An Evening with Ara

As an optimist, I’m a firm believer in the concept of blessings in disguises. So when my evening class today was cancelled due to the lecturer’s ill health, I thought, oh hell, now that’s another class needed replacement at another time and day. My supposedly free time this Friday evening is already out of the window so another brouhaha like this was certainly not welcomed. Sure, another free evening for today but at a future price. Haih….

In an attempt to kill time, the 3 management students (Nabil, Puteri Shariza and myself) opted to loiter around Suria. We went to Kinokuniya and Tower and although I was pleased to stumble upon Incubus’ original Morning View Sessions DVD, things weren’t really exciting enough for me.I wanted to do something more meaningful but I had no idea. Sure enough, soon Nabil and Sha decided to end the little field trip and went home but I stood there at the LRT station, not feeling quite ready to head home. So I pulled out my SL55 and the first name to pop out of my head was Aida. So I dialed the number. A little drink with her would be fun. As bad luck would've put it, she was out with her mother at Mid Valley. Just arrived, she said. Well, so much for the anticipation. Then, I thought, what about Ara? Well, why not? It was a bit daring but what do I got to lose? And so I called her. As expected, she was at home doing nothing so I asked her out for a drink. You cannot imagine my joy when said yes. I was grinning all the way to Taman Melati.

About 40 minutes later, stationary in front of her home with Valerie, watching Ara walking towards me from the driver’s seat is an image I will forever savour in my mind. It was something like out of a dream. As if she was moving in slow motion and wind was blowing in her hair. And she was wearing a white baby-T, and oh, how I love white baby-Ts.

Initially she suggested NZ and I ws like the hell we will. My first one-on-one drink with Ara and there’s no way I’m gonna spend that time at a mamak outlet. Surely the occasion derserves a much better ambience. So I took her to her favorite place to chill, Ampang Coffee Bean. I normally prefer Starbucks to Coffee Bean but all that thought was immaterial.

As we started talking, I found out we are not that different as I thought we would be. Although she prefers to shake her booty at Zouk rather than sing along to a couple tunes in front of a TV in a darkened room, we had quite a few things in common.

She is quite the family oriented when she declares Sunday as a family day which is, pretty much the same case as mine. And her answer to my question of when is your deadline in settling down was, “…first I have to be successful enough to get myself a house,”. And that says quite a lot. When most people I meet prefer to get married first and ask questions later, she was more into settling her own life first and then before deciding who she wants to share her life with. And she watched all 6 Star Wars movies, I mean, how fuckin’ cool is that? And she loved them all! Oh I was stunned speechless.

We went on talking about our lives, our ambitions, what we hate, what we love, it was one of the most insightful conversations I had in a long time. Before we knew it, it was already 7 pm. Time to send the lass home. She has to be at home by Maghrib and I thought that is just so adorable.

In total we spent about 3 hours talking and drinking coffee. It was, well, beautiful. What more can I say? Although I doubt it she would classify this as an official date but I'd like to think otherwise. And her reply when I asked her if I could take her out again next time?

“Sure,”

I sang all the way home.