I'Ll Be The One For You

"Oh my god! What are you doing here?" she asked him with big eyes and a surprised jolt in her body. She wasn't expecting to see him, after he hadn't replied to any of her messages that weekend.

"I'm here to see you. Can't I do that?" he said looking down at her. He was tall, but not too tall for her. They had basically spent two months with each other, just as friends. But both of them had conflicts within themselves over the word 'friends'. He'd been helping her adjust to the new-to-her lifestyle of New York. Grocery, bargaining, shopping, laundry... just some basic stuff.

"I'd gone to see my granddad for the weekend. No working with this tool when the old man's around," he said pointing to his phone and letting himself in.
"Oh, that's okay," she said in her Indian accent.

It sure wasn't and they both knew it.
She'd spent the entire weekend thinking about where he could be and texted him exactly 6 times, methodically sent in every 3 hours. After the 6th message, she gave up. She didn't know what she felt for him, but he was the only friend she could rely on in the city and have some quality time with. Her new job was brilliant, with a huge pay but she was too scared to even go down the general store to buy a band-aid.

He darted towards her kitchen, opened the fridge and smiled proudly.
"You went for grocery shopping. Well done, shorty," he said while touching her nose with his index finger.
"I had to someday," she replied with a small smile. She wanted to say she missed him but she didn't want him to get any wrong ideas. Or maybe she did. Anyway, she didn't say it.
They sat down on the couch where she picked up her novel and he started on his apple. She pulled her legs up and placed them on his lap. This was her sign to say that he's forgiven. He looked at her and gave a side smile of relief. It was then that he truly relaxed, so did she.
He started acting uneasy only to get her to talk to him. He couldn't understand why was she not excited to see him, and was reading a novel instead of talking about how she spent her weekend. It was then that it dawned on him that she still might be a little angry with him for not replying.
She saw his attempt to act uneasy from the top of her book, and with a sigh she put it down.
"What's up?" she asked as if understanding his thought process. She felt weird about this feeling. It's been only two months since she met him at her colleagues late night party. They interacted on the vaguest topic of 'Why whiskey is better than beer.' Apart from the fact that beer is cheaper, no one had anything against the whiskey. And the talking went on.
They exchanged numbers and he showed concern towards her. She was cornered alone in the party when he'd found her. He thought of her as one of his new art projects. An attractive one this was.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't reply and that I didn't tell you about my weekend plans."
"It's okay. Just avoid doing that," she said, hoping she hadn't crossed a line.
"Never again," he said, hoping the same for himself.

Finally, she smiled with all the glee in her eyes and he couldn't control his grin.

It was 8:30 in the night and they had talked all about how their weekend was spent. They ordered pizzas with diet cokes and soda and then went to the bedroom to talk more.
He'd slept over at his place before, which was usually spent talking. One of them slept on the bed while the other on the rocking chair on the side of the bed. Today, she took to the rocking chair as she didn't want to be rude to her guest.
He jumped to the bed with his shoes on, so she gave him the 'seriously, you want to go through this again'- stare. He smiled and thought how he missed her and missed that specific stare. He threw his shoes off and lied down on the bed. He looked at her sitting and relaxing at the chair. Out of nowhere their eyes met, and didn't move until they realized it's been too long.

With the awkwardness still hanging in the air he opened his phone and she, her book. After a while, which was forever for them, he sat up on the bed, with his feet touching the floor and said,"You know what?" He paused.
"What?" she asked closing her book and turning towards him to see his face.
"I have to say it. I like you, I seriously do and I have 2 passes to this concert for this weekend. What do you think?" he said without a single pause.
She looked at him. No, she stared at him, revealing no emotions. She thought hard about and could say only one thing.
"I'll have to think about it.", she was grinning like a teenage girl. He thought she was only mocking her and gave her a teasing smile.

But she wasn't just mocking. She really had to think about it. Her past hadn't left her with things like this to look forward to with a happy note. This was a different place, different people, different expectations. She had a long night ahead of her and she was going to use it.
While all these thoughts were circling her head, their eyes were still locked. He fell down to both his knees beside her and looked deep into her eyes. The smile was gone from their faces.

