DEFYING MY MATES

Love Is Blind

AFTER EXAMS

I decided to call Nia, as I walked to the cafeteria, and I kind of bumped into my ex-crush/professor, Eric. Nia never understood my liking for him. If I remember clearly, she said,” He is handsome and manly, but he is not anywhere near as manly as Jake.”

Hence, this proves the theory that love is blind.

I didn’t intend to compare their manliness, but it was kind of obvious that Eric was better looking than Jake. And, I believed it was best to take this tiny secret to my grave rather than to confess it to her face, as I was in no mood to sport a black eye the next day.

Beginning of my one-sided relationship:

Previously, Eric made me feel so special. He appreciated me, treated me with kindness, helped me with my studies and saved me from detention a few times.

When I got in an accident and was hospitalized for a week, he visited me regularly with flowers regardless of time. I noticed he treated me differently than the rest of the students.

Although he was my professor, he did all the stupid things like telling me ridiculous jokes, making weird faces, imitating and what not to cheer me up when I was confined within the boring white walls of the hospital. And, it was funny to see a big guy making puny attempts to cheer up someone.

Even a blind girl would have fallen for his charm. How could I not???

I thought he liked me and wanted us to be something more, more than a professor and student relationship. Eventually, I began to like him too in the romantic sense.

But, he never confessed his feelings. So, I decided to take the matter in my own hands and give a little rest to his insecurities, if he had any. I was too far gone to even think of the repercussions.

One evening when he dropped me off at my home, as an appreciation of his efforts, I tried to peck him on the lips. That was so like me, bold and stupid.

He yelled at me so loudly that I thought he would throw me out of his car in the dripping weather. But, even that would have been nice in comparison to what happened next.

As I confessed how I felt about him, my voice cracked a bit with all the clogged up emotions. My tears kept pouring out and the whole fiasco was giving me a huge headache. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to hide somewhere with no one around.

I felt my heart breaking piece by piece, as I saw his face. His nostrils flared as if he was having a hard time restraining his anger at bay. His eyes held disgust, disappointment and something more that I couldn’t point out. I could never forget his expressions.

I thought it was just a disastrous dream and I would wake up any time soon. We will be back to being friends. So, I held onto that tiny hope tightly and pinched myself hard once, twice, thrice, but nothing.

I was filled with a sense of foreboding that nothing was going to fix the mess I had made, and when he belittled me, my fears were justified.

He said and I quote, “Goodness Marie, have you lost it? If I care for you, it doesn’t mean I love you. There’s a big difference. I was being a good friend. I’m sorry …I’m sorry if you thought I had led you on. But, this…this is unacceptable. I don’t even know what to say to you right now. I...uh... from this moment, I’m going to keep it completely professional. I'm...I'm sorry.”

After the embarrassment I went through, neither I tried to talk to him nor gave him any excuses for my past actions. His attitude towards me has taken a 180° turn ever since then. He was no longer the same man I knew.

But at times, I could feel him watching me intently, or maybe I hallucinated. Whatever that was, I ignored it totally and moved on.

End of my one-sided relationship:

“You should get your eyes examined, Ms. Welsh.” He said, annoyed, and pushed me back a little too harshly with his dainty fingers. Due to which, I bumped into someone and fell on my ass, hurting myself.

I tried not to lash out at him because it wouldn’t be a pretty sight. It never was. While taking deep breaths, I counted to 10, trying to calm down the raging beast inside me who was eager to beat his pretty little ass to pulp.

Some people snickered and whispered among themselves, not so discreetly, that the Ice Queen was trying to hit on the professor but it backfired on her. Well, they weren’t completely wrong. I tried to charm him a long time ago. But not right now. How delusional were they to think I'd hit on someone as obnoxious as him?

I would rather die than be with him. Nevertheless, I did what I have been doing recently, apologized for my mistake. Note the sarcasm.

Running his fingers in his perfectly styled hair, giving it a disheveled look, he disappeared in the crowd.

I'm glad I’ll be out of his hair and this sham of a college in a few days. But, I felt a little sad because I wouldn’t be seeing Nia and Jake.

Shaking the unwanted thoughts out of my mind, I got up, dusted my jeans off and was on my way to the cafeteria. As I bought lunch, I saw Nia sitting by herself with her food untouched, tapping manically at her cell phone. She looked furious when I wondered who she was talking to.

