One month passed with a blink of my eyes, my father curriared foreign dress from London and my mother gifted her car to me. My birthday was not celebrated as they both had a busy schedule (they are always busy) I turned eighteen and was eligible to drive.
I picked my casual dress and stroked a mascara and kajal on my eyes to look neat and Sharp.
For the first time, I needed no driver to drop me to college. I drove the car carefully.
I reached ten minutes before the class initiated. Sir Pandey, the nuclear physics professor conducted the class. I slyly plugged my earphones and played the songs.
I was pretending to look sincere. Those four songs uplifted my mood.
"Today, Maya is looking intersested," Sir Pandey said.
I became alert.
The song was still playing on my ears.
....Kiss me in the D-A-R-K tonight, D-A-R-K, do it my way....
The sound of the earphone disturbed his words, I could barely listen to him.
He was approaching close. So, I stood up.
"What is antineutrino?," he asked.
.......With my short dress, suntan, barefeet, I don't care what they say about me, what they say about, 'cause I know what is L-O-V-E.......
"It's the product of beta minus decay...." (I knew something from class 12)
....Skipping roads and skipping heartbeats with the boys downtown just you and me feeling the heat even when the sun goes down.......
He snapped earphones from my ears.
"I think you will answer now better," he shouted.
"Get lost," Pandey ordered.
I rolled my eyes and collected my bag and baggage from my desk.
"I don't like nonsense inside my class. If you are not interested, please, get out of my sight.," I overheard his statement.
I plugged my earphones again and played another Lan Del Rey's song, Carmen.
Carmen, carmen, doesn't has a problem lying to herself.....
I accelerated my car and drove.
"I am dying, I am dying.... she's only seventeen she Walks the street so mean..... the boys, the girls they all like carmen...she gives them butterflies bats her cartoon eyes.," I recited the lyrics and tried to sync with the song.
I encountered the man who saved me. Ajey Nagar (popularly named carryminati). Piya knew everything about that cute guy.
I braked the car.
"Hey, where are you going?," I asked.
"Gurgaon."
"Come in," I said.
"That's approximately fifty minutes."
He sat in the front seat beside me. I cross eyed and smiled flirtatiously. I relaxed my neck and played some popular songs.
"How are you?," he asked that lame question.
"Just like you," I answered.
He changed his countenance and turned perplexed.
"Fine," I said.
"If I say I am not fine."
"Then that's my answer."
I played some random song. The song was Zara zara mehekta h behekta h aaj to mera...
"Do you like songs?"
"Yes, I like songs with profound meanings," I answered.
"Do you have any girlfriend?," I asked after few minutes to break the aura of silence.
"Are you flirting?"
"Yyyeesss," I stretched the word in a flirty way.
He cleared his throat and adjusted himself.
"Should I stop?," I asked.
"Continue," he said, "I mean continue driving."
The one hour journey was filled with an awkward silence surrounding us. I can only enjoy the song and the scenic mundane view of that enroute.
It might be because we barely know eachother, we are still strangers to each other. We talk less because there's an invisible thread between us saying, 'don't talk to strangers'. My mom has hardly taught me anything.