The Stranger on the Train

Chaper 23: First date

"Well, I thought I'd surprise you today." Scar says, her eyes sparkling with something that I can't quite recognize yet.

"You did surprise me, so well done." I laugh a little while purring her coffee into a cup and adding milk and a bit sugar, just as she likes it.

"I'm also here because I wanted to have a little chat with you." She lets me in on her thoughts and I raise an eyebrow, usure what to think about that. I mean, it could be a good chat but also a bad one.

"Okay, sure. Let me just see when I can come over to your table." I say, giving her a small nod to assure her I will find that time. She smiles at me before strolling over to her usual table.
My eyes stay on her as she pulls out her phone and starts typing something while sipping her coffee.

"What did she say?" Jesse asks, appearing next to me and giggling when I slightly jump, not having noticed him.

"She wants to have a little chat." I say and lean my elbows onto the counter, resting my hand in my palm. Jesse mirrors my position and shortly looks at Scar before looking back at me.

"Did she seem upset?" He asks and I shake my head. No, she seemed pretty happy actually.

"Well, then I don't think you have to worry about it. Maybe she just wants to catch up since you said yourself that you haven't really spent a lot of time with her recently." Jesse thinks out loud, making my worries shrink.

"Maybe." I agree.

"Well, then go over, talk to her. There's nothing to do right now anyway, so you can just-" He stops himself and I turn my head a little to see why.

A small sigh escapes me and I stand up properly, greeting the first elderly woman. Jesse gives me an apologetic look, as if it's his fault, that the weekly elderly-coffee-gossip-club decided to come in now.
That's not their official name, if they even have one but we called them that because they are a bunch of elderly women and when they have their coffees they sit at a table and whenever we walk around the store, we can here them gossip.

It takes a while until everyone has their coffee and we watch them sit down.

"Now you can go." Jesse encourages me and taps my elbow with his, signaling me to go over to Scar.
I do so and sit down next to her, her eyes following my movements as soon as she notices me approaching her.

"Hey." I greet and her eyes soften.

"Hey." She greets back and reaches for my hand under the table. I intertwine our fingers and give her hand a little squeeze.

"Sorry, it got busy right after you sat down." I explain why I'm only coming now, as if she didn't see it herself. She shakes her head lightly.

"It's all good, don't worry." She assures me and gives me a smile, that I easily return.

"You wanted to chat?" I ask, searching her eyes for a potential clue what this might be about.

"Yes, I wanted to ask you something, to be precise." She explains and I feel her getting a little nervous, wondering what this could be about.

"Sure, go ahead." I say and give her an encouraging smile.

"Do you work longer tomorrow? You know, at the aquarium?" She asks and I am confused for a second why this made her nervous.

"No, I don't. Why?" I ask and her cheeks turn slightly pink but she nods.

"I wanted to ask you out, so...would you like to go on a date tomorrow night?"

I just stare at her for a few seconds. For some reason this was the last thing I expected. Not because it's something bad, not at all. It's just, that she was so unsure about what exactly she feels and everything, so I assumed I would be the first one to ask for a date but apparently not.