That Evening(Nissan Kar) The phone suddenly rang up, breaking Ashton’s slumber. Blinking his eyes a few times to wear off his drowsiness, he swallowed and turned his head to look for his mobile phone. His head was attached to the pillow as he groped for the electronic device which kept on buzzing. Finally, he got it and brought it near his face to see the caller’s name. It was Lester. He accepted the call and put the phone on his ear, as he heard a male voice saying, “Where are you?”
Still hovering on his dizziness, he answered, “Umm, uh, wh-what? I’m at home, obviously.”
“Jesus Christ! Don’t tell me that you are still sleeping.”
“Ya, I am, actually.”
“God! Have you checked the time?”
Ashton looked at the top of the mobile screen and suddenly he got back to his senses. He sat up on his bed hastily, “Oh god! It’s already 8!”
“Oh, really? I didn’t know the time,” said Lester sarcastically, “We were supposed to reach by 7!”
“Ye-yeah, yeah, I’m coming, I’m coming,” hurried Ashton.
“You better move your ass fast! ‘Cause I’m—” Ashton had cut the call. He got over to his wardrobe to find the perfect outfit. After thinking for almost 5 minutes, about what to wear, he chose a casual outfit for the night. Applying a bit of perfume and setting his hair with his hand, he went in front of the mirror and smiled, saying to himself, “You look so handsome!”

“You look so boring,” commented Lester, when Ashton reached Amanda’s house.
“Come on, Les,” said Ashton.
“Whatever, let’s go inside.” They both went inside the house.
Though the music was audible even from outside, it was louder inside. There were many people—girls and boys from Ashton and Lester’s school, Debenham High School. The whole house was brimming with the sound of chatting and laughing and talking. The smell of alcohol was also circulating the house. People in the hallway, noticing Lester, were saying, “Hey, Cuthbert! How are ya?” to which Lester was replying, “Ya man, I’m all right,” and hugging them tightly. They were mainly the seniors of Debenham High School. Many of them asked, pointing towards Ashton, “Who is this guy?”
“My best friend, Ashton,” was Lester’s reply. Ashton smiled at them as a gesture of friendship. Being the famous guy in the school, most of the seniors know Lester and are friends with him. It was kind of weird for Ashton to stand at one corner as Lester was meeting each and every one of them. After meeting almost 40 of them, he came back to Ashton and said, “Sorry man, it’s just…”
“It’s all right,” said Ashton. They were finding their group of friends. While searching for them, they almost intruded on a couple having sex in the bedroom, “Oops! Sorry,” cried out Lester as they ran past the corridor to the drawing room. “Where are—” he was interrupted by the voice of a girl calling out his name, “Lester!!”, they were finding the source of the voice, when their eyes caught the glance of a blond girl, upstairs, waving her hand, as fast as she could, to get their attention. “Hey! Amanda,” replied Lester. “Come upstairs,” cried out Amanda. Though it was hard to hear what she was yelling, it was understandable through her movement of hands, instructing them to come up. They headed for the stairs carving their way through the people.
No sooner had they reached upstairs, than Amanda hugged Lester tightly, then Ashton, more tightly. “I am really very glad that you both were able to make it,” she said.
“We had made it, or at least I had, for Ashton was so busy sleeping,” said Lester.
Ashton looked at Amanda and apologised, “I’m really sorry, Amanda. I was just very tired after all the driving.”
Amanda smiled and said, “It’s okay, everybody has been forgiven. Now come, let's enjoy!”
The upstairs was rather quieter. The three of them entered a rather big room, it was Amanda’s parents’ room. On the floor were 5 people sitting in a circle, which had a gap between Chloe and a new girl whom Ashton had never seen. His eyes were fast enough to move to that new girl’s face. She was unbelievably beautiful. Her brown-black long hair had wonderful waves thrashing onto the side of her smooth cheeks. Her lips were folded a little inward but had the essence of a smile. The most beautiful thing about that face which made Ashton gaze at her was her two eyes. Her hazel eyes were heavenly. Ashton had never seen such a gorgeous pair of eyes.
