It was one of those casual internships they were at, in their summer break. She was with her loud group of girls, who discussed clothes and boys. He was with his mischievous gang of backbencher boys who never lost a single chance to pass a harmless comment on the above gang of females. Obviously, never was a comment passed on her, she was rather, how does one put it, but for the lack of a better word - plain. And but of course, he was never the one who opened his mouth much at these things. But when anyone looked at him, it was obvious, he was very much a party to everything.
The internship was at an electrical transmission company. And the heat of the summer could bake the little humans when left outside for long. So, in the non stop to and fro between examining the electrical equipment outdoors to rushing indoors to sit in the air conditioning for a few minutes, an unusual camaraderie blossomed between the both of them. Between them, the air was always friendly, things were said with a tease but nothing mean was ever meant. Things would continue to remain platonic, because, her head was in the clouds and he was perhaps, not interested, perhaps had a girlfriend back home, nobody knew. And a curiosity of that nature, never came into the picture either.
With the summer and the internship over, both parties, headed back to their respective campuses and would have lost touch subsequently, eventually, but for a few things, they did not. Firstly because, he read her poetry. And she knew he somewhat connected with her angst regarding the - human condition. The frustration of this all. And he was a bright dude, so she never quite got why he could relate to her shit. Therefore, she had him earmarked as someone who was not mundane and understood things deeply.
And secondly because, he kept her from flunking a crucial course. There was something about this course - electrical machines - that she wanted to understand it from within. You know. When you're studying engineering, sadly a lot of it is rote learning. You just cram a lot of stuff the night before the test, puke it out in the test in the morning. But she did not want to do the same with this course as this course solely would stand for her entire engineering degree. So she buckled up and decided to give it a shot. The petit professor who taught the class was good, but the drawings on the board looked like hieroglyphics. So our girl turned to our guy. And there was google talk. They never called each other.
They stayed up nights and he coached her inside and out. Somebody would have thought there was something going on but this was a pure unvarnished academic connection. It took them a few weeks but soon she was all caught up with her petite professor. Afterwards, she would keep going back to him with err- doubts. But the cardinal concepts of electrical machines had been juiced up and gulped down her esophagus. And let there be no doubt, if ever he was in the wrong, she would drag him back into the right, by throwing caution to the wind.
But college ended and soon they started new lives. But somehow those new lives didn't start ideally for anyone. She was stuck in someplace she would rather not be in. Meaning, all she had ever wanted was to get away. But she couldn't. Later on in life, she would realize and appreciate, that there was no such thing as getting away, ever. But she didn't know that back then. And he was, well - in a confusing place. He had the job he always wanted, but not many other things were in his favor, if we want to leave it cryptic enough.
Somehow, one day, he saw her jogging in the park. He was not in the park, per se. He was driving by. How he could make out it was her through that distance of distance and through that distance of time, is something she could never ascertain. But that night, he pinged her again.