First Love
It never helped me much that I had only myself to interact with. Life was never the same after coming home from the dorm. Parents were away for a wedding which I had very conveniently avoided. When I walked down to the nearest video store to pick a movie it happened then. It was the most striking face I had seen after a very long time. I walked up to him and wanted to have a closer look. I was just fiddling with thoughts and words to be put together as I approached him. He had a chiselled face with a sharp nose and lips that were so small that they looked as if he was pouting.
“Hi. I’m Kristy.” I said as I extended my hand. He looked me up and down and smiled slyly . His smile travelled to his dark eyes. I was sure he gasped when he saw the skin that was visible from the slit of my white laced evening gown. I smiled to myself that my charm worked on him. “ Call me John.” He said as he took my hand into his.His hand was big but soft like a baby’s hand. He stared into my blue eyes as he still held my tiny hand in his.
We got talking into the wee hours of the night in the bar next to the video store. He suddenly saw the video that I was holding and asked me if I was going to watch it tonight. I said yes and then he said that he had a good home theatre with a 60 inch TV and so if I wanted I could come and watch at his house. I searched for any propositions that he was making along with the invitation.But there were none. He looked genuine.
I said that I would meet him in 10 minutes at the end of the road and ran home. I slipped into something warm, touched up my lips , picked up a matching bag and slid on my running shoes in which my feet were always comfortably snuggled. He was already at the wheel of a maroon marcedes waiting eagerly for me ,with his knuckles drumming on the wheel.He didn’t even give a glance to my clothes though he did smile at me before he started the engine.In 15 minutes flat we were at a huge mansion in a very posh locality. ‘So he is a rich brat’,I thought as I got down the car.But he didn’t behave like one, the voice inside me said.
The house was huge enough to accommodate an entire town I thought as I walked into the living room. The biege colour sectional sofa was elegant with glass side tables. There was a glass vase on one of them which looked like the upper portion of a woman’s body with the shape of the breasts too.Pretty colourful artificial flowers adorned in the place of the head.I had never seen such an artistic piece before. Below the stairway, near the dining area, was a huge modern painting which was colourful too.
John brought some beers and some baked corn chips with an italian dip which he said that he had made at home.Tom cruise looked very handsome and sexy. We ate the ravioli which he had heated up in the microwave as we watched the action scenes of the ‘Top gun’. We were sitting next to each other and I didn’t even realize that he had his hand around my shoulders. I woke up with a start and saw that I had dozed off in his arms. He was looking constantly at my face and the next thing I knew we were staring into each other’s eyes. After what seemed like ages, we came to our senses.
I stood up in an instant and mumbled that I have to go back home.
“ You can stay for the night if you want to. Anyway, it is already 3am and I wouldn’t think it appropriate for you to go to an empty house at this time of the night.”
Before I could say another word,he lovingly took my hand and led me to a room which was apparently not much used, propably was only for guests. “My sis’s clothes are in that closet. If you wish you could change into some sleepwear.” I liked the way he treated me with care and chose the right words to say to me. I couldn’t sleep much the rest of the night not only because it was a new place and new places creep me out, but also because I felt a new something inside me when I thought about John. Is this love? I thought that being a happy-go-lucky-girl, I would never experience any such feelings for anybody. I had a lot of friends, both boys and girls, but I had never ever fallen for anyone and now wasn’t even sure if I had fallen for John. I hardly knew him. But I wanted to know him better . I wanted to know him so much that I would love him all the more and maybe one day would take him home to her parents. I smiled at my thoughts. A voice inside me told me again and again that I hardly knew him.
I got up and looked around the room. It was very neatly organised which I hadn’t noticed with sleepy eyes last night.There was a book-shelf which had mostly business books and some fiction too. I walked out the door into the living room and saw nobody there. I tiptoed slowly into the kitchen and was amazed to see a large designer kitchen but with no signs of regular use. I opened one closet and it was filled with the finest crocery. I took out a glass, filled water from the sink and slowly savoured the cold water going down my throat, as I walked into the family room. It was very much tempting to go upstairs and look at the other bedrooms.
My temptation took the better of me and before I knew it, I was at the top of the stairs. There were three bedrooms and two of them had closed doors. The doors had beautiful carvings on them. I thought of going back down when I saw the half open door of one of bedrooms and stopped. I could faintly hear a voice mumbling something. Walking on my tipy toes, I slowly peeped into the room. Somebody was sleeping with the comfortor way over the head and it was clearer now that somebody was in pain by the voice. I stepped inside the room , mustering courage approached the bed and said, “Hello , need any help?” There was no answer. I called out again. No answer. I slowly removed the comforter from over the head and was surprised at what I saw.
