Imagine

14. Uh

"Sports week, yay!", I grimaced at the thought. I was standing at the school entrance and I was amazed at the sight before me. I shouldn't be, since it wasn't exactly my first experience but it just never ceased to amaze me. Students were bustling around and radiating with energy.

'Where in the world did they harness this much energy from?'. I guess it was understandable, even those that didn't plan to partake in any activity were as boisterous as the athletes.

'Not studying sure brings them a lot of joy. Wonder why they're in school then', I mused.

I opened my bag to confirm that I was fully prepared for the entire week. I nodded my head in satisfaction at the sight of the two novels I had packed: Dan Brown's DaVinci code and Nora Robert's Irish thoroughbred. I patted my bag and looked up to see Raina walking towards me, shaking her head in exasperation. When she was close enough to see me clearly, I raised my eyebrow at her,

"It took you that long to notice that your walking buddy disappeared from beside you, huh?"

"How do you manage to just space out at random opportunities?". I shrugged,

"Observing things can be fun". She shook her head, grabbed my arm and dragged me all the way to our classroom.

Saira looked up from tying her running shoes,

"Finally, I was beginning to think she left you in the hostel". I rolled my eyes at her and replied,

"Oh, hello to you too. My weekend was fine, just the usual, thanks for asking. How was yours?", I crossed my arms and pulled my lips into a frown when she didn't bother replying.

"What do you guys suddenly need me for anyways?"

"You're guarding our stuffs", Raina replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What?", I asked with the most clueless expression.

"You, Miriam, are going to be sitting here doing whatever it is you planned to do during this blessed period and at the same time, keeping an eye on our stuffs till we're done for the day. Starting very soon since classes have been cancelled after the house captains asked for longer training and rehearsal periods", Saira explained in details looking at me expectantly.

"Oh, right. I'll keep half an eye on your bags since I need more than one eye to actually enjoy my reading. Y'know, the teary eye and all..." I slumped on the closest chairs to me, successfully shifting their bags to one corner of the bench.

"Anything else, your highnesses?" I asked with a slight bow of my head.

"Whatever", Rained mumbled and walked off.

"What's up with her? I'm not grumpier than usual, am I?", I asked Saira, still watching Raina's retreating figure. She shook her head,

"She's just a bit stressed since she's in charge of a number of activities"

"Oh, the day hasn't even started yet"

"Anyway, I'm off. Have fun with that", she said pointing to the book I was holding. I smiled, gave her a thumbs up and waved her off.

I looked at the class and sighed. I couldn't start reading yet since a lot of people were still in with their incredulous amount of energy preparing to step out and join whatever teams they belonged to and there was no guessing how long it'll be before I had the peace and quiet I craved.

'What to do now?', I thought to myself with my chin in my hand and came up with nothing. I could just stare into space and count the number of words I actually hear without listening to any particular conversation. Or... oh! I know, I could continue my fantasy and finally find out who the lucky guy or girl was. I sniggered to myself, placed my head on my arranged arms, closed my eyes and let my mind do it's thing.

I was back in my skull printed black and white jumpsuit, only this time I had gotten to my destination- a restaurant named Giant's, probably for those with huge appetites. I walked in and took it all in. The tables were spread with lavender tablecloths, a cute bundle of flower arrangement sat it in the centre and a few people were already dinning. The background noise from my reality was interfering with my fantasy because it seemed noisy even with just a few people around. I tuned it out and focused on my present, it had an entirely cozy appeal to it. I looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was almost six, I figured my date wasn't here yet seeing as nobody there caught my attention. I moved towards an empty table for two that had a nice view of the exterior. Just as I was about to sit, I felt a familiar strong arm wrap around my waist.

"Hey, wifey. I wasn't expecting you'd be here before me", he said as he kissed my cheek and pulled out my chair for me.

'Really? Married? I was kinda hoping more for a girlfriend or boyfriend', I was almost frowning at the thought when he sat in front of me and my face automatically relaxed into a smile. He was handsome, dark-skinned, obviously tall even as he was sitting, full and perfectly shaped eyebrows, full lips, nose and eyes visibly smaller than mine, an almost invisible scar on his left cheek and a slightly amused expression.

'What was that? Oh, I love married. hubby is yummy', I smiled at the thought.

He cleared his throat, "Not that I'm complaining or anything but are you seriously going to keep checking me out without saying a word?".

"If that's all I gotta do, I certainly wouldn't mind". He laughed and picked up the menu,

"By all means, Carry on then. I'll order for us".

"Thanks love". I relaxed in my chair and just kept staring at him. The movement of his eyes as it roamed the menu, the concentration on his face as he tried to make a decision, the occasional licking of his lips that I'm sure he wasn't aware of, his perfectly shaped eyebrows (I really love those) and the smile on his face that suggested he was getting creeped out by my silent audacious staring.

I chuckled, "Alright, I'll stop now before you realize you're married to a psycho. You're just a feast for my eyes".

"Why thank you. You just keep feeding my ego and you can remain my wife. You look hot yourself, I wonder how I still let you leave the house looking like that".

"So, whats the occasion?", He looked at me slightly confused.

"Since when do we need an occasion to go on a date?"

"Right. Of course, we don't".

He ordered Icecream with different toppings for me plus pie, and actual food for himself- fried rice and chicken. As we waited, we chatted about our work, and how the day went in general. It was just perfect, talking about nothing and everything. He dug in immediately the food arrived and I watched him will down the contents of his plate. Then I noticed everywhere had gone quiet and I figured I must finally have the class to myself. I smiled at my husband, waited for him to finish eating, waved at him and then opened my eyes to reality.

I grinned at his confusion when I waved and chuckled to myself, 'I can't wait to meet you for real'. I looked around the class, found two other people sitting at different angles of the classroom, opened the DaVinci code and delved into the world of puzzles, clues and solutions.

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