Amanda looked at how locked Ashton’s eyes were on the new girl, as she said to him with a smile, “Oh, I guess you have already noticed.” He was totally lost in those eyes, as he got startled a bit and looked at Amanda. She said, “I would like you to meet someone,” and she went to that new girl, brought her in front of Ashton, and said, “Ashton, meet Emily. And Emily, meet Ashton.”
Ashton could feel his heart beating tremendously faster. He could smell her, it was making him feel drunk. She reached out her hand for a shake, and said, “Nice to meet you, Ashton.” Now, Ashton felt more drunken hearing her voice. That girl was perfect in every way, according to Ashton. Not thinking twice he reached his hand out too and both of them touched each other as their hands intertwined. “Ni-nice to m-meet you, Emi-Emily,” Ashton stammered while talking to her. Now he could feel her gentle smooth skin. Her touch made every tension rising in Ashton fly away in a second. He had never felt so relieved. He wanted to hold her hands for some more time but he had to back off or else others would be suspecting and especially Emily might feel uncomfortable. So they shook their hands briefly and then Lester also introduced himself. After the introductions, they sat in the circle which was made bigger to hold two more persons.
“Thanks again, Amanda, for hosting the summer end party this year too,” said Lester.
“For as long as I am here, don’t worry about parties,” said Amanda. They chuckled except one, Ashton. He couldn’t help but look at Emily. He has experienced ‘Love at first sight’. Ashton loves it when she laughed or smiled. But whenever she looked at him, he turned his face, being shy. Chloe went and brought some more beers for all of them. They were all gossiping about the school stuff and others, but Ashton was unmindful of what was happening elsewhere, for he was drowned in Emily’s beauty. It seemed he couldn’t care less if there even had been a fire in the house.
He would have remained senseless unless Riley, who was sitting on his right, had interrupted him, “What do you think?”
“Yeah?” asked Ashton.
“Didn’t you hear?”
“Umm, could you please repeat once more?”
“I said, what have you planned to do in the future?”
“Uhh, you mean about after the final results are out?”
“Yeah.”
“Umm, I’m thinking about going for further education and then college.”
“Oh, Nerdy,” said Riley and chuckled. When she laughs, her freckles become more prominent. Ashton chuckled too, and turned his vision to Emily, who was talking with Chloe.
“You have a crush on her, no?” whispered Lester to Ashton.
“What? No, no,” replied Ashton hastily.
“The way you’re continuously lookin’ at her, it does seem like that.”
“Okay, honestly, yeah, I do kinda like her,” Ashton said the truth.
“See, I can understand my best friend, better than anyone,” said Lester with an irritable smile.
“Okay, but please don’t tell this to anyone,” requested Ashton.
“What, why?”
“No, please, she would feel uncomfortable. We had just met. I don’t want to make my impression bad on her.”
“Oh, my great impressionist. Don’t ya worry, it’ll be all right.”
“No, please Lester.”
“Come on, man. It’s evident that you love her!”
“Please, Lester,” Ashton literally begged him.
Lester sighed and said, “Okay, fine.”
Suddenly, the DJ announced that it was the time to dance. Amanda is always enthusiastic about dancing, hence she cried out excitedly, “Let’s go dance, come on!” And she forced all of them to head downstairs. Sam offered to Riley, “Would you like to dance with me?” Riley agreed and they headed to the dancefloor. Chloe pulled Zed, “Let’s go dance!” but Zed was actually thinking of asking Emily. Lester offered his hand to Amanda, saying, “Would you like to dance with me, ma’am?” Amanda smiled and said, “Yeah, why not?” And they too went. It was just Ashton and Emily not willing to dance. Lester and Amanda gestured for Ashton and Emily to come join them but they politely refused. Ashton was smiling seeing his friends enjoy, especially Lester, who was able to fulfill his wish of dancing with Amanda. Emily came near and stood beside him. He was again feeling nervous. It was that same nervousness which he had felt before with both Daisy and Melissa. “They are so good, no?” Emily approached for a conversation. Ashton could feel his heartbeat, she was now talking with him. It’s a usual feeling for him, when he has a crush on any girl and when she talks with him, he feels tensed and confused about what to say to her, without ruining his impression. He had to reply for being polite, “Ye-yeah.”
