“Finally… I have to be pretty low. Or my flatmates are going to catch me to clean up the kitchen.” he spoke as he sat down a bit flustered.
Working out a long distance relationship was a bit of a hard work for them. Given that they had been pretty inseparable throughout college and had taken up different paths at one point. What turned out even more challenging was the time difference between India and America.
By the time both of them got free enough it was usually midnight for one of them.
“Did you have your dinner?” he asked her as usual.
She smiled.
“Yeah. And you don’t have work today?”
“Oh I have to go by 5. So we have about an hour?” he said calculating how much sleep she would get.
He was always worried about how she was missing out sleep for him.
“I don’t have work until 11 am tomorrow. Don’t worry.” she smiled almost reading his mind.
Just then his phone rang.
“Oh its my professor. I gotta take this…” he said in an apologetic tone.
Giving him the go ahead, she sat there staring at him.
It had become another one their short duration calls again. They hardly get to spend time together. Another six months and she would have saved enough money to go visit him.
Thinking that staring might creep him out, she took her phone and started playing candy crush. The only game she plays to kill time like she had to now.
“I am back..” his voice made her look into the laptop again.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh! just playing this dumb game…” she showed her phone hoping he would get a clear visual of her phone screen.
“I think I stopped playing it after level 365 I think.” he shrugged.
For a moment she was dumbfounded. “Dude… I have been stuck in this 105th level for weeks…”
He laughed now.
“And what is the matter with you? You happen to have the highest score in most of the levels… Geek!”
“Hey… what do you mean by most of the levels?”
“Well.. some of the levels had other high scorers. Like this one does not have you in the first position…” she said checking the name in the score list.
“Its my friend’s aunt.” she chuckled at that one.
“I am beat by an old lady?” he spoke with a dead pan look.
“Oh.. you are so cute..” she giggled. With that she saw him not looking at the camera but doing some other work on his laptop.
“What are you doing?”
“Candy crush… You said 105 right? Let me get to the first place in that level…”
He was seriously opening that game and scrolling down to get to that level.
“Its just a game man…” She didn’t know how to react.
“No… I can’t let an old lady beat me in front of you.”
“Hey C’mon… we hardly get time to talk and you want to spend that playing a stupid game?”
“Well this is important for me. I gotta impress my girl.”
“By playing a game and getting high score?” it was getting late. Another 20 minutes and he will have to leave.
“This is not fair. You just want to waste time like this.”
She was angry now.
More disappointed than angry.
“And done…” he announced.
“This is not a waste of time. This is me impressing my girl.” He grinned.
She couldn’t help but smile at his gimmicks. He made her smile no matter what.
***
“Oye… Sent you a candy crush request. Need one of those tickets to go to the next level…” She told her friend while having lunch.
Her friend looked at her funnily. “You know there are better games to play… Instead of lame candy crush.”
“I know… Its just a game to kill time for me.”
After a prolonged silence “It reminds you of him… Doesn’t it?”
She just looked at her friend with surprise. “How?”
“You just had this dreamy look now. Not much of a surprise.”
She smiled. That was all she could do.
“But I don’t understand. He is gone. He has moved on. And you are still hanging on to him?”
“Well this game has some pleasant memories that makes me smile even now.” She went back to her sandwich smiling at a certain
####
I did know someone who literally had high scores in every single level of candy crush. A grade A geek I suppose.
A person I respect no matter what. Hope they read this and remember our memory over candy crush.