Never Meet You Again

SNEAK A PEEK

BACKGROUND: Restaurant Sidney

The snow covered slippery pavement was killing the beauty of her boots. That was her favorite one. She puffed out hot breath into her woolen scarf around her neck. All those dates were getting on her nerves. Sarah touched her cheeks and they felt like cold ice cream being pressed. Her cheeks and nose could fall off at any point in the unfamiliar london cold weather. She was on her way to her 9th blind date with somebody she didn't even bother to check.

Her father passed away two years ago. But her grandparents were still alive and well.(Shame for her father.) There was only a small spark of resentment and sadness left in her for her father. She was separated from her grandparents by her mother who was suddenly caught by some ghost and wanted to fulfill her duties as mother. Hence her life went into her mother's hands when she was 15 That's when her leash was forcefully taken over by her mother and was still with her. Like any woman in her good side of 20's, Sarah was being haunted by the Grim Reaper called Marriage, more accurately Blind dates.

She settled down in London to get away from the Reaper. But her mother came along with the leash. This particular snowy night, Sarah was dragging herself to her 9th blind date on a busy London street. She had tried dating but things never worked for her, which was an ultimate reason to her for being haunted by blind dates. A kind of disappointment always tagged along after every date and now she didn't care. She was just blindly following her mother for so long, that all the relations she shared with anyone in the present were just numb and void.

She entered the beautifully lit restaurant and looked for a man with dark blue coat. That was the hint.' Let's get done with this already.' She was determined.

'I wish, the waiter would come over and swing a knife at my neck, or my jacket could just engulf me.' She shifted in her seat at her designated table.

It has been 10 years since she and the pervert boy lost contact. She swore that day, not to keep in touch with him. She left the city, the day after she made the drunken promise in front of his crocodile tears. And unexpectedly, she found his diary again in her luggage after she left. All thanks to her attentive grandma who made sure that she didn't miss on anything. She was not going to keep a perverts diary of perverted thoughts which would make her look like a pervert. She just stashed it among her old notebooks to be given for recycling.

"So…"

She flinched and continued fiddling with her bag. His voice has gotten a lot better compared the creaks she could sense when his voice box was still trying to fit in with his physic, back in 10th grade. She was shaking miserably and Josh in dark blue coat could notice. He regretted his past actions which made his chest hair stand up, all ready to leave his perverted body whenever he thought about the past. He was now a grown man working in a multi tech company in London. He had reasons to be there. By the looks of Sarah, he could say that she had yet to discover the function of the book he gave her. It was saddening that she never opened his book after she left the city.

He slipped the book into her bag while she was sobbing in the library with her hiccups echoing and hence giving him time to slip it in.

"So…, I was going to say 'sorry' for all the past offensive actions of mine which caused you discomfort. I know was a bit naughty. I hope you forgive me. It's good that we got to meet again. I was able to apologize." Sarah's shoulders loosened and her bag got some breath after being choked for so long.

Her brain said "phewww". She was shivering and holding her tightening her butt for nothing. She had a million of scenarios in her head for her tragic ending that night, like- he will tilt his head like a devil and say 'time to fulfill your promise', or drugging her meal and dragging her away to some abandoned cottage and butcher her.

She felt at ease and a smile of relief showed up on her earlier sweating face.

"It's ok. I forgot it long ago. Hahaha". Their meeting got warmer and homey. They both forgot that it was supposed to be a blind date. The snow was falling to the road outside with melodramatic mood and buzzling of folks. The mood was lifted but the intention of putting down the date was forgotten. They chatted about their lives and surprisingly josh was speaking very maturely. They provided each other's contact info and left the restaurant with delighted faces.

The same night, Sarah stumbled into her house, huffing after taking a long set of stairs. She cursed the elevator which was under repair. She imagined herself as Rapunzel's witch mother who had to go up and down the huge tower for every single errand. But, then suddenly her mother hissed "Damn" and pulled her out of her long hair, rich parents fantasy. She glanced at her mother's way as she undid her shawl and murmured "oh! I forgot. The real witch was here."

Her mother was scribbling, scratching and shaking her pen while sitting by the counter. Her pen wasn't working. She shook the pen until her hands flew off.

"What is it? Mother." even though she knew, she asked anyways.

"Urgh. I am trying to write down the grocery list for tomorrow but this pen won't work on this page."

Well, seems like god is finally supporting the Rapunzel who had to visit grocery stores more often than her visits of washroom. She smiled wickedly, knowing that her mother was not looking her way. The scratching and kick boxing went for a while until Sarah had already done changing into her home clothes, sweater and flip flops.

Being the savior of each and every one of her mother's crisis, she stepped in for the rescue and after snatching the disobedient pen, she magically wrote a random name on the book which her mother was assaulting a while ago. The pen was tamed by Sarah. She didn't shake it even once. She looked her mother's way with a cocked brows, meaning –'seriously?' she shook her head in disbelief of her mother's useless cursing over the pen for the last few minutes.

She reached for the thermos of hot water to drink after which she will shut her room and doze off on her bed, with phone underneath the pillow and head hanging down by the side. The night was already at its peak of endless darkness and countable number of stars. She was already yowning on her way back home.

Her hands stopped halfway in its job and she twisted her neck sharply towards the book her mother was scratching over. It was a thick diary and had a royal feel of it with golden border designs and golden color spirals. She snatched it in a flash and checked its front. Thunder fell over her as she recognized the love diary of Josh. Quick enough, her body fell to floor in ashes after the thunder when she noticed the name she had written on the book. It read "Josh".

She thought about how she never took any of her dates seriously and closed down all the dates with straight forward rejection, but today she forgot that and to add more to the shocking realization, she exchanged numbers with him. She felt like a teenager in a 25 year old woman's body.