“Do you stammer like this often?”
“Umm, no, it’s uhh…”
“Please don’t mind but it actually sounds nice, the stammering.”
Ashton looked down and smiled feebly, it reflected his shyness. There was a long moment of silence after that, nobody knew what to tell the other.
“So…” Ashton broke the silence, with all his courage, “How are you related to Amanda?”
“Umm, we are cousins, actually,” replied Emily, leaning on the wall, with her hands crossed behind.
“Oh! She didn’t mention that she had a cousin.”
“I am not so important a person to be mentioned.”
“No, not like that,” Ashton continued, “You both are of the same age, right?”
“Almost, she is 8 months older than me.”
“Oh,” Ashton calculated in his mind, that she was 6 months younger than him.
“You both go to the same school, right?” asked Emily. They were sharing glances frequently.
“Ya. What about you?” asked Ashton.
“I read in a boarding school in Lancashire.”
“Oh!” Ashton was surprised to hear that. He asked, “Where are you staying now?”
“In High Street. It’s where my parents live.”
“Oh! That’s near to my house, I stay in Cross Green.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“So, you are here—”
“For summer holidays. I am returning tomorrow morning.”
“Oh!” Ashton felt sad. He was going to ask her something when she said, “Let’s go outside.”
“Yeah, all right,” and he followed her to the garden. She asked, “Do you want something to drink?”
He replied, “A beer would be great.” And she handed one bottle to him and took one for herself. They opened the bottle and Emily reached out her bottle towards Ashton and said, “Cheers.”
“Cheers,” said Ashton. They took a sip and were walking in the garden, where few people were present. Few kissing, few lying on the bench being drunk. Ashton asked, “So, what have you planned for your future? I mean after the next two years”
“Umm, probably MIT,” replied Emily, taking another sip of the beer.
“Oh!”
“You?”
“Let’s see, let’s not talk about studies tonight.”
“O-kay, fine.”
She smiled at him. No matter how much he wanted to resist himself from coming into another relationship, he couldn’t control himself when Emily smiled. Yet, he had to control.
“I feel sad,” said Emily.
“Why? What happened?” Ashton wanted to know.
“Why hadn’t I met all of my cousin’s friends?”
“Why didn’t you attend all the previous summer-end parties? Hadn’t Amanda invited you?”
“Yes, she invited me every time after I had shifted here, but it was my dad, who never let me go out to any such parties.”
“What do you mean you shifted here?”
“Yes, I previously lived in Galway. My father shifted here 4 years back.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Hmm.”
“Did you have friends back there in Galway?”
“Not much, few.”
“Miss them?”
“Hmm…yeah.”
“Was your father strict there too?”
“Not only he, my mom too.”
“Why?”
“Their only reason was that I would become a spoiled child. Their only motto was to make me a great and obedient student. Hence, no sooner had my dad shifted here, he sent me to one of the most disciplined and best boarding schools of the country. Away from my cousin.”
“Didn’t he like Amanda?”
“I don’t know why he hates her. She is so nice.”
“Ya. So you missed both—your Galway friends and Amanda, while being in Lancashire.”
“Yeah.”
“Haven’t you made any friends there?”
“No, none of them are actually of my type.”
“Oh! So what about Debs?”
“No one to go with.”
“Are you gonna spend it alone? But it’s never going to come in your life, again. You are never going to experience it again.”
“Bad luck for me. What about you?”
