Skip to main content

Nora & James: Part II

JAMES

James wasn't Nora's first boyfriend not by far but she was quite certain he would be her last. Theirs was an interesting story if there ever was one. Like Nora, James was gifted. They had been enrolled in the same schools since they were 12. Academic rivals was the best way to explain their earlier relationship. In fact, when Nora was awarded her college scholarship, James was the only other person in her school who also received it. But they never interacted on a social level. Just a few polite hellos at most had been exchanged between them for 6 whole years.

There is no 'Nora and James' without Eddie. When Nora was 19 she started seeing Eddie. Eddie was charming and funny and quite popular among the girls so naturally she was very flattered by the attention. What started out as casual dating blossomed into a full blown relationship in the space of two months. That's when Eddie introduced Nora to his friends. "This is Jess, Brad and I think you know James," Eddie said to Nora one afternoon at a local pub. Eddie had planned the whole thing, very eager to let his friends meet the girl who had been taking up all his time. The Waterhole was a hotspot for most of their school mates probably because it was only a few hundred metres away from the college campus. "Hi," Nora waved shyly at the people before her. She felt on display, which was very uncomfortable. Jess was tall and slim with fair skin, just the kind of girl who intimidated Nora. Brad wasn't as tall as either Eddie or James but he had a friendly face that relaxed Nora a bit. "It's very nice to meet you Nora. Eddie won't shut up about you," Jess broke the silence. "Well that's just uncalled for," Eddie glared at her. The other two laughed and they all sat around the wooden table before them. After they had ordered some drinks, Brad took over the conversation. "Wait, you two know each other?" Brad asked pointing his fingers at James and Nora. "Yes we do, remember I told you guys about a girl who I went to school with before I came here?" James answered. "The really smart girl who you couldn't beat in Math?" Jess chimed in. James looked away shyly, he had only ever admitted that to his closest friends and now they were embarrassing him. "Oh my word, that girl is Nora? My Nora?" Eddie exclaimed. He had never seen the connection until now. "Aww, you tried to beat me at Math, that's never happening!" Nora boasted with a smile. It felt good knowing that her number one rival since she could remember actually thought she was better than her at something. The whole table erupted in laughter, including James. In no time, Nora had grown quite comfortable with the group and became more open. She thought they all seemed nice, even James whom she had barely ever had a conversation with was nice. But then again it could have been the alcohol. Halfway through Brad's impersonation of their Biology teacher, James phone rang. The ringtone seemed familiar to Nora. "Oh my word, is that the theme song to How I Met Your Mother?" Nora screamed excitedly. James let the phone go to voicemail before answering Nora. "It is, do you watch the show?" James seemed excited too at this new found common ground. "Well of course! It's only the best show ever!" Nora smiled. "What? Not you too," groaned Eddie. He knew his best friend was obsessed with the show, he hadn't realised that his girlfriend was too. "Thank you!" James smiled in agreement with Nora. That was the first time Nora noticed his dimples, they only seemed to show when he was genuinely smiling.

From that night onwards, Nora officially became part of Eddie's circle of friends. They hung out all together whenever they had the chance. Jess and Nora grew very close too, since she had been the only girl in the group, she welcomed Nora with both arms. At first Nora was overwhelmed, sure she had had friends before but this new group was as thick as thieves, something she had never been a part of.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Cancelled!

Have you ever been excited to share with a friend a new project, be it a movie, song, TED Talk, etc by your favourite celebrity only to be shut down by said friend because we have 'cancelled' the person? Saaaame! I remember a few weeks back one of my friends was super excited about this new Tyler Perry movie and I had to educate her real quick about how we had cancelled him. She was obviously not happy. But this new habit, often referred to as cancel culture is becoming increasingly popular. With the COVID19 lockdowns in several countries, people had so much time on their hands that they started scrutinizing their love for celebrities which resulted in many of them being cancelled .  So what is cancel culture ? This refers to the practice of withdrawing support for public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered to e objectionable or offensive. It usually happens on social media, specifically Twitter where users are ready with receipts to prove ...

Giving Up

Last week I was presented with the opportunity of a lifetime, applying to the biggest financial institution in the world for a summer internship. The process was long and tedious and mentally exhausting that I decided to take the easy way out. After two full hours of filling the online application form I gave up on the very last task I had to complete. And now I will never know if I would have gotten in or not. Often in life we are faced with challenges that literally drain the lives out of us and we give up. It's not something to be proud of but it is the easy way out and I agree. But if everything in life was easy then we really would not have much appreciation for it. A hard earned C is so much more fulfilling than an easy A. We feel much more accomplished when we have overcome an obstacle. Sure giving up is much easier to handle, you don't have to face rejection or failure. And failure is such a hard pill to swallow but once in a while you have to fail to learn how to succe...

Growing Up

I recently reached a very important stage in my life; turning 21! Yep, I am pretty old I know. So 21, everyone looks forward to this big moment in their life. It's when the whole world recognises you as an adult! You are finally free to do whatever you want. It's like being given a canvas and paint and painting the picture that is the rest of your life. A pretty exciting moment right? wrong! Well at least for me anyway. I mean at first I was psyched, I was finally 21. What could go wrong? And then I sat down and thought, I am 21. I am in my 20s and I have nothing to show for it. Over two decades I have been on earth and I hadn't even finished school yet! It was a nightmare. My friend called it an 'early mid-life crisis'. Of  course right now I am feeling a lot better about the whole thing, I mean I am still freaking out just a little bit but I will be ok. The point I am trying to make is even though growing up is great and everything, it can also be scary. The older...