A rainy day... (part 2)

“Hmmm…so you are in love!!” Priya was staring at me. “What!! Idiot!” I said. “No…Really? For the first time..you are speaking less and thinking more and more…” she said. “So what?!” I asked. “Hmm…I don’t remember which SRK movie it was…but it had this dialogue that when you think more and speak less…its love!” she winked. “Shut up! You and your SRK movies! All are crap! Its nothing like that!”I said. “Man…when did SRK movies become so realistic!!” I wondered. “Don’t you tell me that…okay…” Priya shot back. “And remember Barbie…people can lie but eyes never do…I can read that in your eyes you idiot!” Ashu said. I couldn’t lie. Ashu and Priya knew me inside out. Just a look at my face and they could tell the entire story behind my emotions. I never found the need to say anything to them. They understood it all. This time though…I kept denying. I wondered how would they react. Love at first sight! How can it be…its too fast for me!
“Ummm…yaa…I have just been thinking of him since I met him. And I don’t know what it is…but I think he feels the same. Even I could see that in his eyes. But, I don’t know!!” I said. “Don’t worry Barbie…you just have to order...I’ll get that goalie by his neck and pull out all the truth!!” Ashu joked. “Promise Ashu! Hehehe” I smiled.

It was our Physics lab today…And that too an extended session, which meant 6 hours straight in the lab with just a small break in between. The thought of it was enough to put us to sleep. But the brave souls we were…we could not give up that easily. After all, devoting three precious years of your life to physics was not a child’s play! I was supposed to do an experiment to find the reflective index of a prism today. As usual…the three of us reached the lab late, but some how managed to enter without getting caught for an explanation by that crazy optics professor. Not that we were afraid of her or lacked the talent to give excuses, but the problem was that we could not understand her! She was from the north east…and as in DU lingo, was called ‘Chinki’. And we actually needed a translator while talking to her. I remembered the last time she caught us…she kept asking something and we just could not understand. All we did was giving blank stupid looks to each other, till she got fed up and called one of the nerds of our class who could understand her.

This time we managed to give her an escape and headed straight for the dark room. Dark room…my favourite place in the lab! Since optics experiments were conducted there…it had complete darkness, a few complicated instruments and lots of fun! The teacher could never make out who exactly was working and who was having a good time watching their partners work! “Where the heck is my partner!!” I thought. And then I saw Kapil…the poor fellow was trying to adjust the prism on the spectrometer. “He must be cursing the day when he was made my lab partner.” I thought. I never worked and he never complained. He was that sweet. I went straight to him. “Hii Kapil…so wassup with the prism yaar??” I said. He looked at me and smiled, “Woww…only half an hour late this time! You are improving in my company Neha! And this experiment, yaar…I can’t do it! Though I have adjusted the prism according to the scale, but I am afraid you’ll have to rotate, get the spectrum and take all the readings because I can’t make out colours!! Me kind of colour-blind!!” he said shyly. “What! You serious? Colour-blind!!” I asked. “Yup, sometimes green looks yellow and sometimes it looks red...its not even fixed..else could have made a note of what is what! And this damn spectrum will make me mad. I just saw the spectrum Ruchi has got and the only colour I got right was yellow! But don’t worry, I’ll do all the calculations once you get the readings.” He explained.
“Heyy..no problem yaar. But that is kind of interesting. I read about that in my biology classes but never got a chance to meet an actual case! Okay..tell me what colour is this??” I showed him my blue notebook. “Red” he replied. “Hehe…that’s fun! Its blue idiot! By the way…who does your shopping?” I joked. Before Kapil could say anything, I saw the professor entering the room, and in an instant, I was adjusting the eyepiece of the telescope. And then after few minutes of concentration, I finally managed to get the spectrum. “Ohh…wow…see how beautiful it is! All the colours…such sharp contrast. Amazing! Physics can be beautiful too!” I said. Priya was standing at my back. “Yess…everything is beautiful when you are in love!” she winked. And then I saw my phone shining on the table. It was Nick. I looked at Priya. She was giving an even bigger smile now. I talked to him for a few minutes and then got up to leave. “Gotta meet him. He’s waiting down. Byeee..” I said. “Okay..call me when you are done. Won’t disturb you in between!” Priya laughed. “Sure!! And please help Kapil with the experiment!” I rushed.

He was waiting near the net. This was the tenth time I was meeting him since my b’day four days ago. Four days…only four days! I don’t know what attracted me to him. “May be his sweet smile, may be his eyes, may be its the way we met, or probably its because of how I feel when I am with him.” I thought. Nick was just amazing. A complete livewire. No one could ever feel low in his company. He talked a lot of crap, shared so many interests with me, loved rain too! He never kept quiet, had so many stories to tell..most of them so funny, even teased me many a times. But somehow I just loved him. He made me feel like a small kid. He was so caring and protective. I liked that. I felt the happiest with him.

I reached the net. “Hiii Nick!!” I said. “Heyyy…you made me wait!”He smiled. “Sorry!” I said. “Don’t be …I love waiting for you dear. I don’t mind waiting five hours for five minutes of yours. You are that precious for me. And I know you know that!” he said. I smiled. He always said something so sweet that I felt myself more and more drawn towards him. He made me feel so loved!
“So..how was your day?” I asked. He went on telling me about what all he did…his friends, the pranks played..everything. I had my stories. We never realised how time passed. It must have been almost two hours since we had been sitting behind that goalpost. It had become our favourite meeting point…it was a special place…the place where we met for the first time. I was telling him about the new novel I had picked up...when he held my hand. I looked at him. “Neha…I like you so much. I haven’t thought of anything else since the day I met you. You are my sweetheart dear. I can’t even think of a day without you. You have become so much a part of me. You might think its too fast, but I can’t really help it...I think I am in love!” he said.
I couldn’t believe it…I was overwhelmed…I was so touched…I was elated…I was sooo happy…I held his hand tightly…but I couldn’t speak a word. I just kept looking at him. He never asked for a reply. I guess my eyes said it all.

To be continued..

By Priyanka