First 'N' Last - With A Stranger
It had been a hectic day during the month of April. I was tired of all the work and was in a mood to relax. After closing my office at 6pm I left on my bike and headed towards home. The clients had been behind me all day long and having tackled all of them I had almost finished the day’s work, except for one client who was not satisfied with what I had done with his project. Before I move ahead with my story, let me introduce myself. I’m Javed, a graphic designer by profession and work alone at small unit of my own. I earn enough to lead a comfortable life. Bike’s have been my weakness. Changing a bike every now and then, modifying it according to my fantasies and selling them, of course with quite a good margin of profit has been my part time business too. As known to almost all, girls fall for bikes and specially the speeding ones. Now back to continuing my story, I stopped by a roadside tea stall for a hot cup of tea. It was around 6.30 pm. With a cup of tea in one hand I had lit a cigarette and sat on the bench laid by the Chaiwala for his customers. The road was quite busy and a few yards away was the bus stop. I heard someone calling me and turned to see one of my friends. He seemed to be in a hurry to catch a bus. He said something to me which I couldn’t hear due to the heavy traffic and the noise. I wished him back which he too didn’t hear and the way I shouted, my words may have caught somebody else’s attention too. I had uttered some vulgar words to him, since he was quite close to me and we pulled each other’s leg a lot. The bus passed and my eyes suddenly fell on a girl who had turned towards me and smiling. For a moment I thought she’s smiling at someone else standing ahead of me. I finished my tea and sat for a while to finish my cigarette. I stood up and paid for the tea and walked towards my bike. My eyes again fell on this girl who was smiling and this time she was staring at me with a smile still on her lips. She was in her mid 20s. Dressed in a grey colored loose pullover like top, sleeveless and underarms a bit low cut and loose, and white leggings she had the curves enough to attract attention of any passerby. I returned her smile and pointed my index finger ahead of me, as if asking her if she too was heading ahead and needed a lift. She nodded and replied to me the same way, without uttering a word, as if saying ‘yes’. I turned my head aside and signaled again asking her to hop on. She walked towards me and quietly sat behind me, her bag slung to her shoulder and she was clutching the bike’s grip behind her. I opened my mouth now, asked her “which way?” She said ‘straight’ and mentioned that she was put up in Tnagar which was on my way to ***Layout. We had traveled about a kilometer where there were crossroads and a signal. The signal suddenly turned red and before I could realize, the traffic from the vehicles on the crossroads had started moving. I had to suddenly apply brakes and the jerk almost made her fall on me. I said ‘Sorry!’ She didn’t mention anything but I felt like a cushion pressed against my back. That was enough to rouse anyone. She could have moved back again to her position, but she remained pressed to my back. She had left the grip behind and instead her right hand moved around my waist. I had to turn back. I saw her smiling and she said, ‘That’s ok! . I smiled and introduced myself to her, ‘Well.. my name’s Javed’ .. she said, ‘Hi Javed, I’m Lisha’. With a few words of introduction exchanged between us like what I do and what she did, we were like friends in a few moments. She was working for a private organization as a receptionist. We moved ahead and it was about a 20 minute drive to her place. I asked her whether she wanted to get off at the main road junction of her street. She said, ‘No! You’ve helped me and I’m not going to leave you unless you have a cup of tea with me’. I said, “I’ve already had tea, you saw me at the bus stop. And moreover it’s getting late, I have to reach home”. “Oh! that roadside tea? Yuck! How do u manage with that? I really prepare good tea. Come with me na.. please. I don’t feel like leaving you without even treating you with a cup of tea.” I had no other option but to accept her invitation. She guided me through the crosses ahead and we reached her place. I wanted to park my bike across outside her gate but she insisted that I take it inside and park it safely. She fumbled inside her purse and took out her keys. “Well, I’m alone at home for about a week. My parents are on a trip to Delhi,” she said. “Oh!” I said, and as she opened the door, I hesitated for a while stepping in. She said, “Come in! Feel free and make yourself comfortable”, and ushered me to the sofa in her living room. I could feel my heart beating a bit faster now. I’m a married man and was thinking about my wife waiting for me at home. I usually reached home by 7 in the evening. Though I had come across a lot of girls in my life, this was my first experience being alone with a girl in her place. Thoughts of all kinds emerged in my mind. Suppose someone known to me has seen me entering her house with her? I was worried someone may spot my bike parked inside a house unknown. I had drifted in thoughts when she suddenly gave me a jerk again, “I’ll just be back with the tea. Till then you can relax with the magazines and here’s today’s newspaper”. I just smiled and saw her walking in. Maybe she kept the water for boiling to prepare tea and I saw her again moving towards her bedroom. “Just a moment. I’ll be right back”, she said and went in. When she came out, she had changed. She was wearing a light cream colored night gown, thick enough only to hide her skin. But with the light from the other side one could easily make out her silhouette. The curves in the right places were enough to rouse any man.