New SS: Starlight Express CLOSED Indefinitely - Page 37

Originally posted by: 6thElement

😊

Somehow those thoughts have evaporated...

Just because, you want to be on the train...I will write up one more scene in the train and then we are getting off.

Yeah! tell me about the rain gurl!. Its depressing...

Dinner they ate, as if they were drawing in their plate of food through a straw, although not entirely bypassing table manners for a quick dinner to retire either in the lounge car or her coach. They hadn't talked each other into gobbling down their chicken. But it was needless to say so when they had another charming old couple in their retirement years, chatting them up during their community dinner sitting.

She was helpless, unable to look him in the eye for anything longer than a second when she addressed him. It was impossible to focus on any train of thought when she felt a constant rush inside her; not exactly a cheap thrill over spending time with a stranger, but as though she was plunging into the unknown with the secret knowledge that it wasn't all annihilating. Like taking a roller coaster ride for the first time with a bubbling cauldron for a stomach - though you are perfectly aware of a safe landing that waits - grossly imagining the nausea rising up your throat while speeding through the highs and lows of the ride. And yet you would take it for the exhilaration, to experience the priceless surrender to inviting - however nerve-chilling - challenges of life. If this wasn't consolation enough to justify the time spent with him, she felt Dev was wiped off of even her hiding unconscious. As though he was Dr. Mierzwiak himself from the movie 'Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind', erasing every memory of the last two years that had held her prison, for all those weeks since her break-up.

Once he paid the check - with him picking up her tab as well - they walked to sit by the lounge that was surprisingly deserted for that hour of the evening. She had no choice but to sit next to him and so she did, watching the night light cast their reflection on the window glass. Deciding it was best to strike up a conversation, she started on the first thing that came to her mind, after remembering the stewardess removing a clump of paper towels into her tray.

"I hate when people use a tree worth of paper towels when they could do with one...Did you notice that mountain of wasted paper towels? They were eating with a fork and knife for godsake!"

Obviously he had. He straightened up, narrowing his forehead and shifted in profile to show his mock confusion. "And where are we going with this?...I don't remember this being an audit for certifying if Amtrak was eco-friendly"

She titled her head to the side, mouthing him a 'Duh!' and a second later, she flashed him her brightest smile.

"I thought we could get the dislike list going..." Her eyes shifted to her fingers that were twirling the tail end of her shawl, "Somehow I felt that might be a shorter one to attack first and get to know each other better" She wished she didn't blush, but it was too late to hide when she already felt a hot flush creeping up her cheeks.

He faced the window again and his head fell back, to give her the room she perhaps needed that moment. He couldn't help but smile at what was being secretly promised to him: a couple of coffee shop encounters at best.

"Oh! no..." He shook his head lightly, "I'm not getting myself into that..." She looked worried at his response and he instantly met her eyes to clarify. "No...That's not what I meant...I would rather you tell me what you like. You see I have very less time on my hands to make an impression and..." He winked at that and her mouth fell apart.

He began laughing aloud at her reaction. "I mean I have less time to make an impression and get that phone number of yours before we get off the train" She nodded this time and she too turned to look out the window. While she remained silent, not knowing how to go about the exchange, she felt his fingers on her hand that lay close to his side. A smile broke out of her lips and she shuffled while he took his time to take her hand and hold on to it.

"So what did you miss the most when you left India?" He asked and before she could resist herself from doing so, she found herself turning towards him and folding her legs on the seat. This is different, she reminded herself. They were in plain view for the few passengers in the car and there wasn't a chance in the world for anything intimate from going down there.

"I was too young then to remember anything clearly...Kinder garden friends or the home we left behind. But if I have to say something, then it would have to be mango bite"

His eyes blinked struggling to put an image to the familiarity that he sensed and she helped with the description. "You know the one with the yellow wrapper..." She was suddenly overcome by a fit of nostalgia and looked down at their hands, their fingers weaving through each other's and resting on his lap. Unaware in that trace like state, she traced a finger down the nerve that was pushing against his skin as he clutched her other hand.

"I think I remember..." He said, his voice accordingly taken down a few timbres, as though any louder a sound would make her cease being spontaneous with him, "It's the sticky one that gets stuck around the tooth" His face contorted, expressing his distaste for toffees of that kind.

"You are missing the good part...the after taste that slowly trickles on the tongue as it melts" She made a smacking sound, "And I say that imperfection is what drew me to it " She retorted, picking up her good spirits.

"Apparently mom told me that she brought a bag when we came here and that I filled a whole cookie jar with it...eating only one after dinner on special days...my own attempts to make it last, you know..." She didn't know what she was giving away then. It didn't seem like there was a motive behind that initial question of his, for despite the aimless chatter, she could swear that his whole being was tuned to her.

"So how long did you make it last?" He asked.

She thought he was unbelievably curious for a sane guy to be interested in the banality of her life. Where did she find him...Really? And that had her smiling, before she knew.

"I think for four or five months...I don't remember. Then I took to the chocolates and toffees from here..."

"See...you just move onto the next thing" He remarked, throwing up a brow to the middle of his forehead and it caught her attention.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" She questioned, trying to get a read of the connotation he was going for.

"Neither...It isn't like the chocolates from here replaced your fondness for mango bite. I was merely pointing out the fact that life always presents opportunities to acquaint yourself to new things..." He sure was hinting at more than just toffees, she understood that much.

"I guess" She sounded wistful and caught herself observing the way their entwined fingers constantly pulled apart and weaved again in a state of restlessness; the sight strangely no longer unsettling her. It was comforting for once, that all that movement didn't stir another effect in her, the initial heady feeling having disappeared in the naivete of their talks.

"So would you call me a hypocrite if I name my favorite treat from India?" She looked up eagerly, still holding that smile that now refused to flicker out.

"Eclairs...It's the gooey and sticky kind as well" He laughed and she joined him too, finding him inane; but also adoring him for the efforts he was putting to match his responses to her unsophisticated ones; not missing the clear ring of genuineness in his voice. As if the revelation couldn't get any more intimate, she arched her body and leaned in to rest her head by the tip of his shoulder. If he was taken aback by her sudden - but not so much unexpected - move, he didn't give away his surprise. She decided it was worthless resisting him, when there were far more things out in the world that could harm her emotionally with so much as a single unbidden thought. At present he was anything but the little grey cloud that had been hanging low over her head early that morning; Sunshine...

"Yeah...I can do with Eclairs..." She whispered with a smile, moving closer to the warmth that the length of his sinewy, but assuring, arm gave off.

Originally posted by: Azmatazz

Amazing update Hasini... One of those that i did not have to re-read to get to the messages 😳

Originally posted by: memyselfndI

Oooha. Awesome Awesome Awesome. Loved it.

Originally posted by: 6thElement

Thank you :) Good to see you here more often.

Originally posted by: 6thElement

And so I ask...Is that a good thing or a bad thing?😊

Originally posted by: memyselfndI

Hasini

You know it very well that I am not much into posting or making coments but that does not mean I dont stalk you. Infact I sneek in everyday to see if you have any updated. Got disappointed if there are not any updates during some day.

Loved your writing always.