Dating : She Said OK

Commentary of a football match going on on the television.

And there he goes again, his third Hattrick of this season. He’s at his peak Roger, I am telling you, this man will be the top scorer this season too.

It’s true Mike, this player has shown some really good games. There it is, his usual celebration, passing by that empty seat, giving a flying kiss and winks looking at the camera. It’s his trademark now Mike, but why does he do that?

Reporters have continuously asked him Roger, but he never reveals why he does that. One day that seat is going to be full and I just hope it’s worth all the hype.

Renuka: Come on, will you turn it off now; they won, the match is over.

Aaisha: there are still a few mins left, let it get over.

Renuka: there is no way your team is going to win.

Shalini: just because you don’t like watching football we cannot just quit watching it.

Renuka : (stands up and leaves to the kitchen) do whatever you want.

Aaisha: what got into her???

Shalini: She’s always like this when we watch football.

“So now that my team is lost, do you girls want to go watch the finals,” Aaisha asks. “ I thought you and I were going” Shalini acts surprised. “Well, my team is out, so there is no point of me going there, and we got only 2 tickets. So….”

Renuka stops cooking, she asked in a confused voice “ maybe we all can go’’. “Didn’t you listen, we got only 2 tickets’’ both of them stared at Renuka. “What’s going on”, “I want to tell you something” “ what ??? did you buy tickets for yourself because we were planning to go without you.” Aaisha smiled at her, Renuka was still in dilemma. not moving. “ There is something which I didn’t tell you guys, I thought you might make a big deal out of it” “ It better be worth all the build-up”. “ We all can go watch the match. I got a ticket for the finals.” “ And why is it that we are just knowing about it now ??? ”Shalini asks with curiosity. “It’s not just this game, it’s all of his games” “ whose game ???” both of them asked together. Renuka walks towards the cupboard and pulls out a box filled with tickets. Both grab the tickets and look at them. “ These are the tickets of the empty seat”, “ Oh my god, it’s you to whom these are sent. But why ???” Aaisha asks out of curiosity. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you everything. But the thing is I never could make myself go, till now, this finals seems to be the best opportunity as you both also have tickets. So I won’t be alone, you guys will be there to support ”, “ Forget about supporting, we are going to be on the news ” both of them started screaming and jumping while Renuka stood there with a nervous laugh on her face.

The Gameday

The referee blows the whistle and started the game.

Well, Roger, it will be tough for him to be the top scorer this season. He’s 2 goals behind. Don’t be so sure Mike, this man has done some unpredictable things, you never know how today’s game might turn out to be.

37’ passed, still the score is nil-nil, both the teams are maintaining their standards well, proving why they are once playing in the finals. There is not much time left in the first half Mike, it’s hard to say which team is going to score first and take the lead.

The second half starts and both the teams are still performing their best. The ball fumbles, it seems like an opening for him, will he be able to convert it ??? He went past 2 defenders, passes the ball, takes it back, chips over the keeper. It hits the crossbar and returns back, the keeper is still down, he is still running towards the goal, reaches the ball and smashes it in. He has done it again. Taking his team a step closer towards victory. Just when you think that it’s going pretty well he just swoops right in and takes advantage of the slightest mistake made converting into a goal. Still, you cannot start to celebrate quite yet Roger, the second half has just begun, but his usual celebr…. (stops in the middle), well Roger this will be interesting, seems like our questions will be answered today. There is someone sitting in the empty seat today. Who is this mysterious woman Mike? Oh well, Roger, let’s see how he reacts to it, we will get to know everything today. Mike, it seems like he is still unaware of the fact that someone has shown up today.

The team is celebrating, everyone, climbing on him and hugging him. Surrounded by his teammates, filled with the joy of scoring a goal in such a crucial game, he almost forgets to do his usual celebration, almost. It strikes him, he starts running slowly toward the empty seat, not knowing that his someone has finally shown up, he passes the seat and gives a flying kiss towards it he’s about to turn towards the camera, he turns and looks back at the seat. He finally realized that someone is sitting there today, he freezes, smiles and puts his head down and goes back on the field.

The crowd goes nuts. The camera starts showing her on the big screen. She looks nervous and scared.

Nobody expected such a turn of events in the finals Mike, seems like even he wasn’t expecting her to show up. Is he blushing ??? Roger, he’s so flushed right now he can hardly lookup.

Seems like the Manager has got something to say to him, Mike.

