A short love story

Romantic persuasions
Two whole weeks later, I walked into the café and there she was, all radiant and bright. Gosh, I had missed her! I sat down at a table a few tables away from her. I knew I wanted to talk to her. And thank God, the café was quite empty. It was a bit too early for the horde of coffee addicts to make their entrance.
I waited until her coffee arrived. And then, I waited for her check. When her check was on the table, I walked up to her. My throat was lumpy and tight. Each step I took only made my walk to her feel further away. But I walked on. The café was empty. No harm. I could always change my hangout if she slaps me. What was I thinking, dammit!
“Hey, you can’t run away from me today. You’ve got to get your check”, I quirked.
“What?” she exclaimed before she realized she actually replied.
“I said you can’t just avoid me like this, you know…”
“What are you talking about?”
“Can I sit down with you?”
“No, you can’t.”
“Oww… c’mon, just for a minute, okay?”
“No”
She took out her wallet, and wanted to dart. I couldn’t help getting mesmerized by her voice, but there were more pressing things at hand. I had to talk to her.
To cut a long jittery conversation short, I convinced her to talk to me for a few minutes. And that’s when everything started breezing through. We started talking, and the minutes stretched on at a really fast pace. I got to know so much about her, and I also got to know that she had a great sense of humor. We had a great time talking to each other, and soon, she said she had to go, as it was getting late for her.
We exchanged numbers and I asked her if we could “bump in” again tomorrow. She just smiled and walked away. Sigh! It was bliss. As I stared at her walk away, my eyes were distracted by an alphabet bracelet she had forgotten behind.  It said “life is a surprise”. Wow! Maybe that was true. I slipped the bracelet into my pocket.
Feeling the love at night
I lay awake that night and I stared at her number on my cell phone. I wanted to call her, but settled for a text. The very minute I texted her, I got a call from her. She too was contemplating over whether or not to message me. Sweet!
We spoke and spoke until the wee hours of the morning, and I just wanted to see her again that evening. We met again at the café and it felt so good. She was smiling the whole time and we were actually flirting back and forth. I asked her out for a movie that evening.
All of a sudden, she looked offended. She declined. And then, there was silence. That calm, deadly silence that makes you feel worse than getting yelled at. I asked her what was wrong, but she didn’t mention it, and our “date” was cut short that evening. I got home and looked at her bracelet. “Life is a surprise”. Simple words can be a confusing affair at times.
Rekindling my love story
That night, I called her again and we spoke. At first she was distant, but she seemed fine after a while, and then I asked her why she got so offended in the café. She didn’t tell at first, but as the hours went by, she told me that she hated guys and the worst thing she ever wanted to do was go out on a date with a guy.
Apparently, she had been hurt one too many times by guys whom she trusted with all her heart. We spoke until five in the morning, and she told me a lot more. I just wanted to hug her, but even the thought of giving her a telephonic hug scared me. But we decided to meet again. Same bat place, same bat time.
We started hanging out together all the time after that. At times, I picked her up from her workplace, and at other times, I dropped her back home. Soon, weeks turned into months, and this time, everything felt just like a fairytale.
Time stood still when it was just the two of us. One evening, when we met up and went to the café, it was too crowded for space, so we decided to go for a drive to while away the time. It was a long drive, and somewhere along the way, the sun was shining mildly at us, it was a huge red ball that made the whole world around me glow. It was the most romantic sight, or maybe I had never noticed the sun at that time of the day. Nevertheless, it was beautiful.
She said the sun was beautiful. I said it couldn’t be compared to her. She smiled. I smiled. I clasped her hand. It felt tense. And then, we locked eyes. Thank God, the road was deserted. And then, her lips split into a girlish grin that I still can’t forget. That was the moment. It was indeed beautiful. I felt warm and fuzzy. And I wanted the drive to last forever. We got to her place, and I hugged her goodbye. That was the first time I ever hugged her. As we hugged, I knew she didn’t want to let go. Neither did I.

Love Story is a 1970 romantic drama film written by Erich Segal, who also authored the best-selling novel of the same name. It was directed by Arthur Hiller and starred Ryan O'Neal, Ali MacGraw, John Marley, Ray Milland and Tommy Lee Jones in his film debut in a minor role. A tragedy, the film is considered one of the most romantic by the American Film Institute (#9 on the list) and one of the highest grossing films in U.S history.[2] It was followed by a sequel, Oliver's Story (1978), starring O'Neal with Candice Bergen.