Serendipitous Exchange

Encounter

The first day of vacation, I decided to go for a early morning stroll around the neighbourhood. Oddly enough, I woke at 6AM despite it being the time meant for lazing. I plugged my earphones in and began walking briskly. Yes I am an 18 year old, and no - 'walking' for exercise does not make me a 40 year old woman. I just happen to prefer it over running or jogging, although I'm pretty good at both.

Our neighbourhood is basically a street filled with houses and trees on either side. Each home is built in a different way, creating a niche of other-wise chaotic diversity. Most of the people on our street are friendly, civilised people. Exceptions include old man Tiwari, who was basically your average bitchy and snooty teenager in the body of a 70 year old. (By average I mean the 'stereotypical' teenager. So hold your horses.) As I completed one length of our street (since our house was at the right end of it) I turned around and broke out into a slow jog.

The gate of  Uncle Tiwari's house was opening, and I groaned. Although I haven't interacted with him as much, I didn't want to catch on to his infamous bad mood in the morning. I increased my pace and ran past the gate - and continued at that pace, mentally sighing. I came to an abrupt halt when I heard someone scream 'Wait!'. Luckily I didn't get startled to the point where I fell over and hurt myself. I turned around, wondering who was already shouting at the beginning of the day. Turns out the person who screamed out was a boy around my age standing at the gate of Tiwari's house. And it appeared as though he was expectantly waiting for me to go over and talk to him.

"Hello. I'd like to know when the milk is delivered?" He asked. Wow, for a boy my age his voice sure was deep. "Usually at 6:30, which it almost is." I said checking my watch. The angry roar of a motor bike was soon heard, and I threw the boy a smile. "There you go. Right on time." I said and turned back around. "Thank you!" The boy said, while I waved my hand to him. I never realised that Tiwari was old enough to have a grandson (talk about being an air-head).

The rest of the day went with out any glitches. It was a good summer day, with the sun shiny merrily and a lazy but cool breeze blowing. As evening approached, I decided to go to my friend's house on our lane. I'd known the boy from grade 6, so you could pretty much say we're very close. I jumped out of my house as soon as the clock struck 5, sprinting to his place - which is three houses away from mine. And as usual Kabir was holed up in his room, reading a novel. I plopped down on to his bed next to him, and peered up at the cover of the book he was reading. "The Perks of Being a Wallflower, eh?" I asked him. Finally he set the book down, with a little frown on his face. "I'm struggling to read with the sound of your breathing affecting my inner peace." Is what he said, proceeding to plug in his earphones and ignore me. "Inner peace my ass!" is what I shouted as soon as I plucked his earphones out of his and whacked his head. "Still as violent as ever, I see." he muttered under his breath as he settled next to me. "Why are you still at home on the first day of summer?!" I questioned him, and he sighed. "You know I want to catch up on my reading with high-school done with. Now can you leave me alone?"

"Ugh let's go you. Remember today we were supposed to go out for ice-cream?!"

"I completely forgot."

"......"

"I'm joking, I just wanted to go a little later!"

"But it's a beautiful day outside! We have all the time in the world to blow, nothing like homework or assignments to hold us back. So let's go Kabir. Now. Please?"

"How I handle you I don't know myself." He said exasperatedly, although I know he was only joking. I skipped out of his home, saying goodbye to his mother on the way out. He trailed behind me, obviously being a complete bore. "Oh Mona, by the way I invited a few other people along." I turned around to glare at him with my jaw hanging open. "How dare you?! Without even asking me first. It was meant to be something just for the two of us. Just us two!" I said and groaned. I do like meeting new people, but it's annoying when you're not expecting it. "Get over it, they're already here." I peered over my shoulder, and I saw two boys and a girl.

I knew two people of the group, but I definitely recognised all three.

"Hey." a deep voice said, that originated from one of the boys throats. "Hey." Kabir said, and gave the guy a handshake. "Was the milk okay?" I asked the boy with a grin, who just answered me with a smile coupled with a thumbs up. "You've met?" questioned Kabir curiously. "Today morning." we said in unison, which caused all three to chuckle. "Hey Natasha, hey Rahul." These two had shifted on to our street the year before, so we had met occasionally. Since they were as old as Kabir and I, we didn't have the time to interact much, let alone form a healthy friendship. My gaze shifted to the new guy, who I didn't know at all.

"And you are?"

"I'm Arjun."