Romance College Confessions: with Priya and others

[rajesh93]

 
Scene 4 – Different Paths, Same Street
 
Priya and I have known each other for years, long before we started college. We live just a couple of houses apart on the same street. Our families have been intertwined in the small-town way for as long as I can remember. I’ve always known her as the pretty, popular girl next door. Even though we’re the same age, there was always something a little more “grown-up” about her. Maybe it was the way she carried herself, or the way she moved through life like she already had it all figured out. When I was younger, I never thought too much about her. She was just there, the girl who waved from across the street, the one who smiled politely when our parents chatted at the local store.
 
In the first year of college, I barely spoke to her. Sure, we’d see each other on campus, nodding or exchanging quick hellos, but that was about it. She had her own friends, a circle that radiated confidence and energy, while I... well, I was still figuring things out. I wasn’t the type of guy who stood out, and she, well, she was Priya. Smart, beautiful, and effortlessly surrounded by people who always seemed to crave her attention.
 
I remember one day in that first year, I saw her at the bus stop with her friends. She was laughing, her hair falling in perfect, soft waves, and for a moment, I found myself just standing there, staring, a little too long. When I realized what I was doing, I quickly looked away, feeling like an idiot. There was no way someone like Priya would ever even notice me. She was always out of my league, in a way I couldn’t even begin to explain.
 
But, you know how it goes, things change. College isn’t that much different from high college, except now you don’t have those tight, familiar cliques. You’re thrown into a sea of new faces, new classes, and suddenly, you have to figure out who you’re going to be, where you fit in. Priya and I, somehow, became part of that mix.
 
By the end of the first year, we started talking more. Group projects, lab sessions, random walks to class. It was never anything extraordinary, just the casual, normal exchanges of college friendships. She was always friendly, always warm and easy to talk to, but I never thought she’d see me any differently. I was just the guy from down the street, someone who could be relied on to help with coding or to quietly sit in the back of the class. Not the kind of guy who could compete with, well, anyone she was actually interested in.
 
I guess, looking back, it was my own fault for not saying anything sooner. I never made an effort to let her know how I felt. Priya had her own world, and I had mine. But the more we ended up working together on assignments, walking to class together, the more we saw each other every day, something shifted. It wasn’t sudden, nothing as dramatic as a heart-thumping moment, but gradually, little by little, I started noticing things about her that I hadn’t before.
 
Her laugh, light and effortless, the way her eyes lit up when she talked about something she was passionate about. The way she moved through life, always calm, always graceful, as if nothing could ever really rattle her. I started caring about things I hadn’t before, how she dressed, how she tilted her head when she thought about something, the way she crinkled her nose when she was amused by a bad joke. It sounds trivial, I know, but for me, it felt like I was learning a whole new side of her, one that didn’t exist in the shadow of her beauty or popularity. I started to feel things, and I won’t lie: it was terrifying.
 
But here’s the kicker, she didn’t see me that way. Not even close. To her, I was still just Rahul, the quiet guy who could code a tricky problem or sit next to her in class. The guy who was part of her world but would always remain somewhere in the background, never close enough to be seen. Sure, she was nice to me, but that was it.
 
And that, more than anything, was the hardest part.
 
It was funny, really. We’d known each other for years, shared the same neighborhood, the same street, the same college. But it wasn’t until the second year of college that we really began to talk. And as we did, I started to realize just how much she meant to me. But by then, it was too late. Priya was Priya, smart, popular, and effortlessly beautiful. She could light up a room without even trying. And I? I was just Rahul, the guy she smiled at in passing.
 
She never looked at me the way I looked at her. Not once.
 
It was as if we were always walking down the same street, but on completely different paths. Priya, walking ahead with purpose, always surrounded by people, always glowing with that aura of confidence. And me? I was the one watching from the sidelines, trying to figure out how I’d ever catch up.
 
But maybe that’s how it’s always going to be. Priya, the girl from down the street, the one who could never see me the way I saw her. And me, the guy who’ll always admire her from afar, never really able to bridge the gap between us.