Hearts Like Yours

Walking into the pub, I nodded a hello to the barkeep and sat down on a stool. As the man went to pour me a drink, I decline.

"Not tonight." I told him with a smile.

As the minutes passed, more people from the streets poured in. Not a single one of them the one I was looking for.

After an hour and a half passed, I started giving up hope on her coming and almost ordered a pint. Before I could get the barkeeps attention, someone called me.

"Matt!" I looked over to the door and saw Genna rushing in. "I am so sorry! I accidentally gave the cab driver the wrong address and there was a lot of traffic." She told me, out of breath.

I let a smile take over my face as I shook my head. "It's perfectly fine. I've got nothing better to do." I shrugged it off.

Genna grinned. "Are we staying here or..?"

"Oh!" I looked around the pub and suddenly became bored with the interior I had seen a thousand times before. "Let's not. Let's go out. Somewhere new. A restaurant? There are tons on main street."

Genna giggled and nodded, seeming to delight in the way I read off ideas as soon as they came into my head.

She nodded in agreement. "Yes! Let's do that."

I led her out the doors of the pub and into the chilly London night. We walked next to each other down the streets till we arrived on main street. I pointed out some of my favorite restaurants on the street to let her decide.

After a few minutes of thinking it over, Genna decided on a small Italian restaurant.

I opened the door to let her walk in, a huge smile plastered on my face out of pure happiness.

As we were being seated, the only thought in my mind was how refreshing this all was. The first night in months that I wasn't at the pub drinking problems away. This atmosphere was happy and simple, and I was overcome with such joy that Genna started looking at me strange.

"Are you alright?" She asked slowly.

I nodded and had to keep the smile from overtaking my face. "Perfect."

"Sorry if you thought I stood you up, I hate being late like that."

"Only for a little bit." I told her truthfully.

Genna nodded and said sorry again before looking over the menu. We both ordered pasta platters, then after eating and paying, went back out to main street.

"I really want to buy some decorative stuff for my apartment. It's completely blank and I hate it. Let's go in here!" Genna pointed to a knick knack kind of store, so of course we went in.

After looking around for a few hours, Genna had purchased some old-fashioned frames, a few signs, and a teapot set.

I helped her get her stuff out of the shop as she hailed herself a cab.

"Are you sure you don't want to share?" She asked as a cab stopped.

I shook my head with a small smile. "That's fine, I'll walk." I told her and put her things in the backseat of the cab.

"Well, thank you for an awesome night." She grinned brightly, and before getting into the cab, she stood on her toes to plant a kiss on my cheek.

I could no longer hide back my smile as I waved her goodbye and she disappeared into the streets of London.

I walked a few streets down from main street before allowing myself to do a little dance. For once in a long time, I had done something right.