TRAIN 9 2 11

IT WAS FIVE O’CLOCK in the afternoon when I woke up. I opened my eyes reluctantly, not wanting to let go of the dream. The room stank of cigarettes and empty wine bottles. I rolled out of bed and almost fell as I stumbled over Prashanth, my friend, sleeping on the floor beside my bed.

He didn’t move as I walked across the room, rolled up the shade and opened the window. It was raining, some of the rain hit Prashanth. It didn’t wake him; he merely rolled over on his side. I circled around him to go into the bathroom. I still had an hour to get over to railway station and meet Rachana, my girlfriend. If I rushed, I could make it.

Twenty minutes later, I was on my way out the front door. I rushed across the rain-swept sidewalk and got into the car.

I jumped out of the car and dashed for the train. I made it just as the train was about to leave in ten minutes. Rachana was sitting at the window seat. “For heaven sake, Avinash,” she complained. “Why did you come so late?”
“What do you think? I was out looking for a gorgeous.”
“Oh, yeah?” she winked. “It was raining and you stayed in the bed waiting for it to stop.”
“You read my mind,” I said, winking back to her. She smiled as she gave me the peck on my cheek. “Two years, been dating you this much I can understand.” She said, teasingly.
She looked up to me out of the corner of her slightly slanted eyes. “Hmm… where is Prashanth?”
I smiled at her. “He’s probably waked up by now.”

I got into the train. Prashanth was standing in front of me. He was dressed gawkily. He turned as I came in. “You forgot train tickets at home.” He blasted on me. “How careless you are?”
Without answering, took the tickets and turned to my seat next to Rachana. She was laughing, and to my relief the train started moving. Prashanth got down the train. Quickly he trusted a bag of water bottle and biscuits in her hands. She took it and we both stood there and waved at him. He gestured towards parking lot. “I’m gonna have a roll with the car,” he shouted.
“Hey—“I called as he went through the door to the parking lot. He turned with a big smile and waved at us.

Rachana was attractive, in her early twenties, wearing black jeans, and white sleeveless top that has a message in pink on it. ‘SHORT CHICKS ROCK’… long enough to be sexy, but short enough to remind you she was probably smarter than you were.

“Without love, everything else is meaningless.”
She nodded weakly. Lovely.

“Avi” her voice was soft. “I’m sorry to bother you.”
I looked up to her. “That’s not at all a problem; Prashanth will take care of the project work”. She was silent for a moment, and then she nodded.
We had the rest of the journey without further talking.

(Stay glued…... adventure is yet to start!)
PS: Rachana’s father met with an accident and he was in critical condition. She asked me to come with her to Vizag to meet her father. Well this was for story.
Rachana was my plus one crush, the best one of all the crushes I had. : D