I returned the contagious smile; “Like Brienne of Tarth then” I grinned. He laughed a little, a full set of gleaming white teeth, “Yeah I guess you could say that, although me and her are different for the obvious case of our pronouns”
“Of course,” I returned the knowing grin,”of course”
7 Hours Till The Present
“I just got off the Uber,” I spoke into the phone, clouds with every breath like a steaming kettle, only cold. I had left the warmth of the Uber only a minute ago where the lovely Arab gentleman had the AC cranked all the way up, bless his little cotton socks.
From a distance a door opened and out came a blare of party music, the person waved. “I see you,” I said into the phone.
I walked in with him. A 2 storey apartment complex with 2 houses on each floor, as far as I could tell, all exceptionally quiet on a cold Friday night, except the one apartment we were heading into of course. Darkies
Not being much of a party person I wasn’t too sure what to expect….I’ve come to honour an invitation, I kept telling myself as if trying to justify booking the national express at short notice to cross a fair bit of the country to attend a strangers party upon a friend’s invitation.
30 Minutes Till The Present
I’m in a dark room, lying on my back, one foot on floor and the other dangling over the bed, shoes still on…Is my phone still charging, let me check. I curse the pixel for the short battery life. Its 4 in the morning. I can hear the music thumping through the bedroom door, but its quiet in here, one of the reasons I’m here. As I’m rustling through my thoughts, the door suddenly comes open and I see a silhouette of someone walk in, the glaring lights behind him, door closes. My eyes were already accustomed to the dark so I could see who it was, although I couldn’t say much for the guy…blind as a bat, he took a couple of deep breaths, like someone trying to collect himself, believing himself to be all alone in the room, but alas!
It was the frizzly haired guy I had spotted a couple of times out there where its all happening. The universe with its sense of humour. Here we were, probably the only two people who’d never stopped to acquaint, now in a dark room, alone, by ourselves. And as if to prove a point(the Universe), the boy dropped prostrate right next to me on the bed with his right hand lucky just grazing my arm. “Oh my bad!”, realisation, “I thought I was alone in here” the boy said, apologising profusely for some time. What I didn’t expect was the number of times the boy was going to ask me whether or not I’m ok. A great deal of thoughtfulness and kindness. That’s when I learnt his name…Brienne
We talked for the longest time…so many things in common, even geeked out about the pixel series. Now how bout that. I thought my time at the party had ended a long time ago. But talking to this guy, it felt like the fun was just beginning, like this had been the main event all along. Later that night, wait, it was morning now, he walked me into the corridor and waited for my Uber with me. “Wait in here, there’re some shady looking dudes over there by the curb,” he said, “plus its warm in here.”
Now many months later, I still talk to Brienne, whenever I get the chance to.
