Made for each other

Walking in the mild drizzle, carefully avoiding as many puddles as possible, humming a long forgotten tune, Neha was thinking about her day today. It had been pretty average, well almost. She thought and a faint smile came across her face.

It had become so frequent that she no longer considered it a compliment. She had been asked out again, and she had refused again. Eventually she would say yes, but not the first time. "I wouldn't say a yes so easily", Neha reminded herself.

A little about Neha - she was pretty and pretty smart too. Her innocent looks never gave away her intelligence, which had bothered her initially, but soon she learnt to milk the situation to her advantage.

Suddenly her thoughts turned to Amit, and the faint smile vanished. Amit had been her boyfriend for the last four year, and things had been pretty steady between them, until recently.

"Cant you just enjoy the rain", she scolded herself.

A little about Amit - he was a sweet boy-next-door kinds. But he had aspirations, and worked really hard to fulfill them. He was patient, and discreet, and people never knew his plans till he had seen them to execution.

"You 've been in the same job too long, you should change" Neha coaxed often.

But Amit had sense to wait for the right time and the right move. He believed in earning his every reward.

But Neha wasn't so patient. She wanted to get everywhere fast. She had come to despise Amit for being so slow. She had begun to wonder whether he ll ever make it big. Though he assured her that he was working toward it, she didn't see any buzz. Bottomline, she was earning more than him, and the beauty in their relationship had suddenly disappeared.

She was carefully putting the last touches to her makeup, when her roommate Rohini walked in.

"Oh what a tiring day", and she collapsed on the bed.

Then realizing Neha's presence, observed, "You going somewhere?"

"Yeah. Partying tonight."

"Oh ho! Amit haan!"

"No. A friend." And now Rohini sat up

"I see. You seem to be going out with a lot of friends these days. Does Amit know?"

"No. And now don't start another lecture for god's sake."

"I thought u guys are seeing each other."

"I don't enjoy with him any more."

Rohini raised an eyebrow, "you never felt so till now".

"That was aeons ago, we were college kids. But we don't fit together any more. He is too relaxed. Sort of losing out on life. Winning is the only thing that matters.
Now don't spoil my evening." Neha was starting to get irritated.

"Where are you going?" enquired Rohini, in an attempt to change the topic.

"Oberoi's" Neha winked.

"And Amit could never take u there." Rohini couldn't help commenting.
"So what do I say if he calls?"

"Say I had a headache, and slept early" shrugged Neha, and left.

(My initial idea was to end the story here. But the flow took control....)

"Am so sorry Amit, but Neha had a terrible headache, and she retired kinda early. I ll tell her to call you first thing in the morning." Rohini tried to sound as earnest as she could.

"No probs."

Amit was a little disappointed. He had wanted to share this special day with her. It was a big leap indeed. Bigger than he had imagined, or hoped for. But he would surprise her later, he had a lot to do right now.

Taking in the grandeur of the ambience, Amit couldn't help feeling excited. His peers and seniors were all partying here, and he was feeling the life beckoning already. He thought of coming back the next week, with his few special friends and of course Neha. Five start weren't out of his reach anymore.

High with the intoxication of success and alcohol, and he imagined he saw Neha. Then looked again. It was her indeed, and there was this guy too.........

The high in his head took a sudden plunge; Neha's headaches had been a bit too frequent of late, and he realized this just now.

Amit smiled (or maybe smirked) "Another beer please".