Bezzie booth.

 

August 1998 -

I was gasping. Holding my palm on my chest, I could sense the throbbing of my heart. I caught my breath. I inhaled and exhaled to feel at ease. I had run all the way here, to the telephone booth. I looked at my watch, it was 6.25 p.m. "6.30 p.m. was the set time", I reminded myself. I surveyed the area with a sharp glance, to confirm that there was no acquaintance of mine around. I entered the booth and locked it from inside. I picked up the receiver, dialed the number mechanically, I knew it by heart. The long ring for STD call buzzed. "Hello", I heard the hello and I paused for a second, my heart skipped a beat.Leaning against the booth wall, I gulped and cleared my throat and said, "Hello".

May 1998 -

It was during this summer vacation, when I was visiting my cousin's place, I had met Ishan. It was my cousin's birthday party. A bunch of cousins had gathered to celebrate in a restaurant. Before cutting the cake, I asked them to wait and hurriedly rushed to the restroom. In the passage, I dashed against a strong shoulder. When I looked up it was a handsome young man. We both said sorry in unison. My cousins were waiting for me, I quickly went ahead, finished my job and came back hastily. While adjusting the sleeve of my top, I saw that, this guy was still waiting outside. He looked into my eyes. I was a bit anxious. "What is he upto? Is it a film scene? We dash and we fall in love....ahh! cringy...", all this was going on my mind and he strectched his hand out. "Oh! My earing", my hand swiftly moved towards my ears. "This is yours right?", he said. His voice was so deep and manly that my brain ceased to function for few seconds. My both hands were holding my ear lobes and I was blankly staring at him. He snapped his fingers and the 'tich' sound broke my reverie. I grabbed the earing from his hand. "Thankyou", I blurted and hurriedly walked past, without noticing his expression nor waiting for his response. I was embarrassed from the fact that I stared at him blankly and so, couldn't meet his eyes anymore. I didn't even turn back and see.

The cake was cut and I found my cousin brother was shaking hands with the same guy. "Diya", my brother called me. "Oh! Is he here to complain?", my soliloquy. "Give him a pice of cake", my brother said. "Hmmmm?", I was puzzled. I placed a piece in a plate and handed it to him. "He is my friend Ishan", my brother introduced me. "Hello", I said and smiled at him. In my mind, I was still awkward.

August 1998 -

"I was waiting to hear your voice. Seeing your face would have been better though! But for time being let's settle for this. How have you been?", his deep manly voice once again carried me into trance. 

May 1998 -

"Hello and you are?", he asked with a grin, stretching out his hand, this time to shake hands though. "I...am Diya", I said, not knowing whether to shake hands or just smile or....till then he had already seized my hand. His hands were sturdy and the veins on the arms were more visible, now, that his grip tightened. I shifted my gaze from his masculine arms to his face. He had a sharp nose, brown eyes, with long eyelashes. "He seems perfect", I murmured. "Did I say it aloud? No, no it was in my mind...yes...", my brain and heart were arguing.

"Perfect", he said. "Damn! Did he hear it?", I was embarrassed once again.

"Uh!..What?", I said. "Your earings look perfect now. The pair is complete", he clarified. He was talking about the earings, "Thankgod", again my soliloquy. "Yes the pair seems complete", I said. He looked at our entangled hands and back into my eyes. He smirked and said, "Right!".

Ishan then asked me out after the birthday party. I had taken my time to answer. We met a few times, secretly, without my brother knowing. Once we both were sure, we had decided to date. But then Ishan had to attend his meetings out of town. He was working with a MNC. I had to come back to my hometown. I was still studying in college.

We agreed on a distant relationship. We wrote emails to each other, regularly. We did Voice chats, but I found it difficult to talk to him, as my parents were always around. Then the telephone booth came to our rescue.  But it had to be a booth not very close to my home too.

August 1998 -

This was the first time we were going to talk over the phone after a long time.

I was nervous yet excited to hear his voice.

"This booth is like a boon for us", he said. "Yes! But I had to run over here to make it in time", I said. I had my classes for the final exams of graduation. After finishing the same I had rushed over to talk to him. The booth then became a place of regular visit. Like a buddy who shared our secrets, a bezzie who witnessed our love. It felt like I am talking to Ishan face to face, just him and me. 

The knock on the door of telephone booth brought me back to reality. I gestured the person waiting out to hang on for 5 minutes. "There's a line outside the booth", I said. "So times up?", he asked. "For today", I replied. And we both hung up for the day, making an appointment at the booth, the day after.

#Fiction

PC: shutterstock

AUTHOR'S NOTE: There's a beautiful quote by Peter Gallagher which is fit for the prompt 'Telephone booth' -

"Whether it's on top of a phone booth or $200 million stage, it's about stories".

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