Wish Upon the Shooting Star

part 2 of Waiting for the Shooting Star

1:57 am, the clock on Albie’s phone said. He threw the phone back on the bed and focused on the novel in his hand, a very gripping crime thriller. He was just about to finish another chapter. Had it been some time back, he would have been sound asleep at this time, he used to have a very strict policy of going to bed at 12 am. He used to be the first among his roommates to go to sleep, not anymore, unless he had exams next morning. It wasn’t a conscious decision, it became so after Annie came along. Her name seemed to pop up everywhere, Annie’s bakery, Annie’s Signature Bristo, Even the novel he was reading had a character named ‘Annie Solomon.’, a witty and savvy detective.

‘You took my sleep away’, he wanted to sing, the way MLTR sings ‘You took my heart away’, but sadly he wasn’t blessed with that gift. Unlike his friend Lijo, he had no intension of ruining a song. Lijo would sing the popular song of the time so many times, that too so bad that the others wouldn’t’ be able to stand the song anymore. He almost always picked sob songs.

Albie got off the bed finishing that chapter. He walked to the coffee maker. It had become a habit to drink a cup of black coffee while he waited for her to come online, ever since Manu’s girlfriend sent him a coffee maker, which needless to say became the official coffee maker of the hostel. One day when Albie got back from college, this coffee maker was on the table, half unpacked. Manu couldn’t wait to tell the story of how he had told his girlfriend about that incident with the police, when he had gone to get a cup of coffee in the at 1 am in the morning, and she bought him the coffee maker, so that he may not have to go out in the night again. This incident with the police had happened some time ago. One exam night, Manu had a sudden craving for some coffee. He went out in the middle of the night and the night patrol found it suspicious to find him walking around at 1am and decided to question him.

Albie took a quick sip and got back on his bed. He felt too sleepy to continue reading. He opened Saavn. Even listening to music had become an online activity, one of vices of having a Jio sim. MLTR started singing ‘Someday, someway, together we will be baby’.

It had been 3 months since that evening with Annie. Arvind and Archana continued their cute romance, Rima had no new almost-proposals, but however now she had the new role of being his confidante, regarding matters related to Annie. Raj continued to discharge his duties as the designated third wheel. One of his friends did find love though he had no part in that affair. Nishan had set thing in motion with Swathi. Nilly, in her own words felt like she was caught between the devil and the sea. Albie never asked who the devil knowing it was probably him.

It was a cloudless full moon night. Albie switched off the light and the moonlight filled the room. Nilly wasn’t kidding when she said she felt like was caught between the devil and the sea. Albie and Annie were going through a rough patch and Nilly being the mutual friend, had listen to crap from both ends.

Compelled by a sudden urge, he opened gallery. He swiped up twice and finally found the selfie he had clicked that evening at the cafe. He was on the right and was closer to the camera. There were two cups of Hazelnut Mocha Latte, his Ray Ban, her Moto and a half-empty cylinder of sugar on the table. At the far end was Annie, sporting her yellow printed kurta, slanting her head towards Albie, resting it on her left hand, her hair gathered to one side, with her I’m-a-badass smile of hers lighting up her face. Albie himself was wearing a blue-white check shirt, with rolled up sleeves and a trimmed beard.

Albie zoomed in on her face until the picture started to pixelate. Her pear shaped eyes became semi-circular when she smiled.

Realizing she was not coming online that night, he turned off his usual alarm and went to sleep. He needed it very badly. But his mind had other plans.

Her laugh was infectious. She set her moto on the table and took a sip of the Hazelnut Mocha Latte, she had said that she wanted to taste what the lady in the Hotstar ad orders just to ask the Wi-Fi password. Before even it went down her throat, she the cup down and emptied half the cylinder of sugar into it. She then took another sip and she was like she had tasted the heavenly Manna.

“I want more.” Albie complained, once again out on an impulse.

