To The Moon And Back

The 'Friendly' Date

I woke up early. I don't know how I slept through the night. My whole room is a mess and so is my brain. I went through my closet for an appropriate dress for today. After an hour and with Sanvi's help, I finally decided my outfit for the occasion or 'a date' as Sanvi says.

I am totally nervous about this.

Finally, the time has come. Arya will be at my house at any moment.

Is this normal? Or am I looking more into this situation?

A call disturbed my thoughts. I took a deep breath and answered the call.

"Hello Arya"

"Hi Aadhya. I am outside. Are you ready?"

"Yup! Give me a minute. I will be there" I cut the call and looked into the mirror one more time to check for any flaws in my appearance. Of course, there won't be any. DUH

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The car ride to whatever place he is taking me to, is silent. He is focused on the road. I glanced at his outfit and we matched, coincidentally. I looked at his face and he looked so serious, focusing on just driving.

He suddenly turned his head not giving me time to avert my eyes. He is not breaking the eye contact and so am I. I cleared my throat and asked,

"Where are we going?"

"There is this famous restaurant which has very good reviews. You will like it for sure."

I just nodded and it is consumed by silence again.

As soon as we reached the restaurant, I fell in love with it. I can imagine myself coming here every day if it is possible.

It is a rooftop restaurant and the ambience is just perfect. I might be drooling at this moment but I didn't care. I am looking around with heart eyes and then looked at Arya. He is looking at me with the same expression I am having right now. I gave him a smile and sat at the reserved table.

It is a very good place and I wondered how he knew for sure that I will like it.

"This place is so beautiful. I like it."

"Yeah, it is. You like the night sky, so I assumed you will like the restaurant too. You know, eating under the sky full of stars."

He remembered the time from the wedding when I always sat at the rooftop during night. I smiled and nodded.

We both ordered our food and I started a conversation to fill the silence.

"How is your work? It is new place for you, right? Are you good?"

"Yeah, it is. Actually, I always wanted to relocate here. I am glad that I am here finally."

"Oh! You must like this city so much then."

"You can put it like that."

He could have said yes or no. But what does his sentence mean?

I cleared my throat and asked, "Did you make any friends here?"

"Actually, me and my best friend Arjun relocated here at the same time. So I guess I am good."

I nodded and the waiter brought our food to the table. We just ate silently. We had some conversations about our work, how is my sister doing, about our friends.

We finished eating the food and paid our bill and are on our return journey.

This time, even the journey is silent, it is comfortable. I stared out of the window and replayed our earlier events in my head. Like how he eats, his job and his friends. I tried to get every detail when is speaking. I am intrigued by the way he speaks.

During our previous encounters, we didn't have much to speak. But this time, I can't help but notice the way he expresses his thoughts.

Soon we reached my place. He got out of the car along with me. We both are now standing face to face.

"I hope you enjoyed your time today Aadhya"

"Of course, I liked everything about today."

"Next time, you can recommend. We can go to a place that you like."

Next time, huh!

"Sure" I tried to sound very normal though I wanted to scream and jump around like a kid.

"And thank you for today." I added.

"No, Thank you for spending time with me. It's my pleasure" He got in the car and rolled down his window. "By the way, you look very beautiful."

With that, he just drove off leaving a flock of butterflies in my stomach.