Last Thursday Night

“What? You’d be leaving for India?”

“Yes”

“And you’re not gonna come back?”

“I don’t know. But most likely yes.”

“Ah!! That’s some news. Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Umm, I thought .. let everything get over and then… “

“Let’s have a fag outside, shall we?”

“Oh yea, let’s hit it.”

“Wait, lemme talk to Jim.”

“Ok, I’ll wait outside”

“So, you must have planned this for long. Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“You just asked that.”

“I mean not today, like, last week.”

“Didn’t feel the need to.”

“Right.” She let out a puff of smoke.

“So, you’ll be working in India?”

“Yep.”

“Why? Irvine didn’t suit you?”

“Not that, it’s ……… personal reasons.”

“Oh, I get it. You’d be married to some beautiful Indian princess who doesn’t like California.”

“Whatever you think.”

“... Bastard … you always had a girlfriend didn’t you?”

“That’s not true.”

“You shouldn’t have lied to me. Like, if your girlfriend is in India, am not gonna hop on a plane and tell your girlfriend about myself.. right?”

“Right.”

“Anyway, when’re you leaving?”

“Saturday morning.”

“Oh, can you come tomorrow as well?”

“I don’t think so. My friends have invited me for dinner.”

“Oh, friends… I get it. Wait a minute; is that the reason you told me today? So, like, we are meeting for the last time.”

“Probably, if luck doesn’t bring me to Irvine or you to New Delhi.”

“Ah, am getting it.”

“See, it’s ok what you did. It was a surprise to me, but, come to think, like, what else would you do?”

“Hmm”

“I don’t know how I’d define our relation, but, whatever it was, I liked it. I’d wait every Saturday for you to walk through that door around 10pm and I knew you’re for me.”

“I know, it had become a habit almost.”

“How long? 2 years?”

“Not that, I’d guess 1 and a half”

“Whatever, my maths sucks”

“You want another fag?”

“No, am good. Hey, can I kiss you?”

“Ah?”

“I know it sounds weird. We just kissed few minutes back, but, I want to kiss you again – right here, beside the highway.”

“Well.. “

While we were kissing, my hand started to slide on her body. She was kissing me more passionately than what she had done before. It was not one of those fast hungry kisses; it was slow, actually extremely slow, so that you can enjoy every bit of it and never be out of breath. My hands reached her breast and as usual, she didn’t complain. Habit, as I said. I don’t know why I moved my hands to her back and hugged her. We resumed kissing.

“Bye, have a nice life in India.”

“You too have a great life. Finish your studies and I hope you end up getting a great job in downtown LA.”

“Hah. If you ever meet me at any point, just wish me Howdy buddy, ok? Please don’t pretend not to recognize me.”

“Ok.”

I waved my hand as I drove past “Dollhouse Exotic Dancers”.