Night with a stranger

Hi, Stranger [ I will never forget ]

It was a random Saturday night when we met and so did our tongues.

I walked into the bar with a black tote bag on my shoulder that I had just bought that day, my id in one hand that the security checked before letting me in. They had their suspicions because it was a residency card from a different country and also probably because they just didn’t think I have been to this place before.

I told them I am 25, gave them a smile and it somehow worked. I usually don’t even get asked for it but I guess that was part of all the surprises I experienced that night, obviously you being the best surprise of it all.

Was I a surprise to you as well?

Looking back I think about what if they would have denied me from entering there, or what if I had decided to go back to my hotel that day instead of deciding to walk into this place. What if you hadn’t come to that place that day? Maybe sometimes, just sometimes, things do happen for a reason and we should give some credit to ‘destiny’ or ‘fate’.

I don’t even know if you even believe in fate, do you?

I’m glad I did go, for I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to meet you there and just the thought of that makes me feel sick! A common friend introduced us to each other, you didn’t seem so thrilled to see me there but you did greet me with a smile and that was just enough!

So, yeah, there you were, just being in the moment.. like everyone else in that place! You seemed to have just fit in there, you know I have never felt like I have ever fully belonged to one place and I think I am going to spend the rest of my life trying to accept that. But you? You didn’t look uncomfortable or any different than the rest.. but you turned out to be different, to me anyway!

 Never asked you if you thought I was any different too. Am I different?

We chatted a bit, and then not, and then some more. I was fascinated by how you talked about the things you liked, and how I kept trying to figure out what were you saying in the loud music, finding any excuse to get closer to you, slightly putting my hands on your waist while I try to keep the conversation going by responding back to you by speaking very loudly in your ear because I wasn’t going to let this conversation die down.

Were you trying to do the same? Or was it just more about "oh, yeah I’ll talk to him now since he is here"?

All of us decided to go to a different place after that, while a part of me just wanted to hold your hand, another part was just happy to be in your company.

Were you going through the same emotions? Probably not, because why would you? But did you?

But we walked, talked, walked again, and talked some more, and we reached the next place. The night kept passing as we drank through it and a part of me was starting to get sad at the thought of letting the night end without kissing you.

I decided to go get myself a drink and when I came back you just looked at me, and somehow I felt seen like I never have before. "How the fuck is this even possible?" I asked myself but before I could even start thinking, we leaned into each other and, just like that, I experienced one of the best kisses of my life! And I am not trying to brag about it but like I have kissed quite a few people in my life … so I really meant what I said to you.

 You told me I am the best kisser you have come across yet? And I couldn’t help but wonder that is this something that people just say to make the other person feel good being in the moment.. or do they actually mean it? But again, you didn’t give me any time to think and leaned in again.

But I am thinking about it now, maybe you actually meant what you said but I just struggled to believe that that was true. Maybe, it is just my insecurities and past experiences screaming in my head.

 Do you also have some past traumatic experiences you don’t talk about much to people?

 It’s weird how I've always been a hater when it comes to seeing people making out in the clubs/bars but to be honest, it felt nice to be on the other side for a change. We only stopped in between to breathe and just look at each other, smiling, dancing following each other’s rhythm, only to go at it again.

 You looked at me smilingly and said that everyone around is watching us but I told you that I don’t care because at that moment, it was just the two of us there. You know how they show it in the movies, how background actors would just disappear, and then there are just the two people there, lost in the moment and nothing else matters. That night felt like a movie and for a change I was the main character in it.

Did you feel the same? Or was I just another random guy on just another random night? Like I wouldn’t even feel bad if I were but it wasn’t just something random to me.

But as all good things come to an end, so did this night and as much I didn’t want the night to end, it did. We held hands as I walked you to the tube station, I never wished for a destination to be as further as possible so that I could spend a few more minutes with you.

Did you want the same? Would you have stayed if you could have?

And we decided to part ways, I asked you if you think we’ll meet again and you told me that we might. I don’t even know what I was expecting to hear but I sensed some hesitation when you said we might..  like why wouldn’t there be, we’ve only known each other for a couple of hours, we live in different countries, and you are YOU… and I am me.

Well, all these questions that I will never get the answers to, maybe it’s for the best because I could just relive this night through my own memories and though I would love to know what you felt and what you didn’t, maybe it’s for the best I don’t know that and never will.

Maybe I will always remember you as the random stranger I met on a beautiful London night during the summer of 2022.

Maybe we will cross paths again, if it’s meant to be, until then, I will keep listening to your favorite song on repeat because that might mean that we could be in different countries, doing different things, but still listening to the same thing and that to me is just so beautiful. And this is not for you to feel forced to feel anything about the night but it’s more for me to thank you, thank you for reigniting the hopeless romantic in me, something I seemed to have lost in the last few years dealing with my life.

Alexa play 'Set Fire to the Rain' by Adele.

Love,

Stranger [you probably already have forgotten about]