So anyway, there I was, into like the second week of my first year at campus. Still adjusting to this big scary place (little did I know that just 2 weeks down the line I'd be traipsing all over it as if it were the length of my backyard), and I walk into Mtb (the tallest building on our campus), searching for my Tutorial room. There's a girl sitting outside the venue on the stairs, I smile at her uncertainly. It would be safe to say she smiled back - except that isn't entirely appropriate. Her whole face lit up, as if I'd just handed her a million bucks, it lit up like she'd been sitting and waiting for me there all morning and I'd just arrived.
"Excuse me, are you waiting for the English Tut too?" I asked.
"Yes," she said, in that scholarly voice of hers that I later came to realise she adopted when a) meeting new people b) discussing work c) talking to someone over the age of like retardation. It was actually rather disconcerting, because it was so out of sync with that amazing smile that had literally almost shocked me into tongue-tied-dom as I wondered, am I supposed to know her from somewhere???
"Mind if I sit here?" I asked.
"Not at all!" She beamed. And so I plonked myself down on the step below her.
I'll admit, at first I didn't even pronounce her name for fear of mispronouncing it (I'm not sure how I avoided addressing her by it for so long, but it was a good two or three days yet till I ventured to even try). We got to talking and I learnt that she was studying a BA Legal Studies with aspirations to become a lawyer.
We realised too, that there had been Tut work; since neither of us had bothered to do it, we scrambled madly with ten minutes to go, scribbling and scratching and copying each other till it was time to go in. Since we were the only two people who knew each other there we sat down together.
Our Tutor, Sheldon, was so wierd in this really cool way, and cute (in the way baby aliens would be cute I guess), that we immediately bonded over perving over him (only slightly I swear). The real shocker though, was when he asked us to pair up, and Bean grabbed my hand as if I were her only lifeline to like sanity or something and whispered urgently in my ear, "You HAVE to be my partner".
So, after that, we left the Tut, exchanged numbers and she hurriedly called to me as she headed off in the opposite direction, "Call me when you're stuck about this place with nothing to do. Meet up!" Back then I was a naive little jellybaby, so words like 'Meet up' I'm ashamed to admit, seemed ultra cool and other worldly. Secretly, I was mourning the fact that I'd never see her again (in a resigned sort of way) - campus was like that, most of the people you met, you hardly ever bonded with again.
Two days later, there I was sitting on Mtb steps with a whole hour to kill, and I was scrolling through my archaic phone, looking for someone to call up to kill it with...and happened upon the English Tut girls number. What the heck, I thought and hit the green button before I could chicken out.
"Hi! I'll meet you at Mtb in 5minutes!" was her chirpy reply and the call was cut before I'd even processed that Hi's, How Are You's and Hello's had never even been exchanged.
She was there in 5 minutes flat (the first and last time in all the time I'd know her that she was actually, to-the-dot punctual). We hugged (another thing I had to get used to on campus - at school hugging was, well restricted to like...when you hadn't seen each other all December), and she grabbed my hand and tugged me along, chattering all the way. All I gathered (because I was so amazed at her ability to pull me right into her world on our second meeting) when I finally did comprehend that she actually not only wanted to spend time with me, but introduce me to her other friends, all I managed to croak out was, "My hand is real sweaty, you don't have to hold it".
She stopped, looked me straight in the eye, and said the most wonderful thing in the world, "You're my friend. I don't care if it's sweaty", and smiled. She tightened her grip on my hand, the serious moment smothered by her excited babbling, and pulled me along. I felt her grip on my sweaty palms echoed on my bounding heart. That moment right there, sealed our friendship.
"OMG Dash you HAVE to see this guy, he's so cute!" she greeted me breathlessly outside Mtb. It was many months down the line from our first English Tut, the second semester to be precise, and we'd never been separated since that day. She was gushing about this guy in her Dutch Lecture. She'd told me about him before, and this morning she was insistent that I accompany her and check him out.
The familiar grasp of her hand, comforted me and I breathed in her scent happily as she smiled her heart out and talked in repetitive sentences in barely contained anticipation.
At the time, I thought he looked like a Justin Bieber wannabe (and I told her so), except I sort of liked him, while I sort of detested Bieber. I watched her sneak furtive glances and blush conspicuously next to me. I was half listening to the lecture and half desecrating the sacred Japanese art of origami with my own monstrous creations.
"I need Pritt," I whispered to her, "Ask him for Pritt".
"No," she hissed back.
"Yes!"
The lecturer bore down on me with all the grandeur of an elephant seal. Uh-oh, I thought. Turns out, the topic was about Muslims in the Netherlands, and of course because I was wearing a scarf that day, my thoughts on the matter obviously, well...mattered. I sat there and nodded my head seriously at everything he said, while he beamed down at me from between his tusky beard (I would not have been so enthusiastic in all my head-nodding, if I'd known that he actually wanted me to VOICE my opinions on the matter), "Well Sir," I said respectfully, before launching into gosh-knows what - I honestly can't remember what I said to him, but it seemed to satisfy him, because he waddled away satisfied and certain that every student of his was as engrossed and knowledgeable as I sounded to be (what he didn't know was that I could spin a story at the top of my head to save my skin whenever I needed to).
I did talk to Lin that day, though what I said then too escapes me. Something along the lines of, "It was nice meeting you" I think. (I hope).
In the beginning I was sceptical of Lin (truth be told). I was sitting on the fence of this romance, waiting to see which tide it swept off with. What mattered most was that Bean was happy though. I sent Lin psychotic mental vibes along the lines of, "I sort of approve of you, but you hurt her and I'll punch your heart out" (I'm pretty sure he never picked them up). Lin, I will admit (I seem to be confessing a lot in this post huh), grew on me. And since sitting on the fence is rather painful, I picked a side - but only after he cut off his VO5 flick for her - after that I figured, he'd probably go to the ends of the earth for her.
I saw this picture today, and my heart did this wierd twisted-flip over itself-splutter-type move in my ribcage. THAT guy over there is Lin; THAT'S the guy I was sceptical about; THAT'S the very same one who, in my post "P Sherman 42 Wallabyway Sidney" in April, wiped my snotty nose on his jacket (I'm also thinking eeeew - but see, he's just THAT awesome!) and hugged me till I stopped sobbing like a two year old. And THAT, THAT beautiful girl next to him is my Bean; THAT is the girl who laughs when I laugh, cries when I cry (sometimes even when I can't cry for myself); threatens to F-up anyone who dares even glare at me, and holds my revoltingly sweaty palms no matter how icky they are; Wonderful, smart, blond, popping, simply amazing G of a Bean.
It's their 1st Anniversary Dear World and Amazingly Loyal Followers, so give them a round of applause please. I love them you see, more than chocolate even, and I wish them only the best of happiness and patience and love in the years to come.
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