"Give yourself one more chance, it will work", I reassured Katherine as we sipped our evening coffee. It had become a ritual now. Everyday, we finish work and come here. "The corner shop" was our solace. It is here I've sat and listened to her talk endlessly. She has cried here. She has taken out her frustration here. She has jumped and squeaked with excitement here. All in front of me. After all, we are best friends. She has had a hard life where men are concerned. She was married for an year but it gradually fell apart. I don't think he was somebody to hold on to anyway. He slept with his socks on, who does that? I know that this one thing in her life has drilled a big hole right through her heart. The void she now tries to fill with men, alcohol and herbs. "I don't know if anybody will like me anymore. I have been with a lot of people now and it feels like they're just lifeless ghosts. I can't find happiness in anything. ", she said. "They are all fools, and plus this time its a blind date. Isn't it exciting? You don't even know the guy" She just nods her head, unsure. I know she is afraid. Afraid of the heartbreaks, the fights, the tears and the disaster that follows. She has a pure heart. Katherine has always been the one who genuinely gets attached and cares. It is her who has to put the pieces back together every time they fall apart. She needs a new life. She craves something stable, something which makes her feel the magic that love has. My thoughts are interrupted by justin bieber's ridiculous "as long as you love me". I never understood why on earth she put that as her ringtone. "Hello" she answers. "Yes, this is she." "Oh, hi. Yes I will be there at the Palm view at 7." She widens her eyes and I know who it is. She is fidgeting with her hair, nervous. "I will be in a purple dress". "Okay, I will see you". She hangs up. "Was it him? What did he say? How is his voice? Did he sound too desperate? Was he excited?" "Okay stop!" she interrupts me. "Clearly, he is not as excited as you are. And he is okay. But I just don't feel up to it. I think, no I am pretty sure I will screw this up too. Julia, I am terrified."
I open my eyes with my phone ringing. Checking the time 4am- I pick up the call. "Hulloh", I say in a completely sleepy way. "Okay, Julia get up!"- squeaks a very excited Katherine on the other side of the phone. "He swept me off my feet. He brought flowers, he has the best taste in wine. Oh sorry, his name is Dwayne. He's got those dirty green eyes we always said were a mark of an emotionally stable man. We stayed in the restaurant till 11. Then, we just walked through the central park to the twenty seventh avenue. He said he really thinks we can work and I'm meeting him again tomorrow. Julia? Are you there?"
10 years later I think of that night when I fell asleep while she went on for thirty minutes about how her first blind date was the only one she would ever want to be on. I look at Katherine and Dwayne, lost into each other. Dwayne looks at her like she is magic. Like every little thing she says is something he'd cherish and hold in his heart. I smile stupidly thinking of that time when none of us were sure. Sure of what would happen if she went on this blind date. What would happen if she took the leap once more and landed on her face. I see them cooking together in their kitchen, sneaking a kiss or two as they face each other and I know. I know that all it takes to get through this terribly unfair thing called life- is just one person.
I open my eyes with my phone ringing. Checking the time 4am- I pick up the call. "Hulloh", I say in a completely sleepy way. "Okay, Julia get up!"- squeaks a very excited Katherine on the other side of the phone. "He swept me off my feet. He brought flowers, he has the best taste in wine. Oh sorry, his name is Dwayne. He's got those dirty green eyes we always said were a mark of an emotionally stable man. We stayed in the restaurant till 11. Then, we just walked through the central park to the twenty seventh avenue. He said he really thinks we can work and I'm meeting him again tomorrow. Julia? Are you there?"
10 years later I think of that night when I fell asleep while she went on for thirty minutes about how her first blind date was the only one she would ever want to be on. I look at Katherine and Dwayne, lost into each other. Dwayne looks at her like she is magic. Like every little thing she says is something he'd cherish and hold in his heart. I smile stupidly thinking of that time when none of us were sure. Sure of what would happen if she went on this blind date. What would happen if she took the leap once more and landed on her face. I see them cooking together in their kitchen, sneaking a kiss or two as they face each other and I know. I know that all it takes to get through this terribly unfair thing called life- is just one person.
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