Ashish paced around his therapist's room and tried to compose his thoughts. A lot had happened in the last one week and he didn't know from where to begin. He met a girl who was cute according to him, well, according to guys who were sane as well and he had described the moment bittersweet.
"Why are you hesitant?" Dr. Mandira, who was one of the few therapists that cared more about a patient's mental health than the money, asked.
"Hesitant? Look at me. I go to therapy once a week, I overthink every little detail and I have practically ruined most of my friendships over stupid stuff."
The doctor sighed and looked at the teenager pacing around the room. Ashish was tall, stood five feet eleven, bore an athletic body and had a face that no girl would think twice before calling him a womaniser.
"You know doc, there was this person who said this about me." Ashish took a seat and continued, "He told me my personality didn't go hand in hand with my physical appearance."
Dr. Mandira looked at him like he was insane.
"Think about it doc, maybe this is why people get tired of me right? Okay maybe I don't make a lot of sense right now and I am clearly going off the topic as well. The main question remains, how do I not mess things up with the girl I just met?"
"What makes you think you will mess this up?" The doctor knew the answer anyway.
Ashish drove back from the clinic and went over the entire therapy in his head. Was it helpful? Or did he not have enough friends? The truth was, he had friends, a moderate amount but he never trusted anyone. He never thought he would let his guard down until he met Aashna the other day.
He had just gotten finished with his basketball game and he made his way to the nearest departmental store to buy an energy drink. The moment he entered his eyes were on a girl who looked lost just few yards away. He almost tripped over as he made his way towards the aisle that sold energy drinks.
Just when he turned around, the same girl who had made him trip over moments ago scared the dimwits out of him.
"Jesus Christ," Ashish screamed and bent down as if he had a cardiac arrest.
"Hey, I don't know you but you dropped your phone when you almost tripped over when you saw me." The girl smiled while she held on the phone.
Ashish took seconds to gather his thoughts and he looked at the girl that was standing in front of him. She looked pretty, beautiful even, and her red hair streaks reminded Ashish of his favourite fictional character, Maeve Wiley.
"Uh, you could have given me the phone without scaring me you know." He extended his hand but the girl retreated.
"Aren't you going to ask me my name?" The girl was teasing him now, and she added, "It's Aashna, by the way."
"Ashish, nice to meet you," he took his phone and excused himself. He walked out the store and switched on his phone. He looked at the phone number the girl had typed, smiled and thanked the gods for never getting the urge to keep a password on his phone.
That had been a week ago. He didn't text her once since that encounter because he somehow convinced himself he would mess everything up. The more he tried to distract himself, the more he wanted to text her. The meeting was brief but it was enough to convince him that in the parallel universe where he was normal, she would be perfect for him.
The next week, Ashish arrived for his therapy on time and Dr. Mandira asked him to close the door and take a seat. He wanted to tell his therapist that he still hadn't texted Aashna and was about to rant, but was disturbed by a knock on the door.
"Come in," The doctor said aloud.
Ashish turned around and again almost got a cardiac arrest, only this time he muttered softly, "You got to be kidding me."
"Hey mom, dad called. He wants to-," The girl that walked in stopped suddenly when she saw her mom's patient in front of her eyes.
"Oh, she is my daughter, Aashna. Have you two already met?" Ashish didn't know if she was genuinely clueless or was this planned.
Both the teenagers looked at the lady sitting in front of them as if the latter had gone insane. It was only a minute later when Dr. Mandira remembered her daughter telling her about an encounter with a boy that made her anxious in the next two weeks that followed.
Crazy how the world works.
