Half Girlfriend

‘Have you been in love before?’
‘No.’
‘So how do you know it’s love?'
Her confusing words left me tongue-tied.
‘How do you know it’s not?’ I said after half a minute.
‘I know it is not, We are both too young, inexperienced but
curious. Sure, we like each other. But love? Please.’
'Riya, you have no idea how much you mean to me. I would do
anything for you. Anything,’ I said.
Our eyes locked. For a few seconds, even the articulate Miss Riya
Somani didn’t have words.
‘Madhav, you mean a lot to me too. But...'
‘But what?’
‘I am not sure if I want a relationship right now. With anyone.’
How does one answer that? I had no idea.
‘I don’t mean that much to you then,’ I said.
‘We hang out all the time. Aren’t we almost a couple?’
‘So what’s wrong with the next step?’
The bell rang for class. We stood up to leave.
‘What’s the next step, Madhav?’ she said, as we walked towards
class.
I scratched my head to think of an answer.
‘Become my girlfriend.’
‘Oh. And what does that involve? Getting physical?’
‘Maybe. That’s often part of it.’
She smiled and shook her head in an all-knowing manner.
We stopped as we reached our respective classrooms.
‘Please, Riya,’ I said. 'Please be my girlfriend.’
‘Is this a proposal?’ she said.
‘If that’s how you see it.’
‘I’ll think about it.’
‘You’ll tell me after class?’
She grabbed my shoulders and turned me towards my classroom, *