3- The Bartender

                                        

                                              

Like majority of the female population in my University, Rithik first fell into my peripheral vision at the college fashion walk last semester. He was dressed in a dark brown kurta with light intricate designs and a plain brown kameez of a slightly different shade. His dress alongwith others were specifically designed by the fashion designing department. His face was clean shaved, one of the rarest times where I have seen him like that. He was only lacking a sword and a turban perhaps, because even without that, he seemed no more than a royal prince from Rajasthan. However, that went to all handsome young men who volunteered for the show. 
Girls were practically drooling at the sight of them but only Rithik managed to hold my gaze for the longest time. It was so bad that I couldn't find myself distracting my eyes anywhere else throughout the event. I couldn't forget those two precious seconds where he caught my gaze across the table at dinner. I had the urge to talk to him, just to hear his voice. 
It was difficult though. His classroom was in a complete different building, and we shared no mutual friends. I didn't know Shivani that time. Neither the fact she knew him. I know I could have just approached him in class to slap a 'hi' but that would make me one of his fangirls and I never entertained the idea to be mixed with the rest of the herd. I simply gratified myself with the sight of him every once- in- a- while. I was completely fine with it.
Until we crossed paths at a bar, two months later. 
Credits rolled in front of my eyes as I pictured it all. A party, a hideous staring contest between two drunken individuals and flirting. Those very same individuals caught up with each other, leading the girl to ask him out for the night. The guy took his sweet time thinking, before rejecting her with a heartthrob  smile. If the girl wasn't acquainted with English, she would have taken that smile as a yes. 
Call me shameless but I wasn't the type of person to beat around the bush for long. If I wanted something, I went for the kill. Guess some people didn't like the fast and furious way. I could still taste the humiliation. The guy clearly showed interest that evening, but rejected me like I was nothing but a senseless fangirl. No man can reject Natasha. Not even me. 
Regardless, that was still a memorable night. Two strangers talking about strange things and laughing. Just thinking about it brought a smile to my face. 
Though that wasn't the end of our encounter. One day I visited a convenient store close to my home when I chanced upon Rithik again. Both of us were dumbly surprised. As for him, he didn't want anyone from his University to find out he was working. I understood that. We Indians particularly didn't fancy having a part time job at a convenient store. Undergraduate, middle class family, lack of money— those were the synonyms one could deduct from his situation. Regardless, I let him know his secret was safe with me.  
Rithik worked for four days a week from Wednesday to Saturday. And me being the attention seeker, took full advantage of his situation. I would laze around to buy something from the store before approaching him. We would talk for a couple of minutes before I leave. Undoubtedly, he had my undivided attention during those short encounters. Our conversations weren't particularly interesting since we never talked beyond the norm. In other boring words, we were merely acquaintances. Yup, nothing disappointing about that. 
Okay, maybe a little disappointing. It took me a couple of encounters encounters to confirm which category Rithik belonged to. The least one of all— Those who I wanted. It was as clear as the white clothes from a washing powder ad— He. Was. Not. Interested. Moreover, he left his post after two weeks, digging holes into my pit of disappointment. 
So here we were, six months later. I got to see his grateful ass again at the Barista cafe. But instead of ignoring me like I thought he would, he stalked me till the headlights. Just too many wrong equations here. Was he bipolar? Why the fuck did he lie to Shivani about not knowing me? Why was he persistent on making me smile or whatever he was trying to do. And what's up with him and his part time jobs anyway? More questions with no answers. It infuriated me to no end, but damn fuck, I loved it when guys were mysterious. Made me want to claw out every mystery out of their body.