Forever is a lie

When we went on our first date - Part Two of Two

She quickly got inside the car once she opened the gate, and she had her books with her

"Why did you bring your books?", I asked her. "We'll go to a coffee shop and I'll study and talk a little", she replied and I sighed.

She laughed softly.

We drove on the empty roads of Gujarat and tried to find a coffee shop at that hour.

While I drove, she turned on her mobile phone's flashlight and scanned through the text printed on her book.

There was just one thing I could think of - we've come a long way from the day we met. Taniya went from fidgeting with her shawl to casually sitting beside me and that spoke volumes about the relationship we shared.

"Don't you think we've come a long way together?", I asked her.

She paused for a second and slowly looked up at me, then she looked away as I turned towards her.

"Just asking", I shrugged, and looked back at the road.

"There's a Starbucks right there, and it's usually empty", she told me and quite easily changed the topic.

"Sure", I smiled and she looked down at her book, and smiled too.

"Can we mark this as our first date?", I asked her as I pulled out the keys from the ignition.

"Our first coffee date", she replied and shut her books, then opened the door.

"I hope this doesn't come on the Headlines tomorrow. 'Darshan Raval hangs out with mystery girl at one am'", she said and walked by my side to the coffee shop, holding her books against her chest. I just smiled.

She was right - the coffee shop was empty and it was just the two of us and the cashier. We ordered a drink each and she read through her textbook, sipping her coffee.

"Enough, Tanu", I said and snatched the book away from her.

She looked at me and then asked, "You just called me Tanu, didn't you?".

"See, I told you we've come a long way together", I said and she pressed her lips together, then looked down.

"Give me my book back", she said.

"Sorry, it's a coffee date", I replied, keeping the book on the other table.

My inner voice chanted 'Darshan ask her if she wants to marry you' and I knew that it was hard to suppress that inner voice.