Yes, I am 15 years of age and well as you can make out, quite a teenager. I just broke up, and like a dweeb here I am, sitting in a pizza parlour with my so-called friends. Friends, who didn’t even care to call me when I told them about the depressing break-up. Friends, who laughed away the turmoil inside me. Friends, who forgot to call me on my birthday. And above all, friends who ask for forgiveness after all this. I steal a glance at the pizza parlour… Nah... No acquaintance. I try to concentrate on the tip of the spoon kept beside the china dish which has an untouched piece of pizza which I would’ve thought of as scrumptious on any other occasion. Instead, I see a bloated faceted reflection staring back at me from the face of the teaspoon. Infact that bloated face isn’t me at all. She has a look of deep sadness in her eyes. I don’t. I try to cheer up a bit and ignore my friends who are probably laughing at the dressing sense of another guy.
'Come on, girl! Cheer up. He was a freak, anyway. Don’t know how you fell for him. Uhh… Ever seen his fashion sense?!' said Angela.
Her persistence on the word how drove me nuts. She judges people on clothes, every time. Maybe that’s why her boyfriend wears Diesel, Nike, Adidas, Levi’s, Cooper, Calvin and Klein… all at the same time. Branded from top to bottom. Even horse brands are better than being labeled as the brand-wearer.
'Look at that cutie. I thought he just winked at me!' said Reema oops... Rema.
She had modernized her archaic name by removing an ‘e’. Rest of the girls just sat smirking. I started puncturing my pizza with my fork, all the time wishing that I could do the same with the people sitting around me. That was the moment. I felt a tap on my shoulder and from the expressionless faces of my friends, I could make out that it was a guy. I turned around all the time praying that it won’t be him. It wasn’t him.
'You’re... you’re Rhea, right?' he said.
'Um, yes I am. But are you sure you’re looking for the correct person? Because I don’t think that I know you…' I broke off, trying hard to recollect if I knew him.
'Yes, you’re pretty much the one I am looking for.' He smiled and I felt weak in my knees, like I had never felt before. I smiled too, the first time since two days. And I felt an upcoming blush so I looked down quickly.
'But I still didn’t… Who are you?' I said, still looking dazed.
'Rahul. The guy you chat with? From MSN?'
'Oh! The name was enough. Hi! You’re here, how come?'
'Just came with a few of my friends. I thought you looked familiar and just came up to say hi.'
'That’s nice. Oh and by the way, why don’t you and your friends join us? I am sure that my friends need some company.' I said, overlooking the fact that they (my friends) were constantly staring at me.
'I’ll ask them. Be back in a bit.' He said moving towards his group of friends which was (when I counted) the same number as mine. I could see all of them moving towards our table. They all settled down and after a round of introductions we ate our food (I ate mine too!). I could see all of my friends settling down with one guy each. I sighed, after all people don’t change so quickly. I looked at Rahul who was probably doing the same thing. I dismissed my minor attraction as my haste to get over my ex. But nevertheless, I felt a tinge of jealousy as I saw all of my friends with guys. All my friends got up, suddenly leaving me and Rahul sitting.
'Hey, hey, hey! Where are you guys going?' I asked.
“For a walk?!!” they exclaimed together.
“Go ahead.” Rahul said.
Arm in arm all of them disappeared out of the pizza place. Trying hard to come up with a topic to talk on, I was staring at my hands when I heard a coughing sound.
'So...' Rahul said, perhaps trying to come up with a topic to but with no use.
'How’s life?' I asked.
'Fine… With the music, guitar, drums and all… It’s amazing!!'
'Great!'
'How’s your boyfriend? That guy..?' he asked.
'We broke up a week ago. He was cheating on me.' I said, looking in another direction.
'Oh… right.' He said
'There’s this beach, 15 minutes drive from here. It’s an amazing place for cheering up. Want to go there?' he asked, e-mailing a mischievous smile in my direction.
'Why not! Let’s go'
'In an Alto..!' he said and we started laughing over such a poor joke like kids, giving the people in the pizzeria a chance to stare at us.
He (rather his father) owned a red Ferrari (rich people!). It was an amazing ride to the beach. We removed our shoes in the car and as I was wearing a pair of jeans, I figured I won’t have trouble walking in the sand. We walked towards the sea and settled a bit away from the place where the water was lashing against the short as neither of us had extra pieces of clothing with us.
'You know…' he said (another desperate attempt to start a talk!)
'Yeah..?'
'I kind of liked you ever since we spoke to each other…'
'You know what?' I answered.
'Yeah..?'
'Me too…' and we both burst out laughing. He held my hand and looked into my eyes. His eyes were so deep; they could’ve probably melted the ice caps on mountains! We stood up and walked to the end of the shore; hand in hand. Just as the sun was melting away, he bent and asked me to be with him. I said yes. The people on the beach saw two silhouetted figures. One amazingly tall; one cutely short. Both of them, promising to be together till the end of the time.
