Made for Reality ?

Last rays of sun beaming in her eyes, wiping off the sweat with one hand and dragging the body with the other, Monica just set foot atop the mountain hill. Without thinking twice she lashed her body on the soft green grass. The grass was surprisingly cool beating the scorching sun. It felt like a bed of feathers, her whole body relaxed like that of a child in a cocoon.

Those five mins that she lay in, without caring about the world who was watching, where her friends were, where were the tents. It was one of the most serene moments of her life. With every minute passing, it felt like she was getting refuelled. Rest is for the losers, it was time for fun, to scream and shout with friends, to drink and dance at the bonfire, to breathe in the icy chilly clean air and breathe out the sheer excitement. It was time to live the movie she had been fantasising about forever.

She woke up in a jolt and joined the hooting crowd of her friends. Everyone’s face was red hot, foreheads sweaty, nostrils flaring, gasping air in between jokes and eyes, well they sparkled. Not much could be expected from a bunch of college students, who had no idea what a bad hangover is or how to cure it while trekking down the mountain, with sore legs the following day.

The sunset photography sessions led to a bonfire of chaos and madness… Weak in the heart and sloppy drunks retreated to their dens. The adventurous ones were out somewhere trying to weave interesting stories.

There was Monica who had her eyes locked in on her crush, for the whole night. She just had got his jacket, is this what dreams are made of?

Little did she know the fairy had been kind and sprayed all of her pixie dust on her.

Kabir lay just next to her and they began chit-chatting, the slam poetry session of their friends started to fade out in the background. “It’s a beautiful night, I mean look at the stars, damn!” He said pointing towards the sky.

“Indeed, I mean it’s like a sea of stars right above my head,” Monica said and started laughing.

“What happened?” he asked.

“When I was a kid, my dad tried his best to teach me about constellations. I used to get bored and found it lame, but now I think I would have impressed you by naming a few.” she blushed like a peach.

“I wish I knew some either, it's not easy to impress a beautiful girl, these days.” They looked at each other with candy eyes. Kabir had a reputation for mixed signals and was a famous flirt. Buying his compliments for real, was like walking on a tightrope. One foot a miss and you land yourself in a whirlpool of embarrassment. Nevertheless, he was a sweet lad, with no harm in his heart.

“Well, let's form our constellations today.” He said pointing his fingers towards the stars.

“You mean find ?” asked puzzled Monica.

“No, let’s form ours, let’s draw something in these stars and name them.” He winked.

It was like a love match, what started as squares & triangles were racing towards lilies and Cleopatra. They even had found and named their pet, “Cookie”. Both of them were giggling like infatuated teenagers. “This feels like, straight outta movie.” He declared.

“What the stars?” she asked.

“Yes, the stars too. But I was talking about us, meeting on the hilltop, naming constellations in the middle of the night.”

“It does, just add some background music and we got ‘Before Sunrise’ in the making.” she giggled

“Well, let me fulfil your dreams.” He pulls out his phone to play the music but forgets no internet was to be found.

“This phone is as useful as that stone, with no internet.” The sarcasm was clear in her tone but the beautiful smile never left her face.

“What am I, if not the prince of dreams, and you are a lucky girl.”

“What do you mean ?” she frowned.

“I was trying the app’s feature and by chance downloaded a song. I bet now you respect my phone more than that brick in front of you,” he smirked and put on the song *Perfect by Ed Sheren*

“How cheesy and direct could you be, seriously this romantic song was your chance

encounter ?”

“Hey, I am anything but not a liar!” he frowned, getting edgy.

They both listened to that one song on repeat for two hours, discussing cats, if flowers are overrated, their spice tolerance, cats, fight over winters and summer, coffee- iced or hot.

“Imagine forming a deep connection to someone on a hilltop. Flirting like it was the last day of your life. I would want to live the rest of my days like these forever.. Would you?” asked Kabir, with a certain amount of hinting towards their magical encounter.

“No, as much as it sounds dreamy. This is not a movie, in reality.. I would love such a connection but putting all of my stakes on someone because of the romantic setting and chilly air would be a really poor judgement.”

“You think too much, come on. What would you want ?”

“I would want a man I could grow old with. Who makes the dull setting romantic and thrilled too. With whom I cook meals after work and sit on my dining table sipping wine and caring nothing in the world. With someone, I can wear comfy pyjamas and cuddle looking outside our window. Who dances with me in balls and at the railway station alike. With butterflies, I would want the calmness and sanity of still water. I would want rain dances and snuggly hot chocolate. I want love in all its forms, caring forehead kisses, holding hands in red-eyes sobbing, hard times. Love, on glamorous Friday nights and love on lazy Sunday afternoons.” her eyes were twinkling and drawn into some dreamy future.

“Wow! Well you think too much but you think very well,” he said, breaking her gaze into some dreamland.

Monica noticed some sudden embracing change in herself, the thrill seemed to have mellowed and melted in Kabir’s eyes. She felt empowered and had a new angle on her dreamy infatuated movie moment.

They both were speechless, holding hands and looking at the stars. He pulled her close in his arms. They looked into each other’s eyes. They were twinkling and the phone ran out of battery.

Ahan, they both smiled, “It’s time to sleep now, we shall fasten up to our respective tents, we have a long day tomorrow.”

Monica, got up, with a wide smile on her face. She had a beautiful night straight outta the movies, but she was happy because today she discovered, that she loved and wanted the calmness & comfort of still water may be more than the butterflies.

Mumbling the lyrics of *perfect* she paced towards her tent. They talked about everything and laughed like idiots but never reached the consensus of the song being a naive effort or a happy accident. Nevertheless, this song will never be the same and cookie was their forever companion. A happy movie family maybe made for reality, maybe not.