Sliding on the chair, I sat in front of her and cleared my throat quietly to gain her attention.

I raised my eyebrows in confusion at her, wondering what was cooking in her head, as she kept her cell aside and looked at me with her scrutinizing gaze. “What happened to your arm?” she questioned, trying to pull off a scary face and failing horribly at it.

Popping a few fries in my mouth, “Eric happened. But, I handled it perfectly. You don’t need to worry about your pretty little head with it.”

“By letting him off the hook, again, right?” she taunted me, annoyed, while I shrugged in response.

“Just because you like him, doesn’t mean you have to endure his sorry ass. You can’t let him do that to you.” She said furiously, pointing her blood-red painted nails at me.

“Firstly, I don’t like him. Secondly, I don’t plan to get in trouble with him anytime soon. Thirdly, it’s too much of a hassle to bury dead bodies nowadays.”

Rolling her eyes at me, she reminded me of the plan we had planned weeks ago. I agreed to it, as she kept whining about how I spent my days off in my room with my books and diaries without a care in the world. And, mostly because it might be the last time we hang out together.

I didn’t know how to tell her about my plan to shift to Athens. Probably, after she had a drink or two in her system, or was I afraid of what she might do to me?

Two weeks ago, I met Mr. Vincenzo, my father’s high school friend, who offered me a brilliant job. I immediately seized the opportunity, as it was a great deal.

The only thing left was to drop the bomb on my friends, as my parents already knew about my future plans.

“Ouch!!! What was that for?” I complained, soothing my forehead where she flicked at.

“What were you dreaming about? Someone that I should know of?” she teased, wiggling her eyebrows at me.

“You wish!!! Soooo, what after this, huh? Have you decided what you want to do after graduation?” I inquired about eating my fruit salad.

“Of course, I have. I’m going to take a year's break and travel all around the world. Perhaps I’ll try to persuade Jake to tag along for a few weeks if the situation permits, as he decided to take over the family business.” She clasped her hands dreamily, as her eyes were brimming with pure happiness.

“That’s so cool.” Her plan had left me totally flabbergasted. Never knew she had something like that in her mind, but nonetheless, I was happy for her.

After lunch, she and I skipped to our room. I watched her rummage through our closets, making a huge mess in the process. I decided that I'd tell her tonight that I had to shift to Athens in the next two weeks and report at my workplace. And perhaps, I won’t be present for our graduation ceremony either.

“Perfect!” I snapped out of my trance with her high-pitched voice.

Exclaiming in delight, she took a sleeveless red bodycon dress with sequins all over it and a slim-fitting peach bodysuit with a black mini skirt. She basically forced me to try the latter one and I refused immediately to wear it. It was too revealing for my liking and I was a little self-conscious about my body to even try it.

I wore the red dress while she wore the bodysuit. We styled our hair while she did my makeup along with hers. After she felt satisfied with her job, I looked at myself in the mirror and marveled at the outcome. I looked different, a good kind of different. I thought I should do it often.

Delving into the heap of clothes, Nia found her ringing cell. Huffing and puffing, she picked up the call. I heard her saying,” Yeah, ready….okay…uh huh… yeah sure… we will be there in a minute.``

She held my hands excitedly and locked our room. As she dragged me to the college parking lot, I could see Jake waiting patiently for us outside the car. He looked handsome in his casual attire. As he glanced at Shania, he froze like a statue. It was kind of expected, as she looked sexy in her revealing bodysuit.

I laughed a little at his expression. I found him cute, even drooling a little like a puppy who found his favorite snack. He greeted her with a peck on her lips.

“You look less intimidating today, Marie.” He teased me by poking my cheeks.

Swatting his hands, I gave him a tight-lipped smile,” I’m going to whoop your ass if you don’t stop being a nuisance.”

“Aww, Are you angry at me, little lamb?” He mocked the obvious.

“I swear to God Jake”, before I could threaten him. He raised his hands in surrender.

I signed in annoyance.

While Nia sat in the front with him, I got seated in the back seat. Maneuvering out of the parking lot, we hit the road. Jake switched on the radio and turned the volume up.

As the Sunflower by Shannon Purser aired, I found myself smiling, it was one of my favorites. While both of them were bickering back and forth as usual, I sat in silence.

20 minutes later, we reached our destination.