“ focus on the game, no need to get distracted ”, “ in short you are asking me to not look at her ”, “ as far as you get it ”. He laughs, “ I can do my usual thing right ??? I do look there when I celebrate after scoring a goal ”, “ if you score a goal you can look at her ”.

Seems like the Manager has asked to get his head in the game and not get distracted. He has stopped looking at her Mike, but he is not able to take that big smile off his face. Seems like it will be the highlight of the news tomorrow.

It’s been 10min straight and they are still in the lead with 1–0, he got the ball, makes a run through the side, sees his teammate inside, crosses the ball over, beautiful header and it’s a goal. 2–0, with one goal and one assist for him. You can see that he wants to look at her but he’s trying not as he didn’t score this time.

Oh, this could be bad, it seems like the referee is going to give a penalty. It is a penalty. Who’s gonna take it??? It seems like he wants to take the penalty, Roger. If he scores he’ll be the top scorer this season, but that’s not what he’s thinking right now Mike, all he wants is a reason to look at the pretty lady there. And he scores, 3–0. It seems like a one-sided game now Mike, the second half of the game has been a complete opposite of the first half. There he goes, he’s not doing anything, he’s just looking at her and goes by. This girl is going to get more media attention than the losing team today.

90′ on the clock with just a few more minutes left in the game. They are not done yet Mike, it’s a counter-attack, he is making a run without the ball, what a long pass, he receives it, dribbles 2 defenders, it is one on one with the keeper, he goes towards the right, takes a shot, and it’s an easy goal, he just slips it right by the keeper. 4–0 and the referee blows the final whistle.

Inside the locker room

Everyone is filled with joy, celebrating their victory. Whereas he’s in a hurry to leave the stadium. Takes a quick shower and dresses up real quick. His teammates are teasing him like teenage kids, asking him about her, all he could do is blush.

“ Tell us something about her, where did you meet, how close you are ”, he hesitates, has nervous laughter on his face “ well, I just like her, we haven’t spoken since we were in school. let’s see how things go ”, “ you got to be kidding me. ”. Hopping on his one foot while trying to put on the other shoe, “ well, you won’t understand, and I ain’t got no time to explain. ” “how will you find out where she is “ he switches on the news channel, ” there, these media people are like scavengers, they won’t leave her alone. She’s just outside the stadium, let me go and save her from them. ”

Standing with her friends, surrounded by the media people continuously shooting questions at her, not knowing what to do. Making space through the crowd with the security he arrives, smiles at her and asks her to come with him and takes them inside where the media people interfere.

He: hi

She looks around, embraces herself, stares him right into his eyes and starts beating him

He: trying to defend himself, “ ouch, stop it. ”

Her hand gets hit by his hand while he tries to defend.

Renuka: “ aha, how dare you hit me ”

He: “when did I hit you,” she pops her eyes out and gives him a look and starts hitting again, “ok fine, I am sorry”

“ I didn’t mean to create such a big scene but it seems like things went out of hand. I am sorry for all the trouble”, apologizes to her friends and her

Renuka: “ we knew what we were getting into so this was expected.”

He: “ will it be ok if I borrow your friend here for a while” pointing at Renuka.

Aaisha: “ ya sure, no problem ”

He: “ There’s a hotel across the stadium, you just have to cross a bridge which is connecting them, it’s close by. I have already spoken to the in-charge and book a room for you there. You can head back, I’ll bring your friend back in a while”

Aaisha and Shalini say bye to Renuka and start walking towards the bridge, while we both stayed behind.

“ Why are you doing this, sending me all these tickets ”, she asks him out of curiosity. “Come on, as if you don’t know” “ what ??? ”, she asks again “ stop pretending, everyone who knows us knew that I liked you ”. She hesitates, stays silent for a few seconds “ That was a long time back, you still do ??? .” Scratches the back of his head “ well, I thought that it was just an infatuation, but I haven’t felt the same way for anyone else ”. She looks down, not sure how to react. “ See, you were a good friend of mine, and I never thought of you in that way”, interrupts her, “ I tried to be just friends with you, thought that the feelings will go away but no. I cannot be just friends with you. Like everyone in my situation, I was scared that if I tell you I might lose you, but I cannot pretend to be just friends with you. There’s a first time for everything, so if you haven’t looked at me that way then give it a try, because, I love you. Always have and always will be ”. Her cheeks start turning pink, she tries to hide her face, she stays quiet. “ I am not sure if we both are good for each other or not but if I want to be with someone then I feel it should be with you only. It’s been many years since we even spoke with each other but this might be my only chance to let you know directly how I feel. ”

