First Date to Forever

January Rains

By the time Shonali and Sujay reached her hostel , it had started drizzling slightly. Shonali could feel that Sujay was driving a bit slower than his pace in the morning.

    He stopped the car near the hostel gate and both of them sat in silence not knowing what to say. They both looked at each other and passed a knowing smile.

" Thank you again Sujay for showing me your city and your favorite place. I absolutely loved it ! " Shonali told him

"I do have other favorite places too , if you would like to see ? " said Sujay absentmindedly.

Was he asking her out again ? We had only a one date deal ! Shonali went into her overthinking mode again , when Sujay interrupted her
" Relax Shonali , I was just pulling your leg ! " , he chuckled .

She let out a small laugh and started getting out of the car,
"I should probably enter the hostel now or I will miss the deadline. Our warden will not spare me if that happens ! " .

Sujay quickly got out from the car and was now standing in front of her. He did not know if hugging her would be appropriate or not ? How do we end a date he wondered . As if Shonali understood his dilemma , she quickly gave him a side hug , "It was nice knowing you Sujay , see you Monday ? "

He stood there in shock ,' did she just hug me right now ? It was just a side hug stupid . But it was Shonali ! ' He quickly covered up his surprised face and sheepishly replied
" Yeah , see you on Monday . Bye Shonali ! "

He waited till she entered the hostel premise and then sat in his car and banged his head slightly on the steering wheel , 'Really , Bye Shonali ? That was the best sentence you could say to her while leaving?' he started cursing himself. With these thoughts he left for his home.

      Shonali was surprised when she reached the lobby of her room . All her friends were already gathered in the living area as if waiting for her. They had made all the arrangements for a nice slumber party , with mattresses on the floor, speaker on full blast with party songs , there were packets of chips stacked in the corner and they had brought their dinner as takeouts. No one is leaving her alone today without getting all the details about the date !

     Palak saw Shonali standing at the door and immediately ordered everyone to be quiet and quickly switched off the speaker. They all were looking at Shonali , waiting for her to say something , instead she quickly ran past them and shouted "Let me change first atleast?! " and closed her door .

    After freshening up and changing into her comfortable pyjamas , Shonali came out of her room and sat with them . They started bombarding her with questions
"How was the date ?"
"Where did you go ?"
"Did he keep his promise ? Was there Tea ?"

      Shonali laughed at their eagerness and told them to calm down , "I will tell you everything about today but first I need a nice cup of tea , it is so cold outside today !"
It was always Shonali's duty to make tea but today she was not in the mood to do anything other than think about the event of the day !

      Knowing her well , Palak had already prepared tea for her while she was freshening up - " Here is your tea , now start speaking else we will call Sujay up and ask him for details! And you know how that will go .."

"I can do that ! " Exclaimed Sarika , and that is when Shonali realised that both Sarika and Jeevika were there too , on a video call waiting to hear the details.

    Finally Shonali surrendered and started telling them all about her first date! She asked Sarika about the chocolates and the rose to which she declined having any contribution in. How would he know about this then ? Shonali thought and that is when she saw a smug smile on Palak's face !!
"Youuu , it was you who told him about my favorite chocolates and the one rose thing ? !! " She asked Palak

"Well he asked me about your favorite chocolates, I gave him an extra tip about the rose for his efforts! " shrugged Palak .

"He is stealing my friends too now" , frowned Shonali.

Everyone started laughing and asked her to continue with the details.

She told them all about the day , the lovely place he chose for the date, how he had ordered tea , how they did not realize the time . She was smiling the entire time and everyone was happy seeing their Shonali this chirpy after a long time .

"Did you guys kiss ? " asked Ruhi teasingly.

Shonali looked at her with wide eyes "Are you crazy , this was just the first date ! "

"Ooh , so you will kiss on the next date ?"
"So there will be a next date ?? "

Everyone was waiting for her to answer , specially Sarika .

"I don't know yet if there will be any more dates or not. I will have to wrap my head around this one first ! I really had a nice time with him though. " She said remembering her day.

And the teasing marathon started again !

After the talking to the girls , Sarika quickly called up Jeet and Sujay in a video conference to ask Sujay for his side of the story !

Sujay could not stop gushing about how pretty she is . He could not believe he just went on a date with his crush ! He told them how smooth their conversations were and how comfortable she made him feel.

"So what now Sujay? Will you ask her out again ? " enquired Sarika .

"I want to but I don't know if I should . I haven't even told her how much I enjoyed spending time with her today ! " he whined . He was so full of emotions while dropping her off that he ended the day with only a simple good bye.

     Sarika and Jeet were enjoying this side of Sujay . They were amused to see the always composed Sujay fumbling for words and his smile was something else today !

      After the grilling session , all the girls were enjoying their Saturday night . Shonali was sitting near the window looking at the rain . January rains are so beautiful she thought but so cold . They make you feel so empty within, but today being around Sujay filled her with warmth. She was somehow not able to feel the void these cold rainy nights used to make her feel. It is weird she thought , how can spending few hours with a person affect you so much ?! I am just imagining it she shrugged .

        She was feeling tired after having such an eventful day , she wished her friends good night and retired for the day. She contemplated sending a message to Sujay but then decided against it.  He didn't say anything when he dropped her at the hostel , neither has he messaged her . 'Maybe I am the one thinking too much ,  maybe it was just one more of a regular date for him.' With such thoughts she drifted to sleep...