A One Night Stand

I walked up to him, stealthily
drew a line on his spine,
with the tip of my
slender, cold index finger.
A shiver ran through him.
I turned him around,
took a cursory look at him & sighed.

I would neither be his first nor his last.
I had known that, forever.
But I was glad, I was one among them.
I placed a palm on his chest,
leaned close & took in
the familiar smell;
Of rains, love, excitement,
laughter & tears.
He closed his eyes & smiled,
and continued narrating
from where he had paused.

After a couple of hours,
he stopped & looked
at my tear stained face.
I looked around
and to my astonishment,
nothing had changed.
But I knew that
I’d never be the same again.

My voice choked, I whispered,
‘Do all of them feel this way?’
He smiled, his crooked smile,
scratched his chin, tilted his head,
‘Most of them. Do you like it?’
‘I do. And when you leave,
I’ll pick another.’
I returned the crooked smile.
He looked up smiling,
genuinely this time.

‘That’s how irresistible we are.
We books, have a way of wooing you
and you can never say ‘No’ to us’

Image Courtesy: My dearest friend Balachandran. The bookmark was my gift to him 🙂