It's a date!

[Disclaimer: Fictional Post]

(Dedicated to my latest blog reader. Thank you for inspiring me to pick up the pen again)

‘Beep’

With that innocent sound, the door swung open to what I strongly believed to be modern slavery. I groaned and moved in lest the guards decided to check why this one person is standing and staring at a perfectly common door. Thus, began another day of slogging through the emails, bitching about colleagues and using tools provided by Mr. Bill Gates to move a little closer to buying the invention by Mr. Steve Jobs for myself.

I sat down on my seat and pulled my keyboard closer. Even before I had finished typing in my password, my throat felt dry and suddenly my eyelids started to droop. I need caffeine. I popped my head over the cubicle wall to see if my morning coffee buddy had come in yet. This guy, Shubham, was amazing. He brought in all the office gossips right over a cup of freshly brewed machine coffee. Everything you could ever need to know was available with him.

He wasn’t there but on the seat opposite his, I got a glimpse of her. It made me realize that I need to change my coffee buddy soon. Who needed to hear the office gossip anyway? I did not.

She was sitting there, in a smart white shirt with blue cuffs and collar, pressing the monitor buttons, sighing as the stubborn monitor did not respond. She bit her lower lip as she started looking around for help. She flipped her hair back which fell just below her shoulders and her kohl eyes turned towards me and met my gaze.

In a flash, I went down behind the wall. For some reason, my heart decided it needed to beat twice as fast. I did not recognize her. Maybe she was new. I certainly would not forget that face had I seen her before. New or not, staring would certainly attract an HR email and I wasn’t willing to have that on my untarnished record.

'Cute! She would not have that problem with you. I am sure you will respond to her' Great! Mr. Brain has decided to wake up today.

Eyes down, I was looking at nothing really and my hands were just hovering over the keyboard. Should I check? Maybe she needs help. Okay, let’s do it. 'You really need not have ducked!' Shut up Brain! I raised my head again to look in her direction, but she wasn’t there.

“Hey!”

I sat down with a start and almost lost balance on the chair. She was standing right there, right next to my seat. 'Wayyy out of your league man! And hey, great fall'

“Hi!” I said holding on to the armrest.

“Sorry! I did not mean to startle you” She smiled apologetically, and I swear at that moment I held nothing against her. I could not imagine anyone holding anything against her. “Actually, I am new here and I needed to test my login and access once, but I can’t get the monitor started. Can you help?” She was pointing to the still stubbornly shut monitor across the wall.

“Sure” I got up and followed her to the seat.

'Aha! A damsel in distress! Get up you knight in shining armor and save the day. Also, you can speak more than one word at a time. I do have a good vocabulary.' Wisecrack, you can help rather than just providing commentary.

Wait! Am I fighting with my own brain?

“It won’t turn on. I checked the cables too but cannot find the fault.” She crossed her hands and stood back.

I nodded and ducked under the table. Skimming through the wires I could see the monitor wire was loose. 'She would have seen that and still could not fix? Not very smart. OR maybe she saw that and still came over to ask for help. She wants you to ask her out now!' Hold your horses, Sir Thinks-a-lot. I plugged the wire in and got back up. The monitor lighted up at the push of a button.

“You fixed it! Thanks a lot!”

“Well it was just a loose plug, wasn’t a big deal…” 'She is happy you helped her out. Take the compliment you idiot' “…but yeah I did make it work” I finished sheepishly.

“I should have seen that. I did not need to bother you for this.” She was apologizing again but I still did not hold anything against her.

“Hey, no bother at all. Happy to help” I waved away her apology. 'Now tip your cap and ask her for a five-star rating also.' Not very cooperative Mr.Brain. A little help, please?
“So, which team are you joining?”

“You know Sushant? He asked to check if all my access were setup. I will join next week actually…” I had no clue we had a Sushant in the office, but I nodded. Maybe Shubham would have some dirt on him. But I mean, I should probably find this Sushant and say thank you. Maybe even write him a thank you mail for hiring her. “…What team are you with?” She was staring at me with those big eyes, eyebrows raised expecting a reply. I stopped drafting that thank you mail in my head and came back.

“I work with Raj who sits right there. You will know about us. We are the party team, the cool kids” 

'Cool kids? Are you for real right now?'

“Hmm, good to know that” She was smiling again. But this seemed more of a pity smile. 'That is definitely a pity smile'

“What’s your name?”

“Priya. And you?”

“Oh. I am Vishal. Good to meet you.” Normally the conversation would have ended here but... “Priya, how about grabbing a cup of coffee sometime?” 'Okay, that was a bold move. I am proud of you'

She looked at me and was definitely smiling now, not the pity smile. Oh, what would I not give to see that smile every day?

“Yes sure. It would be good to know the cool kid around here, right?” She laughed and I smiled back.

“Awesome so coffee is done,” I said and gave a double thumbs up. 'Oh no, man!'

“Sounds like a plan.” She said and added “Umm... Vishal, I have got to check this now and rush.”

“Oh, for sure. I will see you then” 'Smooth. Not bad at all.'

I walked back to my seat with a smile plastered all over my face. She finished her work and I saw her walk to the door. She waved as she left, and I waved back, still smiling. As her figure slowly moved away, Shubham checked in, you know my ex-coffee buddy. He will be updated about his status soon.

“What’s up, dude? You look very happy for a Monday”

“Just got a coffee plan made” I replied, still smiling.

“Nice going.” Shubham’s head was bobbling up and down, you could sense his excitement. I was the gossip now. “Decided the place? Sometimes you need bookings these days. I can help you. When is this? This weekend?”

I looked blankly at him; my smile was gone. 'There it is!' I hadn’t settled on a place or a date with her. “Who is Sushant?”

“I don’t know man. Why?”

He looked confused as he saw me hit my head on the keyboard. I will have to wait a full, long week to see her again!

Source: Flickr.com

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