“We share the same luck, I guess.”
“Oh, I am sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
They were silent then. The wind had started to blow. The weather seemed to change its form. But they didn’t care. Keeping his hands inside his pockets, Ashton was looking up at the stars, they looked to be more shiny today.
Emily, putting her hair behind her ears, was frequently looking at Ashton. She was suddenly feeling very safe and secure. Suddenly, all her worries vanished. She knew the time and that she had passed her limit of staying outside the house, but she didn’t seem to care. She wanted only one thing, to walk endlessly with Ashton. She knew not why she was feeling like this. For she had felt this only once, that too long ago, with Duncan.
Ashton noticed Emily was shivering a little. She was feeling cold. So, he gave her the jumper. “Here, take it, you’ll feel warm,” said Ashton. “Thanks,” replied Emily. She put the jumper on, and said, “See, now you are not feeling nervous anymore.”
Ashton realised his nervousness was gone.
“All it requires is to cross your boundaries,” said Emily.
“Ya, it was easy, I didn’t even realise,” said Ashton. Suddenly his phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and saw that it was Lester. He remembered that he had not informed them of their sudden disappearance. He accepted the call and heard Lester saying, “Where are you two?”
“We are actually walking around,” replied Ashton.
“Where?”
Ashton looked for some signboard and any address. He was surprised to see his school upfront. “Actually we are outside our school,” said Ashton.
“Jesus Christ! What? Wait there, we are coming,” said Lester.
“Is the party over?”
“Have you checked the time?”
Ashton checked the mobile screen, “God! It’s 10!” And asked Emily, “Don’t you have to go home?”
“Let me have some fun for one night.”
“But your dad—” Emily showed him her phone, there were 17 missed calls from her father.
“Oh my god!” Ashton was shocked.
“Don’t worry, I guess, he had called Uncle Forridge, after not getting me, and Uncle Forridge must have told him not to worry. But still, he was worrying, then finally uncle was able to convince him.”
Ashton stared at her wide-eyed. Suddenly he felt himself getting wet when he noticed it had started to rain. He started to panic. But Emily was very happy as with her hands spread out and her face welcoming the raindrops, she was enjoying every bit of the rain, like a recently released bird, who was caged for ages. He stared at her and smiled. She looked at him and smiled too. Ashton felt a pull towards her. Some invisible force was making him attracted towards her, as he went near her. She looked at him and said, “What? Let’s enjoy the rain,” and as she was running to the middle of the road, Ashton held her hand and pulled her close. This time it was a different feeling; a feeling which he had never felt, not even with Daisy or Melissa. Emily too felt it, a feeling very unknown to her, a completely new and unique experience, which she had never experienced with Duncan. Ashton held her by her waist. Emily threw her arms around his neck. They were all drenched. Ashton’s eyes looked at the moist lips of Emily as Emily’s eyes looked at the soaked lips of Ashton’s. As she raised herself on her toes, he lowered his head. Both of their faces tilted to their left, as it came closer and closer until their lips were locked up. Both of them sucked each other’s lips, tilting their heads from left to right and back. Almost for a minute, they were lost in tasting the other. As Emily noticed something bright shining from far away. It was Lester’s car. They stopped kissing and stood apart as if nothing had happened between them. They were casual when the car reached them. Lester lowered his window glass, and said, “You two, enter the car.”
They, like obedient children, entered the car. Ashton sat beside Lester and Emily, in the back seat. “Look at yourselves! Two idiots. What if one of you or both end up suffering from a cold? What’ll happen then?” They were silent. Lester was acting like an elder brother, which he often does. “Where is your jumper?” Lester asked Ashton.
“I’m wearing it,” replied Emily.
“She was feeling cold, so I gave it to her,” said Ashton.
“Whatever,” sighed Lester and drove the car to Woolpack.
“What are we doing here?” asked Ashton.
“Others are inside,” replied Lester.
