If, like me, you walk around in your own wee world, you have probably never witnessed true love; I just have.
I was having one of my usual, stressful days in work, so I decided to treat myself to something other than a vending machine delight from the tea room. I skipped a meeting and went out for coffee and that is where I saw true love.
I ordered my drink and took a seat, right at the back of the coffee house directly opposite the entrance, where I could see everyone coming and going. I love people watching and that is always the ideal spot; I have such fun making up stories about people.
Today was no different, until this couple arrived. Actually, at first I wouldn’t have said they were a couple. I mean, they were clearly the best of friends, but at first glimpse there’s no way I’d have put them together. He was quite tall, with dark hair and black frame glasses; come to think of it, the girl had black framed glasses on as well, but I guess that’s nothing extraordinary.
Anyway, so, tall, dark hair, glasses and a really cute face. He was clean shaven and dressed really nicely in casual jeans and a pair of blue Converse; love Converse! He was a fair bit bigger than the girl, in height and general size really; she was titchy though.
Her blonde hair was bobbed and her black rimmed glasses sat on a pretty enough face. She was thin and had on dark clothes, including a good pair of black skinny leg jeans and, if I’m not mistaken, fake Converse.
So, there they were in the queue, laughing and smiling, just messing about really with the occasional touch on the arm or back or face, nothing sexual though. Even after they got their tea and sandwiches they simply looked like mates out for lunch and so I was about to look away to find other interesting folk. That’s when it happened.
The girl stretched her legs out under the table and the fella put his legs either side of hers and squeezed. Well, I could barely contain my surprise; there I was about to shift my gaze to an old couple by the window, but instead I couldn’t tear my eyes away; it was all too intriguing.
As the girl poured the tea from her dribbling tea pot the lad began to talk and open his sandwiches; 3 bites later and the first quarter of his sarnie had disappeared. She sipped at her tea and opened a bag of crisps as he continued to talk about something quite serious, if the look on their faces was anything to go by.
Twenty minutes or so passed and in between sentences they polished off the sandwiches, drank their tea and ate the crisps. There was a time when I would’ve got bored of this sort of thing, but I found myself hooked as they continued talking. I have no idea what he was saying, but every now and then her eyes dropped from his and she pushed his hands away from holding and stroking her arms.
The coffee house seemed to dissolve around me at that point, as I got totally sucked into watching their world. Their story to me was quite clear, even though I couldn’t hear them; I didn’t have to make it up. They were the best of friends, that was plain for all to see, but looking closer like I did and it was possible to see true love. It was clearly tinged by sadness, but their love was there, pure and unstoppable.
I left the coffee shop shortly after they did and I did not see where they went. I only hope that they went off together, as it was clear to me that they were meant to be and that can’t be said very often.
copyright © Andi Dawson
