Two Teachers

"Two queens" I shrieked, thumping my cards on the table. I was one of the two guys still left in the game. A huge amount was on stake and with those two face cards, I was sure that the cash would be mine. To my dismay, he showed his cards, all clubs. I lost it all. Sipping down the last drop from the beer bottle, I came out shutting the door to a thud. I still couldn't believe my condition. Ten minutes ago, I had a wallet full of paper notes and now I stood there with an empty one. I was numb. I didn't know where to go or what to do.

My phone beeped. 'Alisha', the name flashed. I didn't really know whether to pick it up or chuck it down. A thousand thoughts crossed my mind. I couldn't really decide. The phone ring went out. 1 missed calls, it indicated. A minute later, it beeped again. I picked it up this time.

"Hello baby, where are you? Come on, let's meet." she said in her playfully sweet voice. I can bet that her voice was the best thing to listen on at any time of the day, whether you are up after a sound sleep or you just lost all your money gambling away. "Hey, are you listening?" she interrupted my thought process. "Yes, yes I am listening" I responded, collecting my words. "So, where are we meeting? At some ice cream parlour please. I am craving for ice cream since the last two days." She pleaded. "See right now I cannot. I am stuck. Maybe some other day" I tried helping myself. But she was hard to convince. I didn't have a penny left and she wanted to go for an ice cream. I tried my best to convince her and finally we set to meet at her home. Her parents were out of town for a week, which bought us some time at her place.

All I could think of on my way to her house was the situation I was in. "should I tell her about this? How will she react? What will be my words if I gather the courage to tell her about this?" and a million other waves repelled my mind. Within all this thoughts, I reached for the doorbell switch and pressed it twice. A few seconds later, she opened the door. She wore peacock blue coloured top and dark blue denim. With her hair set loose and little diamond earrings mounted on her ears, she looked more than beautiful. She was the best example I would ever give if asked about simplicity.

"Come on in", she said, opening the door wide. I hugged her. We were meeting after almost a week. I felt her hands on my back. Damn, it was the best thing to happen that day. "Will you come in or keep hugging me on the door?" She said in her same playful sweet voice. I smiled for the first time since having two queens in my cards. Keeping my jacket aside, I rested myself on the couch, as she closed the door and went in to get something. The same thoughts wrestled in my mind again. "There you go", she said handing me one of the cola tin, keeping the second one for herself and sat next to me.

"Something is not right." She said, looking in my eyes. "You've never been too silent. Come on, what's wrong? Speak up". For the last two minutes, I was continuously staring the floor and it took her no time to figure out that something was wrong. I didn't want to tell her about the incident, so I kept changing topics pretending to be well. It was almost an hour since I arrived and we were talking about spending a weekend out but the irony was that I had really nothing to spend. Our talks continued. I rested my head on her lap while deciding the venue for our weekend outing. Guilt filled my head. She was planning an outing with me, she wanted to spend quality time with me and there I was with empty pockets. Maybe the beer was doing its work; I could not control and fell asleep.

"Have you got 35 rupees change? It's the pizza delivery guy and I don't have change." she asked waking me up. "Take it from my wallet, left pocket of the jacket." I said in a reflex and shut my eyes again. "Come on baby, go freshen up. Dinner is ready." She said waking me up again. "What? Dinner? What time it is?" I asked. "It's 8:30. Go freshen up", she replied. I woke up with my head heavy. "Did you make dinner?" I asked. "No, I ordered pizza a while ago." she replied.

Oh pizza, I remembered. She asked me for change and I told her to take it from my wallet. Damn, I was fucked! "She saw my wallet. She saw it was empty. Fuck, how could this happen? So now she knows." And many other thoughts were running through my mind.

"Are you still on the couch? Hurry up, I am hungry" she shouted from the kitchen. I didn't know how to face her. I reached out for my jacket and slipped my hand in the left pocket. I hoped the wallet to not be in there so that I could make up the story that I lost it. But to destroy my hopes, I found it in there. I took it out and opened it to see her photograph in that. I always kept her photo in my wallet. To my impulsion, I found money in there. A thousand bucks to be specific.

Tears rolled down my eyes. I knew she kept it. I ran towards the kitchen and tightly hugged her from behind. "What happened? Why are you crying?" She said wiping my tears. "You know it. You know what happened" I couldn't stop the tears.

I told her all the truth and promised her never to do anything of that again. "It's all okay now. But, never break the promise. I will be there for you always." She said sealing it with a kiss. That was the best feeling I ever had. As her lips touched mine, I wanted to soak in the moment and never return back.

That was the day I will never forget till the end of the time. Two combo of two best teachers 'empty pockets' and 'true love' taught me a lesson for life.

"No, don't, please don't" she shouted as I smeared ice cream all over her face. We were out for the weekend!!!

Hey reader, Thanks a lot for reading this....

A short story by Preet Shah