“I doubt if you’ll need more sugar than me.” Annie giggled, misinterpreting the context.

“I want more than friendship” Albie said unflinchingly.

Annie sat there perplexed, grasping the intensity of the situation.

“You know I have always wanted more and I’ll always want more.”

The sun, like always, showed no mercy upon Albie and woke him up at 7 in the morning. He never set an alarm, let alone the exam days. He stayed on the bed for some more time.

No text from her

Albie told himself after a making a futile effort of checking his phone. He got off the bed, had a nice shower and got back on the bed with his laptop. He still had 2 hours before he had to leave for church and all his buddies were fast asleep. He felt like the morning was a little less cheerful. Something was weighing his heart down. No better time to watch ‘Friends’, the American sitcom from the nineties, which went on to become one of the most popular television shows of all time. Though he had watched the show so many times already, he couldn’t help laughing when Ross screams “We were on a break.”

Annie had never watched an episode of ‘Friends’, he remembered. At first, he had thought she was kidding when she said it.

Have heard it’s a nice show.

Never seen it.

You are kidding right?

Nope

You have committed such a horrific crime!

Guilty as charged

It was during a Q&A session that they had on likes-dislikes and favorites she had made that revelation. He remembered it so clearly because it was one among the only four things they had a difference of opinion during out of the various subjects. They got along on so many things that he couldn’t recollect half of them.

Annie liked Coke and he preferred Pepsi. He was BMW fan while her pick was Mercedes. She was a night owl but he wasn’t, at least then. That was the longest chat session they ever had.

Albie’s phone beeped. One of his classmates had replied to his status from the day before. That’s when he thought of checking who all had seen his status. He was disappointed again. She had already seen his status. She had not been busy, she had just ignored him. Everything changed since that day at the café.

“Bee.” Annie paused and leaned back on the chair. “I don’t know what to say. Ever since I met you, you have been a huge part of my life. Whenever I have been down, you have cheered me up. Knowingly or unknowingly, you have given me a lot of happiness.” She took a moment to catch her breath. “But bee, I’m not ready for a commitment. I’m afraid.”

“Afraid that I will break your heart?”

“No bee. I’m afraid I’ll break yours and I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I do that. I don’t want to be in love.”

The laptop screen turned black. The 22 minute 12 second episode had ended. Whenever he watched ‘Friends’, Albie never stopped after one episode. But that day, even ‘Friends wasn’t enough to cheer him up.

Nilly had told him that he had rushed it. Rima suggested that he should let go of his pursuit. Lijo theorized that you cannot force someone else to fall in love with you. Lijo himself had been chasing a girl for years. He never regretted asking her what he had asked. He lived by the principle ‘Don’t do anything because someone told you it was the right thing to do. Do it, only if you feel it’s the right thing.’ It hadn’t exactly produced the optimum results always but at least he didn’t have to worry ‘What if I did it my way?’

Albie had started to distance himself from her since that day. Not because he didn’t like her anymore. Because he couldn’t lie to himself that he could be just friends with her. He never wanted her to make a commitment but for her to give them a chance. A chance at love. But all he could do was wish. Wish upon the Shooting star. Correction, wish upon his shooting star.

It was time for him to leave for church. He was the only Christian in his hostel and always went to church alone. He kept a low profile at the church, never bothering for making any acquaintances. He barely even knew the name of the Vicar.

On his way to the church, Albie saw an interesting slogan on the T- shirt of this dude who had big, bright red JBL headphones around his neck. It was in Malayalam and it read: ‘Nastapedam, pakshe pranayikathirikaruthu’. Loosely translated as: It may not work out, but that shouldn’t stop you from taking a chance on love.

It was a cathedral built in the early 80s. The Vicar had said so during one of his mid-mass messages. That day the mass lasted an hour and half. He felt good after the mass, like a load had been lifted. He was strolling down the flight of steps, when it happened. It took him a moment to realize that he was not dreaming.

