HER POINT OF VIEW

TWO CONFUSED INDIVIDUALS ENTERED A CONVENIENCE STORE in an attempt to clear the air between them, over Gatorade. It was her first Gatorade ever; as for him, she wouldn’t know. He picked two from the freezer, one red, the other, blue. He made her choose. She picked red.

They settled in a seat facing a glass wall, consuming their drinks, taking their time, as if both were preparing for the battle upfront and avoiding it, mindful or unmindful of the mostly call center agents passing by before them.

They were trying to reach a resolution where both parties would benefit—he wanted to be just friends, she wanted more than that, though no one knows if they’re telling the truth.

It looked simple yet ages seemed to pass now. It’s probably fear overwhelming each of them and without it, they could’ve been so in love now!

Both were deciding individually. Both were quiet. There was the cliché-ic deafening silence between them. He broke it by asking, “Why did you pick red?” She said, “I think it’s given that I’m supposed to pick it over the blue one.” He grinned by her remark. He then picked the two now-empty bottles and put them together, side-by-side. (If the bottles had hands, they could’ve been holding each other’s.) He kept them like that for a moment, staring at them, wallowing the picture, smiling or not smiling, the glass wall mirroring everything before it—the empty bottles, their consumers, their sad eyes. By now, the reflections were worth a thousand words! They’d look up and face the glass wall, but no one could tell if they were looking at each other’s reflections but avoiding eye contact, or looking through and at the people beyond, or at none at all.

It was a symbolic moment—the empty Gatorade bottles put together and the glass wall reflections—but symbols for what?

The Gatorade bottles were as empty as they—two confused individuals, with his and her own scripts to tell, both had been ruined through time, both seeking refuge, both longing to enjoy their Godforsaken right to be loved. Had it not been for the place and consequences, they could hug, and kiss, and take refuge from each other, and equally enjoy their right to be loved now, only if these people around wouldn’t see them.

They went out. They entered the car. She started sobbing for the heaviness of her heart. He wouldn’t know what it meant. They wanted each other, so bad it could’ve killed them. But not on the same level, not at the same time.

They left the place, more confused than ever before….