Waiting for the Moment

There's an anxious wait in a coffee shop

He twiddled his thumbs, though as he did so he realised people never twiddled their thumbs. It was such an unnatural thing, to sit there with hands clenched and thumbs revolving around each other. The sweat covering his hands felt gluggy and warm, and he quickly wiped them on his pants. Nerves cascaded like a tornado inside of him and he couldn't be sure he wouldn't need to rush to the bathroom soon. 

"Are you ready for a drink?"

He dragged his eyes from downwards to look up at the waitress standing next to him.

"Not just yet, I'm waiting for someone." He smiled, but it may have turned out more like a sluggish frown.

"No problem."

"Can I get some water though?"

The young girl smiled, a proper smile, and moved away. 

He would never have chosen this cafe to go to, the coffee was terrible, but this was the place he needed to be in.

The girl returned with two glasses of water and put one in front of him. 

"Thanks."

His hand shook as he gripped the glass, and slowly took a single, small sip. He couldn't even trust his stomach to handle more. 

With fear and anticipation his eyes moved across the cafe, trying to find something to distract and calm his nerves just for a second. The paint on the wall needed another touch up; the pastel peach that had once been popular was now a discoloured pink that was better in a dentists office than on the cafe walls. The photos too needed an update, their iconic pictures of the city now old and wrinkled. He could think of half a dozen ways to make the cafe a little more top-notch.

That however, was not what he was there for, and he was suddenly plunged back into his state of nerves. Sticking his hands in his jacket pockets he was reassured for a moment, but he knew that the hardest part was still to come.

Keeping one hand in his pocket for reassurance, he brought the glass of water to his lips again, and tried not to spill it out of his jittery hand. Everything was going to change soon, and he was hopelessly terrified.

"Hey, there you are, look at this place it hasn't changed a day."

He hadn't noticed her come in, his mind too focussed on the nerves that had finally reached its pinnacle in his body.

Just like always, she was still talking on with a smile. "I remember our first date here, gosh wasn't that the day aye?"

Her face suddenly paused in shock. "Aye?"

He had brought himself shaking out of the chair and onto his knees, the small box coming out of his pocket at last.

"Will you marry me?"

Every nerve and fear had been building to this moment where there was silence between them, his question hanging in the air as he waited for the answer to his fate.

"In a heartbeat." 

She pulled him up and into her arms, the nerves finally leaving his body in a great wave of calm. This was all he wanted, to be able to hold her forever, and now finally, he could do that.