Butterfly Love

He stood there like he always did while waiting for her. Absently kicking a pebble, running his hand through his wind swept hair, humming a silent tune. She watched him as he waited for her. She felt unsure. She wanted to walk up to him, link her arm through his, laugh with him, feel the warmth with emanated from him. Yet, something pulled her back. They had been friends for so long. They shared a casual friendship of two people who know each other for many, many years . Which never progressed beyond pals. It remained a friendship between two strangers who had spent long hours passing the football between each other to devise the best way to win against the Other Team. Strangers who had no common friends. Even after 20 years of knowing him, she was clueless about what kind of guy he really was. All that she knew was that, even when she tied her hair into the tiniest pigtails and he spoke with a lisp, he had got involved in a fistfight with class bully when the bully had called her Stupid ( a terrible abuse for a kindergarten kid).

The years coagulated into thick, viscous and unyielding mass moving slowly, each year rolled into the other. She changed cities, professions even partners. Yet, he remained constant. Not a friend in whom she confided her deepest longings and pains. But a pal, as important as the winter sunshine. She had not intruded into his life and neither had he asked her any uncomfortable questions. His girlfriends never irritated her. Although her boyfriends had been constantly suspicious of the platonic relationship.

"Platonic?" she sighed as she asked herself. Because she knew that all her life, in some strange way, she loved him. But this love demanded nothing. No effort, no time, no agonizing analysis of what did he say and what did he actually mean and no heartburns. It gave her an inexplicable fulfillment. Her place in his universe was something which didn't bother her too much. That she loved him was enough for her.

She gathered her jacket and threw her bag on her shoulder. He caught sight of her and waved. She waved back an skipped towards him breaking into a mini sprint. He laughed as she came besides him.

"I got engaged!", he exclaimed.
She knew this was coming. She had anticipated it. Her heart missed a beat in spite of that.
"Won't you introduce me to her? You rascal!"

She linked her arm through his and they hurriedly walked towards the cafe where she saw a pretty little thing waiting for them.