“Coffee” – Male Version – Split Poetry India

“What would you like?” I asked her while scanning the menu which was hung up in front of us.

“Coffee?” she meekly asked. Coffee did seem like the best option. The other food items seemed overpriced for such a small café.

“I’ll have a coffee, too,” I told her and turned to the lady at the counter. She seemed quite bored of taking the orders, her face said it all. But it, being her job, I told her we’ll have two cappuccinos.

She typed something on her computer, produced a bill for which I took out my wallet to pay when she held my arm. Her hands were freezing cold and I managed not to let my gasp escape my mouth. I told her it was my treat – my only chance to show her I was a gentleman – and paid for our coffee.

She handed us our cups and we walked out of the line, looking around to find a place to sit. People had occupied most of the places. I almost thought we will have to go outside – where there was no A/C – when she pointed out to a place, farthest from here. The couple was about to get up so she quickly walked over to their seat, me following her like a lost puppy.

I slid in my chair and so did she. None of us knew how to start the conversation. Over the phone, it seemed easy to talk. The other person could not see you or your expressions while talking. It was easy to start a conversation and it was even easier to shift from one to the next. But here we both sat down, sometimes looking at each other, sometimes hoping one of us would start the conversation.

I looked down at my watch and felt that she was sipping her coffee. Although while doing so, I felt her eyes staring at me. I suddenly felt self-conscious. I did not want to glance at her to confirm my suspicions – she’d be very embarrassed. So I let her take in my features while I looked around here and there.

All the while, I only had one thought in my head, was I dressed properly? Or was it too formal? She had told me her favorite color was black and you can call it my lame attempt to impress her by wearing a black button-up shirt. Sports shoes didn’t seem to go with my attire so I had decided to wear sneakers instead.

I finally glanced at her, wanting to read her face. She froze for a second and I smiled at her. She returned it with a relieved look on her face. She did not know that I knew she was staring at me. I wanted to keep it that way.

She looked around and it was my turn to take in her beauty. Her dark brown hair was in their usual form – she did not go through any problem of straightening it or curling it. They fell on her shoulder, and I’m guessing, went all the way to her lower back. Her face was neither caked in make-up, nor did it look that she had her natural face on. Her eyes were outlined with black eyeliner and a faint pink lipstick made her lips look full and alive. The white top she wore hugged her body and was paired with blue skinny jeans. Her hands were bare and they looked as smooth as nothing I’ve ever seen before. Her nails did not hold any color but her eyes were a perfect brown, a shade lighter than her hair which highlighted her features.

And then out of nowhere, she smiled. My eyes followed hers and landed on a pair of couple. Little things made her happy, it was true. My gaze fixated upon her and I could not believe that we had finally met. My mind was so engrossed in admiring her beauty that she caught me staring at her.

“You don’t seem like the girl I’ve been talking to for so many days!” I tried covering my guilt. It could’ve been a lame sentence but that was the very first thing that I could make up.

“Just because I’m not talking doesn’t mean I’m not talkative,” her voice was even sweeter in person. No, not her voice, but the way she spoke was. “It’s just we’ve met for the first time and it feels –”

“Awkward? I know,” I interrupted her because I knew she felt it, too. I looked around exasperatedly. This wasn’t how I wanted our first meeting to be. I had imagined it full of talks and jokes. Not this awkward time that I could’ve experienced anywhere else.

“Let’s do it my way,” she broke my train of thoughts. A smile was starting to turn into a grin on her face and all I could think was what was ‘her way’. “We’ll forget that this is our first da-” she stopped mid-sentence. Was she about to say date? Because then she said, “day of meeting. Let’s pretend that we are strangers. Now get up, go over there, walk up to me and ask if you can sit here. I’ll say ‘okay’, giving you a strange look at the same time, ‘cause let’s face it, you, now, are a stranger to me and then-”

“Are we doing it for real or are you going to narrate the entire piece while I sit in front of you, staring at you full lips blabbing continuously?” Wait! What did I just say? Did I describe her lips? Oh God! I felt like hitting my head on the wall repeatedly only to save myself from the embarrassment.

I thought she’d say something but she did not. I guess, she either did not hear me, after all she was talking so much or she only chose to ignore it for time being. She only rolled her eyes and asked me to go – more like ordered me to go and do as she said.

I went with my coffee and the next parts were done as she had framed them. She was quite intelligent because then we did not feel awkward at all. We had started talking like two normal people, all thanks to her. I wondered why I didn’t think of this idea but later understood that it was because she was, indeed, one of her kind.

After executing her plan, there was no stopping us. I could now put together her laughter on the phone and in person. I could now understand the expressions she made when she talked. And I just wanted the time to stop so that we could stay just like this. But we could not, was the harsh reality.

After two hours, we finally finished our coffee but our talks did not. We walked out of the café reluctantly. The value of time, I understood then. We walked to our respective vehicles and since it was parked beside each other, we walked together. I considered of asking her why her hand was so cold and whether it was cold now but thought against it. She would term me as a ‘creep’, observing every small thing.

I thought of every possible topic to keep the conversation going but when I found none, I dejectedly, took out my key. I was about to put it in the ignition when a cold hand stopped it. It was her. I did not have to ask her after all, she answered my unasked question. Her hands were still cold, I guess from the A/C. I looked in her eyes and they held an emotion I quite couldn’t decipher.

“Stay, will you?” Her voice was so meek that I wanted to wrap her in my arms. But I did not want to rush into things I might regret or even worse, she might not like so I did the least thing I could do in the middle of the parking lot. I held her cold hand in both of my, and tried to provide her with warmth.

Looking in her eyes, I said, “I will.” I did not want to her to think she was all alone in this hell we call ‘world’. People were devils and an angel like her did not deserve to be surrounded by them.

I hesitantly let go of her hand and we leaned on my bike. We exchanged no words further – I did not think it necessary. I know she had asked me to stay for this moment but I meant with a different meaning. I wanted her to know that I will always stay with her, she did not have to worry about that – not now, not ever.

My heart was beating faster than ever. This silence, which we now stood in, was horrifyingly serene. After a long time, I felt tranquility surround me. I doubted whether she felt the same about me. But for now, her beautiful soul beside me was all I needed.

– Sumrudhi Patil