Theory of Relativity

The hands of his watch told him it was a few minutes past two. Isn’t she done with class yet? He looks out the window expectantly. No one. He turned back to his Physics teacher. “Einstein’s Theory of Relativity states....” He liked physics, a lot. But now, he could not concentrate. He was waiting for her. Every Tuesday and Friday during the second slot after lunch, she walked past his classroom on the way to the labs. Her half laugh, her eyes, her hair. That moment defined his entire day. 

Slowly the first of them trooped past, talking and laughing. Uniforms and faces filed past the window. She wasn’t there. He threw caution to the winds and turned around to look. Her friends walked past. She was nowhere to be seen. Did I miss her? He bit the end of his pen as he watched the stragglers hurry to catch up. He looked back at the teacher disappointed.

“...When you sit on a hot stove for two seconds, it feels like an hour. When you sit with a beautiful woman for an hour, it seems like two seconds...” Everyone laughed. He tugged at his tie and added one more doodle to his page. Suddenly his partner nudged him - a blur of white outside the window! He turned around again. False alarm, just the peon. Suddenly something hit him on his head. The duster. The class laughed again, now at him. “Hari, I’m standing here. Not outside the window. Pay attention in class.” 

 He ducked under the table to pick up the duster, dodging sly comments. He came back up to see her standing outside the window, looking at him, giggling. Their eyes met. She smiled and slowly glided away. He looked down at the duster, a smile playing on his lips. Einstein was wrong. That felt like eternity.