I had only seen her in the library before this. Catching quick glances of each other as we used to do, occasionally squeezing in a smile or two between the brief exposure we had to each other once we realized that the stares were mutual.
For around 2 weeks we used the library as a tryst for our eyes to study each other, until I finally mustered the courage to ask her to have a drink with me. The local watering hole between the library and home is where we decided to have our first real adult rendezvous. I had no idea who this girl was, no idea of what she was majoring in, why she was in the library so often and what her status was. That was the best part, I didn't make it a point to look her up and neither did she. She was just a stranger to me as much as I was to her. All I knew was that she packed quite a package under those tight blue jeans of hers which is what caught my attention in the first place. She wasn't extraordinarily beautiful, no, there were prettier girls in the library but there was something about her that just drew my attention to her. Maybe it was her pony tailed hair, or the mole on her upper lip, or maybe the fact that she didn't have the standard traits a girl would have. No polished nails, no well kept, smooth, waxed hands. Or atleast I thought they weren't waxed only later to find out that she was one of those who didn't sprout hair the way normal people used to, so good for her.
Her outfit usually consisted of a plain regular t shirt and a sweater if it was cold. A couple of times I noticed that she didn't wear a bra because I could see her perky nipples through her shirt, and sometimes noticed the way they bounced when she walked past me. I even caught her looking at me looking at them and maybe intentionally made a deliberate attempt to pass my table more than a couple of times, leaving behind her natural odour which was pleasant and lightly tinged with the essence of some flower I couldn't put my finger on. I liked that in a girl, a girl who dint do things to put herself out there, yet naturally carried themselves well enough to draw attention to them, whether they liked it or not.
It was a Friday and I had just got done with buying groceries for the weekend and the following week. I showered and got dressed wearing a simple LedZepp shirt and my regular deep blue jeans and boots. I made sure I got there 5 minutes earlier just so that I could see her coming and could prep myself accordingly. 10 minutes into the wait and then I felt a tap on my shoulder. And there she was standing behind me, in her unassuming demeanour. She smiled at me, that sweet smile, the smile I looked to induce multiple times but failed, hence throwing me off track even more which is why this meeting took so long to arrange.
"Hey" I said and smiled at her. "Shall we?" I asked, and she pointed in the direction of the door to the Frosty Froth, as we entered. The mood was just setting in for the evening, the best part of it being that they played sub pop music. I loved it and everything that shrouded the era, so it was easier for me to just be me and worry only about the things to say to my date for the evening. "Outshined" she exclaimed while pointing to the ceiling. I couldn't help but smile and said loudly "Soundgarden". Nodding and cringing while bobbing her head, she walked me to a table by the window. We took our seats across each other and looked around, acquainting ourselves with our new surroundings, where we would spend the next 3 hours talking about anything and everything. Her passion for agro sciences, which is what she was majoring in, her Masters in biotech which is where her interests truly lied. There wasn't anything mesmerising about her ambitions and her outlook of life. Nothing that really interested her interested me, except for one thing...Music. That's right. The one thing I'd hoped for her to like, she did. She later told me that it was the same reason she said ok to seeing me here in the first place.
While she spoke, I couldn't help but stare at her lips move. That mole moving aside every time she paused to smile or giggle. That mole I tell you, its all I could keep in my mind for more than 5 seconds, because everything flowed by spiritedly with a brilliant mixture of beer, conversation and occasional touching of our feet when we shuffled them.
"I've got 'Alice in Chain's' best album when Layne Staley was still alive and kicking" I said. I was overwhelmed when her eyes grew twice their size and her eyebrows arched perfectly concentric atop them.
"Can I see?" she asked.
"It'd be my pleasure miss," I said coyly.
We ditched the bill and wore our jackets and started off in the direction of my apartment.
I put my arm through hers and guided her up my stairwell to the 2nd floor, where my cave lay. Cave is what it was, because it was dark, damp and musty with all the cigarette smoking and stale beer. "Pardon the mess" I exclaimed with a slight tone of embarrassment. "Ha ha, I'd have been surprised if it was any different" is what she said, only deepening my infatuation with this new person I found. Pointing at the couch, I walked to the fridge and grabbed 2 premiums, popping them open with my opener and not my teeth, remembering the last incident wherein my friend spat out atleast a quarter tumbler of blood while trying to jimmy it open with his molars. Nothing was worth that.
Handing over her beer, I walked over to my stereo, where in I picked up 'Dirt', the best album from Alice in Chains which I knew was gold. Popped it in, and waited for that lovely grungy riff to kick in before slowly walking in a jig towards my new guest, just staring at me in bewilderment and smiling away like I was a freak whom she totally got.
"I love this album" I yelled over the music as the bass kicked in and that mother fucker started singing in his distressed, drugged voice of his. I sat next to her and took a large swig of my frosty frothy beer right after whacking it against hers. I sang in a high pitched voice while staring right into her eyes. I was having such a good time, I didn't hold myself back and although she didn't know the lyrics she just played along like she'd been listening to it just as long as I'd been. Who was this girl. We didn't even like the same things, not the same opinion on cars, bikes and topics I found were of relevance. We went through the first track without a single word being said. A pause and then the second song started. My system was old and the volume fluctuated usually towards the higher side.