The first time.......

She blushed a deep beet-root red. It was sometime before she gained back her composure and her pulse-rate went back to normal. She thanked God silently that her mouth didnt dry this time and embarass her like it did the last time. She still remembered the incident crystal clear. She had replayed it in her mind thousands of times and cursed herself every single time.

    It was the first time she was meeting him, she was nervous, she didnt knw what to expect, she didnt know how he looked, although they had been talking regularly on the phone over the past few weeks, but this was the first time she was to meet him, her pulse rate was high, her heart beat was doing a emphatic dance, and to make the matters worse, he was late!! Every mili-second that passed by, felt like hours altogether. She tried focussing her thoughts to something else, so as to relax her mind but nothing helped. She tried calling her bestfriend, it always helped, but this time this too was in vain. She thought to herself, she couldnt let him see her in that state! What will her first impression be? A girl in pyjamas, chappals, over-sized t-shirt, chewing her nails, hands cold as stone, breathing erratic, sweating in this winter, walking to and fro in the busy street, outside their meeting spot, and now her mouth was dry! She couldnt speak a single word without coughing... She was nervousness personified! Damn! What a first impression, she thought to herself!! It was 20 minutes since she was walking to and fro at the same place. 

'God, save me, I'm gonna faint', she said aloud. 'Its been 20 minutes!!'

And in those 20 minutes, she had invited 20 odd uninvited pairs of eyes on her. They all followed her every movement. 'Wow! Can this get any worse?!', she thought to herself. 

Just then, a man stood infront of her, giving her his best smile, an honest pleased smile, she couldnt resist smiling back.

'Kate??'

She had lost her voice already, blame it on those long 20 minutes (read: 20 hours!). She simply nodded, wagging her head a little too fast, smiling happily.

'Hie!'

Pheww... He had finally come. They shook hands. His hands were strong, confident, and warm...every quality that was currently missing in her. He shook her hand warmly.

'Shall we?'

She nodded again. This time though, the nod was lady-like, slow, gentle and precise! They walked together, slowly to the adjoining coffee shop.

'Sorry for calling you out at such a short notice. Actually, I didnt expect my work to be done by late at night today, but when it got over so early, I thought of asking you if you were free and could meet me now. I hope I didnt make you wait for too long.'

Eh, well... no... not at all! Hell... you made me wait for 20 minutes! 20 MINUTES!!!! She smiled, 'Umm...no.. not really! Its okay.'

'Alrite, so what will you have?'

Oxygen... gimme some oxygen. Thats what I need right now! 'Ehh... nothing. I'm fine.' She started coughing. Dammit! She thought she could manage a few words without showing that her mouth had gone paper-dry!

'Are you okay? Do you need some water?'

'No no.. I'm fine!' She coughed again. Aarghhh! Noo..nooo... please dont!

'Should I get you some water? Are you fine?' Now he was really concerned.

'Noo..noo.. its fine. I'm fine. Its just the weather. How are you?' She thought changing the topic will help, it did, but only for a few mili-seconds! She coughed again.

'Hmph... I am great! And I'll get some water for you. And you miss, relax. ok? I'll be back.'

Before she could say anything to stop him he was gone. Woww! What a start! What a first impression! What a date!! She was nervous as hell, and he was so relaxed! Only if she could borrow some from him! She cursed herself. Maybe its all her fault, she shouldnt have been so excited about meeting him, or maybe she should have come late as usual and not tried  being punctual for the first time! But then how could she know he was going to be late? Dammit... dammit.. dammit..!!! She saw him coming with a glass of water in his hand. He had an amused smile on his lips. Ofcourse, he had all the right in the world to be amused! She did amuse him. Her nervousness did amuse him. 

'Here you go. And why are you being so nervous? Relax babes!'

She nodded obidiently, and drank the water in small gulps. Aaahh! 'Thanks.'

Although the water wet her mouth, it couldnt stop her from sweating. She was still sweating. Although he made her start talking, she was still not in her original form. The nervousness hadnt crept out of her. She was still self-conscious. They chatted for what seemed like a long time to her turned out to be just an hour. Although not completely herself, she was enjoying herself, and was slowly getting back in her element. She wanted to sit right there and talk to him, just simply talk. She was intimaded by him. His presence affected her, and she liked the novelty of it, it was the first time someone affected her merely with his presence. It seemed to her that the time was running out and suddenly it was the time for her to go back home. She hated it. She wanted to talk more. She wanted to spend some more time with him. Only if this fool didnt come 20 minutes late she would have had 20 minutes more to spend with him! She sighed.

'Its time I have to be back home.'

He didnt wince at all but simply nodded, and it saddened her for a moment. Nevertheless, she gathered herself up. It was time for her to go back home. His enchanting smile was all she needed to give him one of her honest happy grins. She smiled so easily and so frequently through out the date. Date?!! umm..welll...it was anything but a DATE!! She left him with mixed feelings... happy that she finally met him, sad that she was departing from him. She had thought of him all the week. Going through every moment of that evening again and again. Hoping she didnt do this... or hadnt said that... behaved lik this... or laughed like that.....

'Here are the tickets. Come on... lets go, the movie has just started. We need to hurry if you dont want to miss the start.'

Today, after two weeks, it was their second date, and again... he was late and she was nervous!! :P