Jude’s P. O. V.
Sean and Wade left soon after Natasha had agreed to go on a date with me. I was super ecstatic and couldn’t stop grinning. I kept running different ideas through my head.
A candle light dinner? Nah too cliché.
Should I cook for her? Nah too old
Book a nice table at a restaurant with the whole city’s view? Corny. I kicked the couch in frustration, I kept dismissing one idea after the other. I had to make it extra special to win her back but what could I do?
I glanced at Natasha who was cooking lunch, I just had a few hours to decide and make the necessary arrangements. I was beginning to panic now. I did what any person in my state would do. I went to my room and switched on my laptop. I went on google and typed, ‘Date ideas’
A lot of links popped up.
Creative Date Ideas-Good fun chap dates. I rolled my eyes at it.
Top 10: First Date Ideas- AskMen, I contemplated this one thinking that it was my first date with Natasha. I clicked the link and crossed my fingers hoping this link would be my savior.
I sighed in frustration as it wasn’t of any help to me because it had one cheesy idea after another. I wanted to do something different. Isn’t there something I could do to surprise Natasha and make her feel special?
Natasha came in the room and I snapped the laptop shut and looked up.
“Why the frown?”
“Nothing” I said flippantly.
“Is everything alright?”
“Yep”
“Ok, lunch is ready lets eat?”
“Yeah I will be there in a minute”
“Ok”
As soon as she left the room I called up Wade and then conferenced Sean on the call.
“Don’t tell me you got yourself in trouble already!” said Sean.
“No!”
“Dude you better not have blown it up for yourself!” said Wade.
“Thanks guys for your confidence in me now will you shut up and listen?”
“Go ahead”
“I don know what to do for the date!”
“You’ll figure something out” said Wade.
“But I can’t! All I can think of are cheesy ideas!”
“Like?”
“Dinner and a movie”
“Lame”
“I’ll cook for her”
“Nah”
“Book a restaurant with the city view?”
“Seriously?”
“Help me!”
All three of us were silent as we all contemplated what to do when suddenly Wade yelled, “Damn almost got hit by a truck! I am hanging up now figure this out before you get me killed Jude!” and he hung up while Sean laughed.
“Thanks guys for all your help” I said moodily and hung up.
I went out to see that Natasha had laid out the table and was waiting patiently for me. She looked up and smiled at me.
“Lunch is served!”
“Smells good”
She beamed at me and we ate in silence. As we were finishing our lunch, Natasha spoke up, “I am going to visit mum today”
“That’s great, do you want me to drive you there?”
“If its not a problem”
“Not at all”
“Great we’ll leave in an hour?”
“Yeah”
“Cool”
“Hey Natasha what does your mom like?”
She frowned at me, “What do you mean?”
“I mean does she like chocolates? Ice cream? Painting? Reading? Writing?”
“Oh she loves chocolates, she loves marshmallows the most. She loves chocolate chip ice cream, she loves painting and she tries to even now. She loves reading romance novels. Whenever she had spare time she was either reading or painting or maybe embroidering.”
I looked at her and smiled, she had this beautiful glow over her face when she spoke about her mother.
“Ok I need to go somewhere you get dressed so then we can visit your mother quickly then we have our date” I said winking and she giggled.
“Alright come soon”
“Aww are you going to miss me?”
She surprised me by saying, “maybe”
I grinned and left soon.
Natasha’s P. O. V
I practically skipped to the room humming a tune. I went to my closet and picked out a white summer dress to wear and went to shower quickly.
Jude had asked me out on a date! Yay I yelled out loud. I kept thinking about how he had gone down on his knee and asked me out the conventional way.
I wondered what he would plan for us. Knowing him he would probably plan a movie and dinner. Or maybe a long drive after dinner to the outskirts of town that would be cute.
I got out and blow dried my hair while sweeping my flicks to the side. I was still thinking about what Jude was going to plan while applying my make up when my phone rang. I glanced and saw that it was Jude.
“Hello?”
“Are you done yet?”
“Almost”
“Ok come out quick once you’re done. I am here”
I quickly out finishing touches to my make up and grabbed my bag and walked out into the living room. I wore my shoes and quickly checked if we had left any lights on and whether I had put the gas off. After satisfying myself that nothing was amiss I walked out.
“Where had you gone?”
“Umm just making some arrangements for our date” he smiled.
The drive to the nursing home was a pleasant one. We spoke a little and sometimes sat in a companionable silence. I was excited thinking about what Jude must have planned for us and couldn’t wait for the night!
When we reached there Jude asked me to go ahead while he parked the car. I went inside and my heart stopped when my mom turned towards me and said, “Natasha!”
I stopped breathing, afraid that if I moved this moment would be gone and mom would forget who I was.
The head matron turned to me and smiled, “I was about to call you, she is having another lucid moment. You are really lucky Natasha!” I stepped forward, not trusting myself to speak s my throat constricted with tears. I went forward and hugged her.
“Mom!”
“Oh my baby, you have grown up into such a beautiful young lady!”
she stared at me while I drank in every detail of hers greedily.
“Momma do you know why you are here?”
She nodded and smiled sadly, “I know baby. I am so sorry you have to go through so much alone”
“Don’t be, I am alright. Infact I am getting married soon!” I had to say it to reassure my mother. As if on cue Jude walked in with his arms laden with a huge basket that had a lot of gift wrapped things in it. I looked up at him in confusion.
“Mom this is Jude my fiancé”
My mom looked at him appreciatively and said, “he is handsome Nats!”
“Jude’s eyes widened in surprise, “Is she- does she remember you?”
“Yes my dear I am having a lucid moment”
“Oh. Well we got you some things!”
My mom looked as delighted as a child would when it was presented with a lot of presents on his birthday.
“For me?”
“Yep”
I looked at Jude completely speechless. So this is what he had been
upto when he had left this afternoon.
He kept the humongous basket in front of while handing her separate basket that had an assortment of chocolates and cakes. I could see a lot of marshmallows. My mom squealed like a child and tore open a packet and offered some to Jude and I. she then opened another bag to see two tubs of chocolate chip ice cream.
I looked over her head at Jude and mouthed ‘thank you.’
He shrugged it off and encouraged my mom to open her gifts. There were atleast a dozen romance novels and painting books. There was a huge set of paints and paint brushes of different sizes. There was a set of pencils and eraser and sharpners.
There were also a few embroidery books and different threads and needles along with cloths of different colors. My mom was ecstatic! She kept everything aside and exclaimed, “Its lovely! Oh God it’s so lovely! Thank you so much Jude!” my mom pulled him into a tight hug and kissed him on the forehead.
“You’re welcome mom!”
I beamed at him; he had just called my mom ‘mom.’ I wanted to grab him right there and kiss him senseless. My mom and he kept chattering about our wedding plans. Mom had a dozens of questions to ask him.
He answered them all patiently. We had been sitting there for almost 2 hours. “You take care of my daughter Jude.”
“I will mom”
“Ok call the head matron, I want to share with the rest”
“Oh you don’t need to. I bought some stuff for everyone!”
Mom turned to me and said, “He’s a keeper Natasha, don’t you let go of him!”
Before I could speak up Jude did, “don’t worry I won’t let go of her” and he smiled at me. I felt warm all over and I smiled back. My mom hugged us both and kissed us both on our forehead. Then she felt tired and she wanted to lie down. Soon she was asleep. I started crying knowing that there was a tremendous possibility that that when she would wake up she would not remember me.