Something changed.

He was driving, and I was counting the passing street lights. There is nothing new. Nothing fancy! It was just two souls comfortable in their silence whiling away their loathsome time. We know each other for years. There is nothing new to talk, and I can guess what he is going to say even before he thinks about it. We drove around in the night, safe in our elements.

 It never occurred to me before, but somehow a thought had stemmed that nothing can go wrong between us. I will not hesitate if he calls me in the middle of the night to walk till the end of the world. He can never hurt me. I smiled at that thought and looked at him. I saw the faintest smile when the beams from the other cars flashed on his face. He is happy.

 

“Baby pooh”

Alerted he looked at me, “What?!!”

“I called you baby pooh”, I said with a straight face.

“Ewww gross! Why you would call me such a thing?” He squirmed.

“That’s cute”. I remarked giggling seeing him getting uncomfortable.

“It is not cute. Gawd”

“It is.”

“I am a bad person”

“…and a jerk, and an asshole, and a pervert” I quipped with the widest of the grin.

He ended the conversation with a stare.

 I was not intimidated. I still had that grin. With apparent failure to control the situation, He went back to concentrating on driving. I did not have any pressing thing to do then and was staring at him. He is taller even while sitting, he was wearing a white shirt which is thoroughly ironed. Did he do that? Not an impressive job though. My OCD kicked in and I tried to stretch the folded cloth over his arms.

 

He was not expecting my touch. He jerked making the car take a sudden move to the left and almost hitting another car. He took the control of the car in another 10 seconds and once the fright faded from me, I started laughing. He was embarrassed. I poked him to make him see that I am still laughing. He was not going to look at me.

 

“A 30-year-old man, and still cannot handle a woman’s touch”, I laughed.

No response yet. I poked him again.

“Oye! can’t you even handle a small touch from a woman?” I grinned.

He breathed now. “I can handle a woman’s touch. I cannot handle YOURS”. He looked straight at me now, and It was my turn to be dumb folded.

 

It took a while for it to sink in. Then we drove in silence, and him being the gentleman dropped me back to my home instructing me to be safe. I smiled. Something has changed. I walked in closing the gate behind and still the shattering of the friend-zone was ringing in my ears.