I walk up to her, my hands sweaty, she is sitting there, looking at me expectantly, the way a a girl behind a register always looks when you're coming to pay for something. Only maybe there is just a little more, I fantasized, knowing that it probably wasn't more than a fantasy.

I come up at her, and I say, my hands unconsciously striking through my hair, “Uhm.. strange question.. uhm.. would you, by any chance, like to...”

“Yes.”, she answers immediately without letting me finish.

I stare at her, my mind completely locked up. Torn between my uncertainty and the probable implication of her answer. My thoughts are perfectly in balance, all the little gears in my head are completely frozen and I can't seem to get them to spin again.

Still staring at her, I know that I have to make a conscious decision, just choose one of the options, preferably the positive one, because what else can it be but the positive one. So, to at least say something, I say, “Cool...”, deciding that her “yes” probably really meant “yes”, I ask, “dinner, tonight?”.

“Okay, it's a date.”, she answers. Okay, now I'm scared!

© Mart van de Sanden