Jolly Good

Eyes, they were all staring at her. She had felt it as soon as she walked to the middle of the coffee shop. She stood there with her arms pressed against her sides as her fingers fidgeted with each other and the hem of her sun dress. Her head was down and her eyes were closed, but she had still felt every set of eyes watching her from their respective seats in the shop. All probably wondering what this girl with her bright red hair and clothes was going to do. She had counted the breaths she took, 1…2…3. At three she had let out a puff of air as she whispered, "it's now or never."

In that moment she had lifted her head to glance around the small coffee shop, and sure enough, everyone was watching her. With a quick glance over her shoulder she saw the one she had chosen to pull into this mess. His bright blue eyes were staring at her curiously. He raised a brow as if inquiring to what the girl had in mind. Somehow that small gesture gave Ruby the confidence she had needed to pull this ridiculous stunt off. She then looked at the other two girls who had the laptop out, they each gave her a thumbs, which she returned with a wink and a mischievous smile.

The music then began to play.



The lyrics to the famous Billy Joel song had spilled from her lips as she danced around the coffee shop as if it was a stage, her stage. In that moment as all eyes followed her actions, she was glad that she had experience performing in front of scrutinizing eyes, otherwise she probably would not have been able to pull off what she was doing and what she was about to do.

No one seemed to reject this little show of hers, which had made it that much easier for her as she sang and danced around the customers, occasionally stopping to sing to one of them. Then she had done it, she stopped at the blue eyed man's table and held out her hand to him. He hesitated for a split second, but she gave him a reassuring smile that had him grabbing her hand as she lead him to the middle of the floor as the song changed to, It's Not Unusual by Tom Jones. She led him into the silliest dance she had ever done, the Carlton.

As they had danced together in that coffee shop the blue eyed man followed her lead without question, only to branch off on his own every so often to add a little pizazz to the debacle. When the song was over they stood in the spot where they had begun just staring at each other with large smiles on their faces as they attempted to catch their breath. For a moment the shop was silent, then as if on cue everyone clapped and cheered. When they heard how loud the cheering was they both took a look around the room to see that even more patrons had poured in and there was now a line formed at the register.

After having seen what they had done the two looked back at each other. Then just as the blue eyed mystery man was about to speak someone interrupted.

"That was absolutely brilliant," exclaimed a very happy man in a thick French accent.

"Business has never been this good before. Thank you." He took the blue eyed man's hand in his own and shook it vigorously.

"No, thank you for allowing my partner and I to do this," he said as he placed a gentle hand on the older man's shoulder, she assumed he was the owner of the shop.

The older man then turned to Ruby, "and you miss. I'm not sure what possessed you to do such a thing, but you were absolutely magnificent, and they would say in the theater, bravo."

He kissed her cheeks as he thanked them over and over again. Eventually he scurried away to go help his two employees fill the orders they were receiving. The two of them just stood there unsure of what to say to each other. Ruby hadn't really got that far in her plan when she thought of adding someone to the mix. Now there she was standing in front of a man she had never met before, and yet she had danced with him. It was crazy to say the least, but fun nonetheless.

He coughed and looked away, "we should probably move out of the way so that people don't think we're waiting in line."

Ruby hadn't realized it before when he had been speaking to the owner, but the blue eyed man had a beautiful voice with an English accent to top it off. Of course he has an English accept, we are in England after all. She hadn't realized it, but he had grabbed onto her wrist to guide her away from the middle of the coffee shop when she hadn't responded.

"That was amazing Ruby," exclaimed Jessika excitedly to her friend snapping Ruby out of her own mind.

"Oh yes," she said as she sat down in the round booth.

"And you sir, were absolutely brilliant," said Cary as both she and Jessika turned their attention to the blue eyed man.

"Why thank you," he replied kindly.

At that moment Ruby felt all too self-conscious as she looked up to see him watching her the same way he had before she began to dance and sing only moments before.

"Where are your manners Ruby? You haven't even introduced yourself to the poor man that you so rudely pulled into your little stunt," Jessika admonished her friend to which received a glare from the girl in question.

"Ruby," she said as she held out her hand for the man to shake.

"Ruby, like the color of your hair and lips," he said with a wink as he grasped her hand in his and kissed her knuckles gently causing her to turn several shades of red, "and now your face," he chuckled. All the while Cary and Jessika were giggling like a couple of school girls. They stopped however when he turned his attention to them, "and you two ladies?" Ruby gave them a smug look like, 'ha, who's laughing now bitches'.

"Jessika, at your service good sir."

"Cary."

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting such lovely ladies, but I must be off now," he then turned to her, "and you Ms. Ruby, it was a pleasure dancing with you."

Before he was able to walk away from them Jessika added, "What's the rush? If you want to you can sit and chat a bit. Of course, that's if you aren't too busy…," she trailed off.

He seemed to think about it as he glanced quickly at Ruby before looking at Jessika. "Well, I wouldn't to intrude…"

"Oh no intrusion at all, here we'll even make room for you," said Cary all too happily as both she and Jessika scooted over so that they were on one side of the booth, which forced Ruby to scoot further into the round booth to allow him to sit down. "Now sir, you never did tell us your name. That's very rude you know."

"Ah yes, where are my manners? I'm Tom."

"Do you have a last name Tom," inquired Jessika leaning forward with her chin resting in the palm of her hand and her elbow on the table.

"Hiddleston, Tom Hiddleston." When they realized what he had done all of them began to laugh.

Once they had finally calmed down Ruby was the first to speak up as she wiped the tears from her eyes, "that was the best ice breaker I have ever heard. I guess we'll just call you, Agent Hiddleston, then huh?"

"I guess so, and I wasn't even trying to do that," he laughed.

"That makes it even better," Ruby giggled.

For a while they just sat there and chatted the day away. Most of the time Ruby and Tom talked about old black and white movies, and plays and other such things before he had gotten a call on his cell phone.

"Well, it was lovely talking to you ladies, but business calls."

"Alright, it was nice meeting you Tom," said Ruby.

"You too Ruby, bye Cary, Jessika," he said with a nod to both of them.

When they had gotten up Jessika followed Tom to the door. "Hey Tom, those two have never been to London before and I'm still new here myself, it would mean a lot if maybe one day you could show us around, yes?"

"Sure, sounds like a plan to me." Once they had exchanged numbers he added, "I'll let you know when a good day is for me." With that, he left and Jessika waltzed back over to the table with a smirk.

Ruby was the first to speak up, "what was that all about?"

"Oh, nothing."