond confused, that an ordinary girl had stolen the charming Stranger from them. Anyway, I didn’t care much about them, but I surely felt proud.
A driver came out and opened the door for us, it felt so royal and so spontaneous. As I entered the limo I saw the plush leather seats and wooden cabinets. The leather smelled of sweet strawberry juice. Weird, maybe he likes it. The faint smell of wood smother mixed with the sweet juice was almost unbearable, but I didn’t say anything. He sprayed the switched on the car air-freshener, as if I had the exact words and not thought them. The perfume filled the inside of the car with the sweet smell of freesia.
There was a wide screen at the very back and rock music was blazing from somewhere. The music wasn’t loud, just comfortable. I couldn’t recognize the song, but it felt good. I was quite rich myself but we didn’t own any limo’s in India. The one’s my father owned were prohibited for us and only used for business. So, it was a new experience for me and I somewhat liked it.
Once we were seated, the driver was speeding towards whatever destination Danny had asked him to take us to.
Continued...