Annie was standing by the fifteen foot tall stone cross, dressed in a pink kurta and black leggings. She had a small rucksack on her right shoulder. She looked tired, like she didn’t sleep well. He figured she had taken the overnight train.

Had it been a movie, the MLTR song ‘Out of the Blue’ would have been the apt background score. ‘You took me right out of the blue’. Albie stood there frozen. It had been so long.

“If you are here for the mass, you just missed it.” Albie tried to be sardonic.

“Happy birthday bee” After a pause she added. “And yes, I was in the church.”

“Happy birthday!” A loud cheer came from above the flight of steps. Albie turned around to find his friends, Arvind, Archana, Nilly, Raj, Rima, Nishan and Lijo. The cheer had also alarmed the church goers. Some stood there watching while some moved on after the initial glance.

That explained everything. Why no one wished had wished him, why the class WhatsApp group’s name didn’t change to ‘Happy birthday Albie’. He had thought everyone had forgotten and Annie was mad. He now understood it was part of elaborate scheme that probably Rima had hatched. Birthday surprises were her forte. But how did Annie be a part of it?

All of them hurried down the stairs. Annie walked closer

“How is the surprise?” Rima asked.

“Fantastic, as always”

Lijo the selfie man of the group took out his phone. Everyone grouped around Albie, Nilly pulled Annie and made her stand beside him. Lijo clicked twice.

“Shall we go now?” Nilly asked the others and they seemed to nod in agreement.

“Go where? What’s going on?” Albie was confused. Normally, they would be demanding treat, but seemed eager to leave.

“She has something to say to you” Nilly said looking at Annie.

Soon Albie and Annie were strolling along the walkway. Neither of them spoke anything. An unusual silence lingered over them.

“So, what lie did you feed your warden?” Albie asked, finally breaking the silence.

“That I’m going home”

“Are you?”

“Yeah” Annie rolled her eyes. “I don’t lie. I just don’t tell the whole truth. My train is at four”

Both of them exchanged smiles.

“Bee?”

“Yeah”

“I don’t know how to begin this.”

Albie’s heartbeat quickened. He wondered if she would do that to him on his birthday.

“What do I always tell you about talking to me?”

“Skip the pleasantries, cut to the chase.” She shrugged.

“Then do that”.

Annie took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“I miss you. I miss us. Life without you is no fun. You have become a big part of my life without even me knowing. You were there for me when I needed you the most, gave me space when I need it. I was a fool for not realizing what you were to me until you distanced yourself. These 3 months had been absolutely boring. It’s like they you don’t realize the value of something until you have lost it. I didn’t realize what you meant to me until you were gone.” She took a break from her monologue. “I want us to have a chance. Am I” She stopped short. “Bee, Am I too late?”

Before he could reply, Albie’s phone started ringing. He fished it out of his pocket. It started singing the song by Chainsmokers & Coldplay. …..I want something just like this…….

Albie declined the call. “I guess you have my answer. I couldn’t ask for more. I have never asked you for more. I don’t know what else to say. I had almost lost hope. But I’m happy things have worked out this way. Let’s see what the future has in store for us. Together.”

They spent the morning wandering around the city streets, window shopping in city’s largest mall and had lunch at the Thai restaurant. Arvind had called in between to ask if they had eloped. They spent a better part of the afternoon at the railway station talking about how she had told Nilly about her feelings, and when Rima contacted Nilly about planning a birthday surprise, she had told Rima about it. Rima had then contacted Annie and everything took shape.

“I’ll WhatsApp you when I get home.” Annie said standing at the door as the train slowly moved out of the station. Albie waved her goodbye and stood there watching until the train moved out of sight. Things were going to be different.

‘Finding Love’ is a chapter in the book called life, which everyone writes. For some, that chapter short and easy. For some, it is long and takes a little hope and a whole lot of perseverance. But everyone finds love. Eventually!

#reading #writing #lessons