Destiny was back.
And so was I.
The sky was a crisp orange, the clouds hung low and lethargic. It was one of those days you would have preferred enjoying from the confines of your room, but still weren’t.
Neither was I.
I was waiting at the same café, with a similar croissant.
She walked in like a breeze, her wavy hair askew. She looked different now; it had been four years after all.
She smiled apologetically, but I knew she didn’t mean it. She never did.
She looked at me. I looked at her. There was nothing else to do.
“So.”, she started, after a particularly long pause in which I chomped off half of my croissant. I had a strong urgent feeling of Déjà vu.
I stared at her pointedly.
“All’s well?” she asked, acting innocent. Typical, I thought.
“No!” I replied, monosyllabically, a bit louder than I should have had, making the couple on the table next to ours jump up a bit.
“Uh-huh, so what’s wrong?” she asked, nibbling at the end of her chocolate tart.
I stared at her pointedly.
“Architecture” I said, as she nibbled at her tart again, “Remember that? Big bucks, all the glamour in the world and easy drawings?” I drawled sarcastically, putting in the drawl, so that she would understand that I was not happy.
She didn’t.
“Uh-huh” she said again, twirling her paper umbrella in her sweet lime, “ So let me get it straight, you don’t like it now, do you?”, she continued.
I would have had liked nothing better than to take the umbrella out of her drink and thrust it up her nose.
“News flash!” I said coldly, trying to keep the contempt and hysteria in my voice to a bare minimum. “Three years. No money. No glamour and I am not even going to tell you how tough the drawings can get!” I continued, noticing the slightest amount of derision in my voice. “And it’s third year!” I added in an exasperated tone, half-annoyed, half-surprised as to why she wasn’t getting my point.
She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and tried to look away.
Her cell phone started ringing. “Question, tell me what you think about this…” crooned the phone. Destiny’s child’s Independent Woman. Clichéd.
She cut the call, as her forehead creased up with wrinkles. “Not important” she told me, dismissively.
I stared at her pointedly.
“So, where were we?” she asked.
I was sure she was out to get me.
“Oh yeah, I remember”, she said, calmly, taking a small bite out of her tart. She twitched her nose,” It’s too sweet for me, anyway, I think you should stop making a big deal about this, This year’s going to be fine!”
“Yeah?” I asked forcefully, “and how would you know?” I continued, not quite able to mask my irritation.
She stared at me pointedly.
“Uh-huh” I said, apologetically. She was destiny after all.
“Yeah, chill it”, she said dreamily, as if the last two minutes had never happened, “it’s going to be all right in the end. You’ll finish your work, have a great holiday, and not to forget, fourth year’s going to be a breeze!” she continued, smiling the dazzling smile of hers.
“Easy peasy”, she said, acting as if it summed it all up to that. “Trust me, I know!” with the air of someone who seemed to know a lot more than I did.
I stared at her pointedly.
Now, one year later, destiny doesn’t seem all that bad. :P
