It all started at a family get-together.
Our families knew each other for a few years now but we were never so up and personal into each other's business. My family being my lifeline, it was by default I had to attend every family function held. He being more a friends-come-first surprised everyone by actually making it to the party.
It was a good party, that one. Everyone there, majority of which being Uncles and Aunties we've grown up around, was having fun. Good food, great music, unlimited alcohol, everyone trying to bring out their signature dance steps, people trying to hold conversations through the blasting music was turning the party into a success.
Someone called out "Shots", and the next thing we knew, everyone young and old, lined up against the table to burn down their throats. Little did anyone know, a line-up for shots would bring two people in the close proximity of starting up a conversation that would change their lives forever. The conversation was basic, we stuck to what we do for a living, what are hobbies are, what do we do to pass time on days we're not working and would we like to exchange numbers and take the conversation further on a sober note. On a regular day, I wouldn't have spoken to anyone who I haven't known from before or have been introduced to, but the tricks alcohol can play on an induced mind is far from explainable. Being induced made me confident and gave me the courage to speak to and hold a conversation with a complete stranger. I say stranger, because our families knew each other, we were never formally introduced and did not even know that we existed until that very day. As the night passed by, the party was coming to an end and everyone was starting to leave. He left too, but that wasn't the end of our meeting. It was just the beginning.
'Serendipity', a word I have been truly fond of, it simply means a happy accident or a meeting by chance. Mulling over the thoughts playing around in my alcohol induced mind, I didn't want the night to end, I just wanted to keep going, to keep talking to him and getting to know him. There was something about him that made me want to get into his head. Little did I know that he felt the same. The next day, I kept staring at my phone waiting for a message or a call to pop up any minute, but by the end of the day, nada. It wasn't like I had too many people calling me or texting me on a normal day anyways, other than my family. I was drained out of all hope when it dawned on me that we spoke about exchanging numbers, but didn't end up sharing contacts.
I put him at the back of my mind and went about my day with whatever it is I do. I have a job that keeps me going, and just like every 20-something career oriented woman, I didn't let my focus deviate from what was to be done. Two days later my phone screen lit up with a text message from an unknown number, "Coffee & Convo?" I was tense, but in a good way. I didn't know what to reply, but it didn't take me long enough to reply back, '"When & Where?" This is how it all started and with more words framing our sentences, text messages going back and forth, we scheduled to meet 4 days later.
The first time we met, it was a meeting by chance. But this, a planned meeting, a coffee date was just giving me the jitters. The first thing I do when anything at all happens that seems like a 3 or more on a scale of 1-10 is, I call my best friend and share everything with her and ask her the 'what to do', 'how to do', 'what to say', 'what not to say'. Whether it is a job interview, or trying to make up after a fight with a loved one or in this instance, a date, her reply is always a mere two worded one; "Be Yourself"