She was blonde and had a perfect face and probably the perfect body too from the little that I saw . She was cuddled up with a bear which she was holding tight and her body was slowly rocking. Though she was sleeping, I could see tears trickling down her cheeks. I didn’t know what to do and quickly walked out of the room and was about to run down the stairs when the door opposite to the room I was just in, now opened and there he stood like a greek God. He was in his green night gown and his hair was rumpled and he had a fresh stubble. I stopped breathing for a moment when I saw him standing there all the more attractive than the previous night. For a moment, a thought crossed my mind that I run into his arms, but my senses were pretty alert today for all I knew. I said “hi”, not knowing what else to say in the way of explaining as to what I was doing upstairs.
“Good Morning Kristy. Did you have a good sleep?” I nodded my head and quickly took my eyes from his face as I didn’t want him to know that I was lying. I didn’t want to be in a situation where I need to tell him that I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking about him.
I climbed down the steps as he followed me. I was cautiously walking as I knew that he was looking at me, perhaps he was looking at the swing of my hips. I tried to llok from the corner of my eyes tilting my head to the right a bit. I was surprised to note that he was not even looking at me but was lost in a trance as he walked down. He made coffee for himself and me and then I asked, “What about coffee for the lady upstairs?” He was silent for a while and then looked deep into my eyes and said, “ She is sick.” “Oh!” was all I could mutter to say. I was a little surprised that he didn’t bother to ask why I went upstairs into that bedroom. I didn’t want to be rude probing deeper and so didn’t ask any further questions about her health or who she was.
We went and sat on the sofa and watched ‘Good Morning America’ as we sipped our coffee. We got talking and he asked me about myself, my family,my studies and friends. I myself was surprised how freely I could talk to him about everything, going into details about things from my childhood, about my friends’ boyfriends, why I hated politics, how I loved watching tom cruise movies, everything under the sun. He listened attentively as if he was born to do that. He was a courteous gentleman who was an intent listener as much as he was attractive, I summed up in my mind. He told me about his work, his friends, when and how he had bought this house, everything except about the girl upstairs. My curiousity was troubling me though my good upbringing didn’t allow me to pry into his personal life.
I got up to go , and then it happened. In the flick of a second, I had bend down over his face as he was still on the sofa and closed his mouth with my lips. There was no movement from his side for a while, which seemed like ieons to me, when he put his hands around me and gently set me on his lap all the while kissing me back gently.As the passion in both of us rose, and our hands started to move over each other’s body, I came to my senses first and pulled myself away and stood up. I was feeling awakward at what I did and guilty too. I didn’t know what had come of me.
“I’m sorry for that” I said.
“Please don’t be. I had never believed in Love-at-first-sight till I met you”, he said. I looked up into his eyes and I could see tears in his eyes.
“Me too”, I said gently rubbing his cheek, not knowing why he was so emotional about it.
“ I need to go now , otheriwse , I would stay here forever”, I smiled and started for the door with him walking beside me.
“Let me come and drop you.” He said and took his car keys from the mantle on the fireplace where there was an old picture of someone standing in the snow all covered up from head to toe in warm clothes. I coulsn’t figure out the person, nor did I want to ask him about, but guessed as much that it must be the girl upstairs. ‘was she the sis whose clothes were downstairs? Or was she a distant cousin who was staying with him and getting her treatment done?And for what?’ Questions ran in my head as fast as the car ran on the road towards my house.
As I was about to get down, he squeezed my hand and looked lovingly into my eyes. I smiled and said “ Do you think we would meet again?” expecting him to answer in the positive. When he said, “No”, I was stunned and looked serachingly into his eyes. They were sad, and he said in a low tone, “I am sorry Kristy. Wish I had never met you. The lady you saw in my house is my ailing wife. She is suffering from Cancer and is not very far..” his voice choked as tears ran down his cheek. I didn’t say anything for a long time. Both of us sat there in silence for a while. And then I sighed and said, “I’m sorry to hear that John. Call me if you need any help.” And handed him my number written on a piece of paper which I had done in his house and had anyways wanted to give him before we parted.
He never called and I never met him again.Maybe that is what fate had in for me as a little taste of ‘First Love’.