The Time Life Surprised Me

After about a month since I've taken a liking to the man and his words, I looked at the date on the calendar. It was my birthday. I've spent heaps of time cyber-stalking this man, drinking his thoughts in and acquiring a taste for it sentence by sentence.

I woke up to an average day at school. Nothing much, just play-rehearsals and strangers noticing me for the one day of my life. During this month, I would often strap on my gladiators for an hour or two to rehearse my moves for my upcoming musical. My practices on the stage continued till after the school bell rang. I was eager to watch Mr. E (or, as I like to call him, mystery) walk down the corridor with his innate edginess and his immaculate ability to stay calm and collected. At all times. This infuriated me, but only made me more and more attracted to him. 

I remember blowing out my candles the night before, hoping for a chance to get closer to him. It was not until later that day that I was in for a surprise . . .

I decided to have a simple dinner with my family. A barbecue, if you will. We had all kinds of food - and I even baked a turkey breast for the special occasion. My family loved it. Or at least they said they did. I was sitting at the corner on the balcony with the picnic blankets placed side to side, staring at the magical buzzing box that is my phone, and replying to these:

"Happy Birthday! May god bless you, stay pretty! x"

"happy birthday :)"

"happy birthday, have a blast"

"happy bday, mgbua, enjoy"

"Happy Happy Birthday! Hope it will be a good year."

"hi dear have a nice birthday today"

"OMG, Jaanam, happy birthday you're so gorgeous i love you have a bomb your hair is nice . . .

You get the point. These were wall-post formalities, I dreaded them each year. A different sound came out of my phone this time. It wasn't WhatsApp or Facebook Notifications or Twitter or WordPress or Tumblr or any of these social networks. It was Facebook Messenger. 

His named popped up. My inner fangirl was unleashed. He said, "happy birthday jaanam / hundreds and hundreds of congratulations (well, that's what it sounds like translated)." I was on top of the world, already. We began making small talk when he revealed to me that his driver had miraculously quit and how he needed a ride for school on the next day.

I cannot accurately describe the feeling I had inside of me. But, here's a list:

1. I was smiling like an idiot. My face split into two.

2. I was already overwhelmed with the love I felt that day.

3. I was all, "universe, I see what you did there!"

4. I cried because of the perfect timing.

5. I was looking forward to being the age I am now.

6. Everyone was asking me what was wrong with me.

7. The fact that I had to cover it up made me grin even more.

8. I just wouldn't buy it, I was practically dreaming.

9. I was away from my little party for a while to look for better signal.

10. ALL AT THE SAME TIME

I was rather dismayed when he told me he no longer needed rides to school, because how life surprised me was just too perfect. I dealt with it though - enjoying the few minutes I spent with him from home to school; I would even dress in his favourite colours, put on some good smelling stuff, and look like anything other than my usual hobo appearance. Two weeks later, his driver quit again . . .

And again.

And again.