The Wrong Number

30

"Good morning," Ruhan said, as he plopped down in the bus seat next to Alankrita.

She looked at him and grinned when she saw her book in his hands. "Done with it already?" she asked, pointing to it.

He nodded and said, "The protagonistis one incredible girl."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. She's smart, she's brave and, come to think of it, she kind reminds me of you."

Alankrita blushed indiscreetly and Ruhan grinned. Alankrita let out an uneasy laugh. "I think you summed her up nicely," she said, with a smile that made Ruhan feel light inside. He smiled back, and just drank in her face. Her cheeks were tinted with the subtlest of blushes. Those eyes were the most startling brown he'd seen, shrouded by her thick eyelashes, intensifying her gaze so much it pierced through him. Her lips were a light shade of pink and it physically hurt when she ran her tongue along her bottom lip.

He'd noticed a lot of beautiful girls, but he'd never been poetic about their appearance.

He realized he was staring and cleared his throat. "Got any more books for me?"

Alankrita's face lit up. He guessed she liked talking about books.

"Alana McDonnell is one of my favourite writers," she said, "I've got the sequel to the book I just gave you. It's called 'The boy who lost Little Bo Peep's sheep, and didn't know where to find them'."

Ruhan stared at her expectantly until she sighed and said, "Okay fine. I'll get it for you tomorrow. If I can find it," she added, thinking of the eternal state of disorder her bookshelf had been in ever since she'd spent four months' allowance at Blossoms Bookstore.

"If I hadn't read this book, I'd have sworn you were making these titles up," Ruhan said, holding the book up. Taking the book in her hand, Alankrita smiled and said, "When I asked the employees at Crossword if they'd heard of it, they looked at me weirdly. I had to convince them that I was serious."

"Hi, Serious, I'm Ruhan."
Alankrita smacked his arm with the book, and groaned, "Ugh, your humour must really be lacking if all you can come up with are dad jokes."

"A lot of girls have called me daddy, if that counts," Ruhan replied, raising his eyebrows. Alankrita scrunched her eyes shut and gagged. "Euch, thank you for that image."

Ruhan stretched in his seat and said, "Anytime," and, leaning close to Alankrita, said in a low tone, "Babe." When Alankrita glared at him, he winked at her mischievously. She quickly turned away and faced the window, but before she did that Ruhan noticed a smile tugging at the corners of her pretty pink mouth.

*****