For all the things that make you laugh.
For all the things that make you cry.
For all the things that make no sense.
And always leave you asking why.
Grapple life and never let go.
It's own surprises, they come and go.
You take the best and leave the rest,
make the most of what you have left.
For of all the words of pen and tongue,
the saddest are if only...
>You wanna leave now?
>Yeah sure 1mo, I need to get ready
>Oh yeah, nono dw, I can wait
(The other person has signed out. End of Conversation)
I sit at my desk frantically finding something to do. I was lying, I couldn’t wait; I wanted her to be here right now. I heard something, it sounded like the doorbell, no wait; it was just a sound on my computer. It was her again. But wait, wasn’t she coming over? I send her an instant message.
>Hello?
You not coming?
(The other person has signed out. End of Conversation)
All right, maybe she has left now, I reassure myself. My eyes go back to wandering around the bedroom. I looked down to my wrist, the hair band was there to remind me of her; there was never a time at which it ever failed to do so. Wait, a text message.
Here. X
I spend so long reading the message, I don’t realise that she had rung the doorbell about 2 minutes ago.
“Yeah, coming.” No way near loud enough for her to hear, all the way outside my house.
I put the phone down, rush down the stairs and open the door. She looks cold. Maybe I should hug her, no wait, she has only just got in, calm down. I quickly lead her into the house, as she glides past me, a voluptuous scent whirls around my face, and I forget where I am. Her hair is tied back; it looks kind, soft and calming. I want to stroke her face; I want to play with the little stars around her small soft ears. Her smile reminds me of the summers of my childhood; I feel so excited.
She is here now, in my house with me, now would be a good point for time to slow down. We enter my room, she is beautiful, I wish I could play the guitar, I would play her a song that sounded just like her. Maybe I will draw her one day.
Her touch, it’s soft, it’s slow, and it’s relaxing, I want to purr. I bring my face up to hers, slowly rubbing my nose against her neck. Her scent, it brings a rush of amorous desires to mind, maybe I should take a bite out of her. Her skin is soft and supple and the sight of her bare skin makes me ecstatic. My fingers tiptoe along her waistline, the sun shines through the window, the cool breeze softens the blow of the stifling heat and the sound of evensong serenades the sun’s departure as twilight emerges. I could get used to this, summer was definitely going to be fun.
“Jasmine, look at me” he began to reach for her waist, as he did so, she turned round and shuffled closer to him. His right hand moved off her waist, moving to the side of her face, caressing her soft, angelic smile, it warmed him to see her happy and feel her happiness.
“What is it?” it was as if she knew what he wanted, the twinkle in her eyes made him smile unknowingly. He couldn’t hear anything and it was only Jasmine and him surrounded by an air of colourful emotion. He lent forward and whispered into her ear, “I love you” then came back to meet her face. He moved in towards her smile and as he started opening his mouth a little, she began to do the same. Their lips touched and now they were one, his eyes were closed and all he could see was a haze of a yellow light but what he could feel, was so much more, her kiss went further than his skin, her tongue embraced more than just his tongue, the idea of tomorrow was now just a myth. He wanted to open his wings and take her to the clouds where time no longer existed.
*****
Buttoning his shirt, spraying his cologne, Nick was getting ready to go meet Jasmine; he had reserved a table at the local pizzeria, it was where they first met at the beginning of summer...
School was out, and Nick was gathering with a few of his mates to celebrate one of their birthdays. He wasn’t feeling too ‘up for it’ but thought it rude not to go along and pay his birthday wishes to a friend, so he went along. It appeared that they had booked out the majority of the restaurant and it was entirely full of friends from inside and outside of school, he recognised many of them but one person he couldn’t quite recognise was one girl in the corner, who with one look at her made him feel as if he had known her all his life. She was sitting there talking and laughing along with a few of her friends.
‘You like her?’ One of his friends came up behind him, ‘Why don’t you go talk to her?’
‘No, I don’t even know her. I could do- hmm... I don’t know.’
‘It wasn’t a suggestion, she knows who you are, she’s seen you before and asked about you, go for it!’ pushing Nick forwards, Nick falls forwards and stumbles over a chair leg and topples into the table where the girl is sitting.
