She pulled over a black tube top and struggled into her worn out, battered pair of blue jeans. It brought her luck, or so she believed. Alia was in a race against time, flittering across the room, grabbing the necessities she was forgetting repetitively. It was the jitters.
Walking into the cafe with hesitant strides, each step she took sounded the echoes of her clicking heels and instiled in her a tiny bit of reassurance. She sat at her table that overlooked oncoming traffic, rethinking her decision of a spontaneous rendezvous with an acquaintance from her soon to be college.
To her, this was more nerve-wracking than a blind date. This meeting could significantly impact the next three years of her academia.
She glanced at the time, 6:15, her brightened screen read. She unlocked her phone and texted her friend.
“Hey, where are you?”
almost immediately, her phone chimed,
“I’m running a little late. Why don’t you order something in the meanwhile.”
She perused through the menu, completely baffled, dumbfounded about what she should order since she knew nothing about her new friend.
“pasta?”
“it’s a little heavy. Can we have a snack?”
“fries?”
“I’m a Jain actually I don’t eat potatoes”
oh. Alia was now deep in thought, studying the menu with unfaltering attention until she came up with,
“nachos?”
“Yes!!!!” the multitude of exclamation marks made her giggle. She ordered a plate of nachos with extra cheese.
The plate overflowing with cheesy nachos arrived minutes before her friend, Shreya did.
Tempted, she picked one up and devoured it, the flavours making her nervousness crumble. She got up to hug her friend and offered her the delectable tortilla chips that invitingly sat on the table.
Shreya bit into it with a teasing crunch, her eyes closed, her mouth curled into a satiated smile. They both went in for another.
“I’m glad you chose this. It’s divine “

“me too”, Alia said with a sheepish smile
“Have you spoken to anyone else from college?” “not really, you?”
“nope”
They giggled and engaged in aimless chatter about their apprehensions regarding college.
Aliya felt cool-headed, understood and content after her chat with Shreya. She wasn’t alone, she felt light, and most of all, she was very delighted with the meal she just wolfed down.