Awkward silence between them. They keep on walking for a few minutes. “ I am not sorry for saying these things. I know it complicates things between us but this is what I wanted to do for so long.” he gets more anxious seeing her not respond, “ so, for how long are you going to stay here ??? ” She finally raises her head and replies, “ we are leaving the day after tomorrow ”, “ oh, cool ”. Ther reached the hotel lobby. She looks at him and asks “ for you it would be like a first date right ??? ” he smiles and replies “ well I don’t know about you but I am going to consider this as a date only ” she gives a stinky eye look to him. “ If you have no plans for tomorrow I could show you around a few places. I’ll have practice in the morning and then I can come and pick you up by 11 o’clock ??? ” he asks, she tilts her head and raises her eyebrow “ are you asking me for a second date ”, she smiles and walks away towards the elevator “ bye, see you tomorrow ” and the elevator door closes and he starts wondering why are his cheeks hurting so badly.

The next morning

He rushes towards the front desk, asks them to call and check if they are still in the room as he was already an hour late to meet her. A voice from the back “ Shall we ” she was standing behind him. “ Sorry, I got stuck with the practice. I thought I could sneak out without the manager finding out, but you are kind of the headlines of today and the manager kept a special eye on me and didn’t let me leave. ” “It’s ok, should we go now “ she points towards the exit and they leave. “ I know pretty good tourist places which we can visit and there’s……. ” his stomach starts growling, he stops talking and his eyes open wide. “ I think we should eat first ”, “ na na, it’s ok, there are lots of beautiful places to see in this city. ” She looks at him and pouts her mouth “ but I am feeling hungry, let’s eat first then we’ll go ”

They went to a fancy restaurant nearby and took a table for two. “ So what did you do since the morning ???” “ Well, I got ready and there was a lot of time left so I came to the stadium. ” “ You came to the stadium ??? ” “ Ya, I sat down there and saw your entire practice from where fans were allowed to see. No wonder they all recognized me after the stunt you pulled last night. ’’ I am sorry about that, I didn’t realize that this will lead to so much attention when I started it. I didn’t want to cause any trouble for you. ”. “ Relax. I’ll be fine, it’s not an issue, I am kind of enjoying the attention ”

The entire day went by, we didn’t do much. Just sat down and talked, talked a lot. She told me about her work and shared some funny stories. We both bitched about people we hated while we were in school. Things that I did and thought she didn’t know, but she told me she knew. But not once, not once she brought the topic of me telling her that I how I felt and I didn’t know how to bring that up again without making it awkward. We were walking outside her hotel, not much time left for her before she had to go back. She looks at him and asks “ So about yesterday, what you said, do you really mean that ??? ” his heart starts raising, “ damn it. I wasn’t this scared when I confessed it to her, but now when I know that she’s going to respond to it, it is even scarier. ” he thinks to himself. “ Obviously, I don’t like to hide things. I said what I felt and I completely understand if you don’t feel the same way ”. She tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear, looks down and smiles and says “ Ok ”. “ Fine ” He’s too scared to notice all these things, he thinks that she responded “ ok ”for what he said earlier about not feeling the same way as him. She was surprised and thinks to herself “ that’s a bit odd, it isn’t quite the expression I was expecting ”, she looks at him, stresses a bit more and says it again “ OK ”. “ Ya, fine it’s ok ” he feels a bit low, turns and looks at her, she stares at him with surprise and smiles, thinking how dumb one can be. It finally hits him “ Oh, you mean OK ”, She feels excited that he finally understood and she nods her head. He is overwhelmed with joy and starts jumping, he runs towards her and hugs her and says “ I Love You ”, but she wasn’t hugging him back. “ Hi ”a sound from behind, it was her friends. “ Hey ”. “ So, are you also coming back just now? ” One of them asks “ Ya, was just heading back ” “ Cool, I guess we are on time then, we were waiting for you. Let’s go then ”. Stupid friends of her “ Guess ill see you tomorrow then before you leave. ” “ Ya, see you tomorrow then. Bye ” “ Bye ” she turns and leaves with her friends. “How stupid am I”, she realizes and comes running back towards him, puts her arms around him and hugs him and stays like that for a few seconds. He holds her arms and says. “ you didn’t say I love you too ” she hits him in his head, says “ We’ll discuss tomorrow how to make things work. Bye ” and goes back, he looks at her and winks and says bye.