ike the weather that prevails in this city, it was sunny but there were expectations for light drizzle, but I knew this would not happen. I looked at the fuel meter, damn as usual down to E, checked my wallet to have enough for a fill and just bout a little more to fuel myself too, if needed. Somehow I don't forget to zero the trip meter so that I may know at a later time how far is the place where I've been to, neat I would say. Re-fueling done, of the car, and I was off to the only beach view that the city had within an hour's reach, and how badly I wished for it to be thinly occupied to enjoy a nice scene without too much noise. Surprisingly, that is exactly how it was, and I wonder why, and why not! It was about 5 in the evening people hadn't gotten over with work to get their families out, and me? Oh well I had taken a day off for reasons that made me visit the beach in the first place. And don't we all know what are they! Pulled over at a spot where there was no one, except the sun's rays that were now beginning to wear down, it was chilly in the dying months of the year, and a cool wind blowing across my face served to confirm the thought. Waves crashing aimlessly against the rocks trying to make an impact caught my attention as I began to drown into a pensive mood of why do things happen they way they do, what do waves get out of this repeated crashing? But then, does everything in this world have an answer? I related this aimless crashing to a lover's aimless effort to get his or her love, conditionless, selfless, and that doesn't work all the time too, does it? Another level of depth achieved, the sun bowing down to the purity of every thought that kept coming to my mind. My heart, sinking with the deprivation of love. Not just being loved, but to love someone too. Another wave crashes, wait, no this was not the sound of a wave, something just went by, a car, but who was in it? A glance of a beautiful face hidden in the flow of hair across it, a shadow of the sun enhancing the features of the face, all too beautiful to be seen and lost in a second. Oh how badly I wanted that moment to freeze! What a thought, why should the moment freeze? Why can't I live the moment, forever. The car stops suddenly, backs up and just as I thought it would pull over to trigger the much-awaited conversation, it took a turn and fled the other way. Damn! Why is it always so difficult to live the moment. Drowning in the thought second by second I spent minutes trying to recapture the beauty of the girl.

"Excuse me",

oh excuse me? These words were not mine, someone at my back had spoken these words! I turn, the sun takes a peak, I take a view, and she gives a stance.

"I'm sorry, did I startle you?",

"oh no no, not at all",

she was the same damsel I had seen and now supposedly she was in distress, how cunning of me. I couldn't imagine the beauty standing in front of me, and yet, I was talking to her.

"Actually, my car is out of fuel",

"Shit", I said in my heart, did I leave enough money if she asks me to get fuel, I would certainly not ask her for money. What did I buy, where did I spend, all the journey from home to beach flashed in a split second and gave me a shock, "shocks later",

"Oh, and how can I help you?",

from the last "you" of the question to the first word she spoke, I had enough time to calculate if after the fuel I would have enough money for ice-creams, or maybe, just ice-cream!

"I have fuel in the trunk, I don't know how to put it in!",

"Great!" I said, "Ice-creams!".

"Sure, piece of cake", probably now I had enough for a real one too! With knowing absolutely nothing of how will I put the fuel in I took a walk with her to her car trying to spend that extra moment being around her, wouldn't let me sleep for life if I'd lose this!

"You didn't take anything that you'll use to pour in the fuel?",

"Where there is a will there is a way!", the lamest of all proverbs, and I said it, but where the heck was will! A smile ran across her kiss-able lips, I for a moment paused just enough to take a good look and to also, sigh, make her realize I was still staring at her smile.

"I know I have a nice smile, killer I would say", and I think I froze a couple of steps before I actually should've, and the past flashed back with ice-cream dripping through my hands, oh what clumsiness! "Forget this will you", I said to myself,

"You mind stopping, I want MY car to be refueled, not anyone else's!",

"Oops!", was I lost or what! "Yes sure!",

"You're pretty sure about things that you really should be sure of, even though you think you are!",

"What", I said to myself, beauty and brains, now how often do you see that! And instead of seeing that, yes I was actually calculating how often! Gosh! My eyes were already in the trunk looking at the can, great heavens it had a perfect spout! A split second passed by and I said to myself, "No this is not happening, she knew?", and I said to her

"Wait a minute!", I said,

"I've waited for five minutes now, why don't you say it!",

"Damn", I said to myself , was this actually happening, did she actually see me staring at her, did she actually want me to admit that I already liked her, did she make up the whole scene of refueling, did she, did she? Yes, as evident, I was yet again trying to figure out, did she! God!

"Don't tell me!", she said as she took a half step back,

"Heck!" I said to myself, she already thinks I'm shy, and furthermore, she already knows what I'm about to say! A hundred times more impressed by the matching frequencies of our personalities, and soaring high up above in the air, she completed her sentence,

"You don't know how to use this?",

"May day, May day", even though this wasn't near May, but December day would in actual take the whole of December to be spoken. Gosh, I had already crash-landed, and so did my expectations! And to make my stop even more painful, I heard these with a giggle,

"You're as dumb as I am!"

and now the giggle turned into a laugh. I had already frozen to death!

"No, I know!","

You sure?", she said,

"Obviously!", I said,

"Then what are you looking at!", she said,

"You!", I said,

"Excuse me?", she said,

"Excused!" I said, she wasn't that dumb after all, I mean, as dumb as I was!

"What shit!", she said,

"What!" I said,

"Its errr ... leaking!, she said,

"WHAT! It?" I screamed, I couldn't have imagined the embarrassment, I thought I had frozen to death, how the hell did I manage to ... ",

"I mean the can", she said,

"Shit, shit, shit!", I said,

"Well do something before you have to run ...",

"run", run where, to do what? I was still in the same context,

"And get more fuel for my car!",

we have a lift off folks, she really was talking about the can! Phew! By this time, I was wet, but with sweat! Can't imagine living all this in a span of just a few seconds, how badly I needed that ice-cream! I hadn't forgotten, and so I re-fueled her car with the can.

"I can follow you if this finishes before you hit the nearest fill-pump!", I said like an angel,

"You sure you have enough in your own?" and she laughed,

and I imagined the angelic circle with birds all round it, "Me and my big mouth!",

"Well I wouldn't mind You giving me a ride in that case", I said, and I don't know how I said, but I said, and was I proud that I said what I said!

"But I would", she said, she said what she said, but why did she say what she said, heck I was yet again figuring what she said, why she said! And more than that, why did I say what I said!

She giggled, "You're cute",

and we're presently at an altitude of twenty thousand feet! She did it again, "God will I ever get to know her more?", I asked, to God, obviously, and like always, eternal silence prevailed, ok fine, I know the answer, like usual, felt like "Ahh!".

"See you around?", she said,

"quick act!", I said to myself, "And how do you expect that to happen?", I said cornering her,

"At the college, where else!",

"College?!?", I asked myself atleast a hundred times, no a thousand times, Oh no not again, no calculations this time! She was from my college, and that's why she didn't hesitate to come to me for help, and no wonder the frankness in her comments, God how could I be so stupid!

"Oh! Yes, sure, and we'll have ice-cream together then!",

"I hate ice-cream!", she said,

"So do I", I said,

"in winters", she said,

"shut up!", I said to myself as I laughed waving at her, and with the wave of my hand showing and hiding her face, she disappeared in my own misty eyes, in the fresh darkness of the new sunset. Live the moment, or live the future, which was the right one? I could never deny this present, and how could I not think of a future with her. Things, thoughts and moves, all were complicated, and this was just the beginning, because I was still figuring, or trying to figure out what was she doing there in the first place, is it a sign or is it not? Or, was it a dream or a lived moment? And the sun started showing its face again as I went to sleep with a smile.