“But what about Emily? Her dad is going to worry.”
“Oh, you already got to know many things, great. Don’t worry, she has got permission to enjoy the night.”
“What!!” Emily was surprised.
“Go inside, Amanda will fill you in,” said Lester.
Ashton and Emily got out of the car and ran inside the pub, as Lester went to park the car.
“There they are,” said Amanda, “What were you doing around the school?”
“Nothing, we didn’t notice that we had reached so far,” said Ashton.
“You both were so into chatting with each other! How ironic of you two!”
“What did my dad say?” asked Emily.
“Don’t worry my dad was able to convince him and so he told me to forward you that you have been given permission to enjoy the night with your cousin and her friends,” said Amanda.
“Did my dad say this himself?”
“Yes.”
“Oh my god! Oh my god!” She was so happy that she started to jump in joy. Ashton too felt happy that he would be able to spend some more time with the girl whom he had just kissed. “Ahem,” Lester coughed, intentionally, seeing Ashton smile at Emily. Ashton asked, “What?”
Lester further asked, “You kissed her, no?”
Ashton acted as if being surprised, nodded his head hurriedly, and said, “No, no, I didn’t, why would I?”
“God! You missed a great chance, Ash.”
“I don’t want to make her feel uncomfortable.”
“Ya, whatever,” ignored Lester and went to sit where the others were sitting, Amanda followed him. Ashton said to them, “Actually, I’ve to dry myself. So, I’m coming in a minute.”
“Yeah, me too,” said Emily and went behind Ashton. He went to the gents' washroom and she to the ladies' washroom. After a minute or two they joined the table. Emily still had Ashton’s jumper with her.
“So, Emily, I heard you were a Galway Girl,” said Zed.
“Yeah,” Emily chuckled and said, “my father worked there,” said Emily.
“And you shifted here 4 years back.”
“Hmm.”
Ashton was still looking at her. He doesn’t know why his eyes want only to see her. “Like her?” Amanda questioned suddenly. Ashton hesitated, “Yeah, no, I, uh—”
“I can understand,” said Amanda.
“No, it’s not like that. I don’t like ‘like’ her, but yeah, she is a good person,” said Ashton.
“Hmm…” smiled Amanda.
“What?”
“Nothing, nothing.”
They all gossiped for almost another hour and a half. “Guys, I should head home, it’s already 11:30, and I am not feeling well,” said Emily.
Ashton asked her, “What happened?”
“Nothing much, it’s just too many drinks for one night.”
Lester offered her, “Shall I drop you?”
“Sure, it will be good.” And they stood up. Ashton wanted to go with them but was scared of what the others would be suspecting. There were too many thoughts running in his head. Emily looked at Ashton, with hopeful eyes but Ashton was unaware. He didn’t notice that they had already left. “I should also head home,” said Zed as he was trying to go with Emily but Chloe pulled him down saying, “You don’t need to go home, nobody will scold you. No worries.” So, he was unable to go.
Ashton was sad as he heard Lester’s car fading away. It didn’t take much time for Lester to come back. But Ashton was still thinking about Emily, “What did she think of me? She must have got hurt. I should’ve gone with her. What if we don’t stay friends anymore? I am really an idiot, I—”
“What happened to you?” Lester interrupted Ashton’s thoughts.
“No, nothing,” said Ashton. He was quiet after that. Suddenly he realised everybody was deciding to head out. “We must go now, it’s almost midnight,” said Sam.
“Yeah, you’re right,” agreed Riley. On the other hand, Zed was all drunk. “Can you let him sleep tonight in your house? I don’t think he will be able to go home,” said Chloe to Amanda.
