EIGHT

CHAPTER  VIII
 
There’s a saying, “If love is the best part of life, then kiss is the best part of love”. The elusive first kiss is always special for everyone. Atleast always remembered if not special. It could be worst, could be heavenual; could be planned and rehearsed, could be most surprising and all of a sudden. But is always remembered, even if you don’t remember the face of the other partner. It’s something which occurs only once in a lifetime.
So it was this once in a lifetime moment for me ……….
            It was dark and late. Me and Natalie were sitting infront of our block, on the footsteps. I could barely see her face. She was looking at me and I held her hand. She covered her face and hid herself in the clutches of her knees. I stayed there silent. I kissed on the back of her head. She looked at me and said, “What are you doing?”
I replied saying, “I dunno.”
I neared, held her hand and stared at her eyes even in the dark. I moved forward for a kiss but she swayed away.
She smiled and said, “Noooo.”
I smiled back and made my teacup pig face and again leaned forward only this time she closed her eyes and I lifted her chin and suddenly I felt her lips on mine. The feeling of soft muscles upon my lips numbed me from everything else. I kissed her. She too kissed me passionately. After about 5 niravanising seconds it was over. We both didn’t knOw what to say or do. I was shimmering from inside and thanking the Heavens too for the first kiss. I took hold of her hand and remained silent.
After a long silence I stood up and said, “It’s 6:30.”
She was still there sitting and with a glee and a smile on her face pondering. Don’t know what, but she was. Then I said, “Let’s go.”
That was the first time I dropped her back to the hostel. On the way she said, “I’d never thought I’d come here and kiss a guy, I’m blushing right now and I’m not able to look into your eyes.”
 
“Me too”, I replied.
 
“I’d too never thought that this would have happened”, I added further. I looked at her and in the dim halogen street light and she looked stunning. Like never before.
You see some things are done or seen in life for which you don’t have an answer or any explanation to it. Its obscure….. Destiny drives you towards it knowingly or unknowingly. Gravity acts upon an object immaterial of whether that object is being pushed off from a cliff or has thrown itself. Same way destiny was driving me towards her immaterial of the consequence being for my good or the reverse. But I let it flow.
 
On the way back, my mind and soul was stuck. Stuck somewhere and lost. That kiss was still afresh in my mind and I knew it’ll be forever even if she won’t.  I was floating. Flying high.
As I entered my room, my roommate instantly said, “Hey what happened? There’s an extraordinary glow in your face ha?”
I grinned and shook my head in denial and said nothing. I didn’t reveal anything to any of my pals. They knew we were kinof’ dating, but nothing more than that I guess. Guys queried a lot but I never said a word about me and Natalie and what exactly was happening between us. They thought Natalie was my girlfriend but I knew she wasn’t and I never told them she was either.
            After about quarter of an hour she rang me up. She was completely different. The way she chatted and laughed was like never before. I pondered, can a kiss bring so much intimacy among two humans. A guy from one part of the country falls in love with a  girl from different part of the country and goes on to kiss her and now sees the so called relationship becoming completely different. Could this be possible? Has the kiss won it for me?  
Meanwhile she was still chattering continuously, blah blah blah about everything and nothing. I couldn’t understand what but I certainly enjoyed listening her talk and talk and talk and endlessly talk……………
She was probably thinking about me more than I was thinking about her for the first time. I knew something was changing. I was changing. She was changing. And the whole wide world for me was changing.
           
And Oh! I nearly forgot to mention, she is a ******* girl. Infact, I came to know about it in the middle of the conversation. I mean her father was a Bengali that I knew and her mother was from a***********. But the tragedy lies in the fact that her father practiced polygamy, if I’d to put it in a decent way. And her stepmother was from my race. Now that explains Natalie’s answer the other day and why her mother hated my race.
 
            For now we still weren’t formally couples. We were just two opposite sexes infatuated towards each other and happened to kiss all of a sudden. But as its said kisses are like a tin of olives. It’s difficult to get the first one but once you get that first rest comes easily. So every evening we would sit in the same spot isolated from the rest of the world in darkness, held each other’s hand, talk and ofcourse smooch.
 
Now no matter how a rookie or a saint a guy is, the only thing he’s thinking about while kissing is, “When should I?” Isn’t it.
It happened to me a lot. But she was too special for me to risk anything like that and put our whatever relationship we had in jeopardy. So I didn’t. I wanted to. But I didn’t.
By now we were totally into each other and it was known by everyone. I mean everyone. Even my lecturers would satirically pinch me whenever I was out of my focus in class or out of Goldilocks Zone in terms of grades.
Nevertheless, I was unperturbed by any of it. But that’s what happens when you’re in love I guess. Every other feeling, desire and emotion is numbed out when there’s an obscure and pleasing sensation running in from your upper abdomen to lower. The only thing you care about and think about is the person who is giving you this sensation. Bunk lectures, practicals, miss hangouts with your friends; miss a simple puff of cigarette and a cup of tea in the old canteen. Every other activity seems boring and is moved out of the prime perspective. But rather sit all day long beside her and talk about things which are actually hell boring and f*****g but so much pleasing at that moment of time. But in the middle of all these lovacious moments being a guy anybody would miss the hell breaking jam-outs.
 
Hence, I was missing it too……………………….