He slid his

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hand to her neck, came closer and placed a soft yet sensual kiss on her lips. She closed her eyes and she could feel her heart thumping through her chest. Before she could fully respond to the kiss, he had already let go of her. While her eyes were still closed, he leaned in to her ears and whispered, "Why don't you think about this?"
A smile came across her face and then in her eyes, as she got out of the moment. He lied down on the bed again and said goodnight.
Her head couldn't register anything of what just happened. She saw him doze off and left the room to get some air.
He heard the door closing and then finally, he smiled. The-' I-JUST-KISSED-A-GIRL-I-COULDN'T-STOP-THINKING-ABOUT'- smile. He knew he won't be able to sleep through this excitement in his body. He was sure of it. He took a pillow and squeezed it hard against his chest and then kept it back.
He was supposed to stay for three more days at his old man's place. But the old ones can see things even before one can see it themselves. It took grandpa a minute to get it all out of him. He told him everything, the minutest of details that he could remember about her.
It was the old man's idea to buy those tickets and show up at her place unannounced. Oh! how he hoped all this to work out.

He's never opened up so much to anyone before he met her. She brought out a side of him he never knew existed.
He thought about the moment he saw her for the first time, standing in the corner in a short purple dress with a glass of whiskey. She looked too young to be here, but her face had a sort of maturity about it. Still, she was so small that she looked a little out of place.
A conversation just started when he had said, "Never saw a young girl drinking a whiskey at a party like this. They usually go for the beer." Then there was no stopping them.

While his thoughts were plunging to the the first time they met, hers went way past that.

She thought it all. How she was capable of breaking a heart. How she was capable of breaking a heart she loved the most. How all of this was capable of making her believe that the she wasn't enough. She broke down.
All this had made her swear to herself that the next one will be the last one. But she was too scared. She wanted him to be her last. How badly? She didn't know that until the kiss. But it's a lot to ask for someone who's known you only for two months.
She came back to her room after washing her face and looked down at his face. He looked like a boy. But he wasn't, he was a man who had helped her through one of the toughest times in the city. He had protected her and made her stronger.
She sat down by the side of the bed facing him. She touched his smooth hair, careful not to wake him up.
"I've broken hearts, Matt. My heart's been broken too. I don't know what you see in me but I think you deserve better." She paused.
"Fuck it! I want you to deserve me. But this is too scary for me. I won't be able to live with myself if I ever hurt you or you do that to me. But I know you won't. You aren't capable of that. But I am."
"You need to be the last one or I don't know what will happen to me. You need to be the one, Matt. I really hope that you are." She said all this in a hushed voice and then brushed his cheek from the back of her hand. Then she planted a small kiss on his cheeks. Careful not to wake him up, she pulled the covers on him and left while wiping off a tear from her cheeks.

He opened his eyes as soon as the door closed. He touched the place where she had kissed him and said to no one," I really hope so, too, shorty."

The next morning was early for both of them. She had slept at the couch and woke up with a smile on her face, remembering the soft kiss.
He woke up only to find her quilt on the couch and some coffee in the kitchen. She was out in the balcony sipping her hot coffee and looking at nothing specific. She was wearing only an off shoulder gray sweater which was too big for her. But she liked them a lot as the covered three- fourth of her fingers and kept them warm.
She was rubbing her arms from the cold, so he picked up the quilt on the couch and wrapped it around himself. He went to the balcony and then wrapped himself around her, her back touching his chest. She stiffened at first and then relaxed, bit by bit.
Her face was very serious so he said what he wanted to, in her ears.
"I won't hurt you and even if you do, I swear I won't leave you. I'll fight for you. I'll fight till you give up. I swear, I'll be the one for you."

She closed her eyes tightly, fighting back tears and touched the arms that wrapped her.
"You were supposed to be sleeping," she said and kept aside her cup of coffee.
"I know". He turned her around from her shoulders and then placed his hand on her back. She placed hers on his chest and looked up at him.
Time had stopped and nothing mattered. Only that she was ready now and that he won't let go. In that infinite moment of this knowledge, they knew they were the ones for each other.
And finally, she brought her face forward to his and kissed him like she has been doing that for years. He pulled her and said," You're the one, aren't you?"
'If you're the one for me, then yes."