Lucas looked down at his watch for the fourth time. She was thirty minutes late. It was an excusable period of lateness, one that was believable. Yet as he saw the minute hand pointing down at six, he let out a sigh, his shoulders slumping. He sat the bundle of flowers he brought with him on the bench, and checked Twitter. Facebook. Tumblr, Tinder, and all his other social media.
Each service met him with zero notifications. Her last message had arrived that morning, shortly before he went to work. And now, here he was, alone in the park at night, waiting on a woman he'd only seen face shots of. He checked her profile, finding each with a check-in time of a few hours ago. Shortly after her last message.
He felt his stomach flop, and turned his phone away, putting it on his thigh. He let out another sigh, and rubbed his eyes. It could be a prank. It could be a psycho wanting to murder him though, too. But as he racked his mind for who precisely would want to do this to him, Lucas found himself drawing a blank. He clasped his hand over his mouth, scratching his freshly shaved stubble as he flipped his phone back over to find a single notification.
A DM, on twitter. Swallowing and keying in his password quickly, Lucas logged into the app and saw that Willow had sent him something. He pulled the message up, and read it:
OMW. Got slightly tied up, but okay now. U @ Park Still?
He stared at the words a moment, exhaling through his nose as he gripped the phone with both hands and typed.
Yeah. You okay? Got worried when I didn't see you here.
Less than a few seconds passed before another message popped up on the screen.
Yeah, I'm okay. In the park. Lucas, I should warn you. I might not be what you're expecting. I hope that's okay.
Lucas raised an eyebrow, and leaned back against the park bench. He lifted his eyes and looked out at the horizon, then at the gate of the park. The wind rustled the trees over head, and his nostrils flared as he found the park empty. He typed.
Where are you? I'm right at the gate. There's nobody here. I'm sitting on the first bench as you come in.
He regarded the flowers by his side. It was the first he'd ever bought for anyone other than family. And even then, the only he'd bought with emotion. The rest had been purchased as comfort for the dying and infirmed.
His phone lit up as another message arrived in his Dms.
I'm behind you. Lucas, brace yourself okay? Don't turn around until I tell you to.
His spine went rigid as he read the words. He lowered his phone onto his thigh, and stared dead ahead. Behind him, he heard a tree sway, and the sound of footsteps descending onto the grass. But there wasn't just two-there were several, followed by an absolutely deafening silence. He cleared his throat, and focused on the gate.
"Willow? Is uh...is that you?"
Someone cleared their throat behind him. He felt his muscles urge him to turn, but he kept his eyes on the iron fence in front of him. How the hell had she got past him?
"...yeah, it's me. Lucas, you...you really care about me right?"
Every muscle in his back tensed, but heard the beat of his heart right against his ear drums as she spoke. So she was real after all. He wiped the sweat from his brow, and took a deep breath.
"I do. Very much, Willow. You're...well, you're the first person I've ever felt this way about. So if this is some kind of scam or something, just tell me now. I'll get up and walk away. You can even keep the flowers."