“Don’t worry, he will sleep on my couch,” said Amanda as they all headed out. Chloe and Sam stayed in Priory Lane, so they went together. Riley bade goodbye to his boyfriend, Sam with a gentle kiss and went towards Gracechurch Street. Amanda took Zed and got inside Lester’s car. Ashton was sitting beside Lester. They live in Cross Green, which is near Woolpack. Lester dropped Amanda and Zed, who was drowned in dizziness. Then going a bit further, he dropped Ashton. He was walking to the door thinking nothing but just about Emily. Suddenly he felt cold, as the wind rushed by his body. When he remembered, “Shit! My jumper! It is still with Emily.”
He thought of calling Lester, but he didn’t receive his call. He lived one block away from Ashton’s house. Ashton ran to his home but found the car parked and locked with no sign of Lester. Ashton thought, “He must have gone inside. But what to do?” He had only one option left—walk to Emily’s house.

He ran to her house. He reached there and stopped to take a breath. He looked at the house in whose front yard was a car parked. He walked up to the door but paused before ringing the bell. He feared that her father would wake up and the description of her father by Emily seemed to make Ashton feel more afraid of him. He came out to the garden again. He looked up trying to find Emily’s room. He wished he had asked for her number. He didn’t know what to do now. Suddenly he saw a faint light turning on in a room, upstairs, to the left corner. Then, he saw a silhouette near the window. It came nearer and took the shape of a girl, who sat beside the window. It was Emily! She was in her bed tee, gazing up at the starry sky. He was hoping for her to see down in the garden. And then, she lowered her vision to notice a familiar boy standing in the garden. She was surprised and a bit happy too. She ran downstairs to the front door. Ashton came to the porch. The door opened and Ashton found Emily standing in front of her with his jumper in her hands.
“Hey,” said Ashton.
“Hi,” replied Emily and they shared a glance for a few seconds and then to break the silence, she said, “Your jumper.”
“Umm, yeah,” he received it. Emily folded her arms and placed them just below her chest. She was wearing a blue coloured sweater over her bed tee.
“The sweater’s nice,” said Ashton.
“Yeah,” said Emily.
“Umm, th-thank you for, umm, noticing me jumping.”
She chuckled, “Hmm.”
“Umm, I should probably head home now. It’s pretty late. I shouldn’t disturb your sleep.”
“I don’t sleep.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Umm,” Ashton rubbed the back of his neck, “I uhh, I was meaning to, umm, ask you something.”
“What?”
“Uhh,” he took a deep breath, “Will you go to the Debs with me?”
Emily looked at Ashton for some time, her face had changed its form to sadness, she said, “I am sorry but I can’t come.”
“Won’t they give you permission?”
“It doesn’t matter, because my father won’t. He would be furious if I said that someone from Debenham has asked me to the Debs.”
“Oh,” Ashton was heartbroken.
“I am sorry,” apologised Emily.
“No, it’s fine. I am sorry that you have to stay alone like me in the Debs.”
“It’s all right, I am habituated.”
“Yeah, of course. Okay, umm, bye then.”
Emily smiled with her lips folded a bit inward and nodded. Ashton turned back and climbed down the stairs of the porch, slowly and was walking down the gravel path, when Emily said, “Ashton.”
He turned around at once, “Ya?” She closed the door behind her silently and came near Ashton, being barefoot.
“What?” asked Ashton.
Emily asked, “Uh, can you come to Lancashire for the Debs?”
“What?” Ashton was confused.
“I would like to go with you to the Debs, but for that you have to come to Lancashire. Can you come?”
Without any hesitation, Ashton said, “Yes! Of course I’ll come.”
“Are you sure?”
“I promise, Emily.”
Emily smiled, this time her lips were not folded. Involuntarily, they came closer and kissed each other for the second time. Ashton held her face with his hands as he kissed her passionately. Emily smiled looking at him as Ashton smiled too. They were still holding each other. “Bye,” said Ashton. “Bye,” said Emily. They kissed another time briefly. Ashton was just exiting the garden, when he stopped and turned to her and said, “Can I get your phone number?” as he came near to her.
Emily smiled, a beautiful smile, melting Ashton’s heart, and said, “Sure.”

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