‘Oh dear, you okay there Nick?’ her sweet, soft voice resonates through each and every bone. Nick was scared that he might cough up the butterflies in his stomach if he said a word at that moment. The girl whispered something to her other friends who then immediately disappeared, ‘Let’s go take a walk.’ She suggested with a smile, there was no way Nick could refuse.
‘Okay.’
.....
Summer was drawing to an end and slowly autumn was creeping up behind it, the warm reassurance of the sun was soon to be replaced by streets ridden by the paint pallet of the autumn leaves. Nick arrived to the pizzeria to see Jasmine already sitting at the table, he gave a smile and she returned a small, discrete hint of emotion towards him, something didn’t seem right, all the glow that he had usually seen in her had suddenly disappeared, nevertheless he continued to sit down and the evening began without either of them saying a word.
An hour had passed and Jasmine had hardly said a word nor looked at Nick in the same way that he was accustomed to, she seemed to be ‘looking the other way’ a lot and bringing conversations to an abrupt end. Nick had had enough; he wanted to know what was going on, without showing any signs of anger or apprehension, he broke the silence, ‘Jasmine.....are you okay? What is wrong?’ he tried to look like he was simply curious and not worried.
‘Ermm, I’m not sure. Listen Nick, I don’t know...I just don’t know............’ She looked up at him with pity and regret, ‘I’m sorry.’ She picked up her cardigan and walked off.
That was the last time Nick spoke to Jasmine, or rather, the last time he even saw her. That evening, Nick’s heart seemed to sink lower than the sun did, revealing the starry night sky; reflecting the darkness that Nick felt with the odd shimmer of hope that she might come back.
*****
Nick didn’t think that he would be able to get over Jasmine as quick as he did, but then again, he was full of surprises. Despite the odd interrupted reminder of the recent past, Nick was getting along just fine and was moving forward with his life, he wasn’t going to let some small summer heartbreak get in the way of him. The new school year had just started, it was good to see all his friends again, they had all changed a lot, and Nick didn’t feel as if he had changed much but he liked it that way, he didn’t like change. Some new people had arrived at the school and were to join his year. He wanted to go and meet some of the newcomers but his friends insisted on talking about what happened during the summer, some good friends.
‘Nick, I heard what happened, are you alright about it all?’ one friend asked as he put his hand on Nick’s shoulder.
‘Oh yes, I’m ecstatic about it!’ His voice slowly getting louder and more hysterical, ‘And all this talking about it makes me feel even better!’ obviously Nick wasn’t over Jasmine completely; he considered this in his head.
‘Well, listen, we are here for you if you need help. Some of us were thinking of going out tonight to this party down my road, fancy coming along?’ taking his hand off Nick, who had now calmed back down.
‘I think I’ll have to give this one a miss,’ there was less sarcasm in Nick’s voice this time, ‘I’m busy-’ Nick abruptly stopped and walked off before anyone else could say anything. His friends looked at one another innocently as if they had done nothing wrong.
Nick was heading for the library, his head facing down, racing through thoughts he hadn’t had for a few weeks; most of them about Jasmine. Funnily enough, he hadn’t passed her in the school yet and was dreading the moment that he did. What would he say? What would she say? Busy churning these ideas in his mind, he failed to notice a girl coming round the corner, he carried on walking then felt something hit him, he looked up to find a girl on the floor, books scattered everywhere.
‘Oh, I’m so sorry.’ Unaware of what had actually happened, he apologised nevertheless.
‘It’s alright.’ looking down nervously, the girl frantically picked up her books.
‘Here, let me help you,’ Nick went down to help pick up the books ‘I don’t recognise you, are you new here?’
‘Yes,’ she nervously looked left and right, ‘....I’m trying to find the library, could you help me?’ She looked up to Nick for the first time, she looked like an ordinary girl, but seemed as if she was secretly someone different, Nick was confused, but he was alright with that; anything to keep the thought of Jasmine out of his mind.
‘Yeah, sure, I’m going that way anyway.’
‘By the way, sorry for walking into you, I have a bad habit of always looking down.’ Despite the self criticism she had just made, she continued to admire the floor.
‘That’s no problem, it wasn’t totally your fault, it takes two to make an accident.’ Looking back smiling in the hope that she would see and smile back.......nothing.
It was a long silent walk to the library and Nick felt uncomfortable, he wondered if the girl felt the same way as well.
............(and then Nikhil didn't know what more to write)
