Thursday, October 2, 2014

No longer valid

They ate more than they went on specific romantic dates.

Between plates of pita and hummus, cheddar cheese and sometimes chocolate chip waffles, glasses of peach iced tea, pavlova or crème brûlée, three cheese and olive wraps, chicken sandwiches and chocolate mousse cakes, they spoke. Of sitcoms, work, food, sex and writing. Of other people at work, of bosses who came and went and of people they both hated. Their days of dating came to an abrupt end like the time when they found a cockroach in a plate of French fries: unexpected and too disappointed to continue.

Just like the food they consumed, relationships too have an expiry date; a date beyond which conversation and companionship becomes stale and unpalatable. Have you had milk beyond it's date? It's sour and curdled. Or cheese, perhaps? It smells, doesn't it?

Relationships are no different, except, maybe the smells vary. If it's not the conversation you run out of, it's the attraction and attachment: one person gets too close for comfort and expresses a desire to take things forward while the other had viewed this as a stopgap all along. Or the other person is 'confused' at what this has become or will become in the near future, and is afraid to venture into the realms of endless possibilities the companionship may offer. In short, everything comes to an end, whether forced or not.

So what's the solution here? Is there a solution at all? Perhaps not. But as one enjoys the company, comfort and the fleeting love that food offers, relationships are quite similar in nature: ephemeral and warm.