soulmates. ― chandler bing

― 30 | LOVEBIRDS

HE WAS SO CLOSE, like so close. I had the feeling when the word "romantic" had left my mouth, he had moved another few inches closer. It had been his eyes this time, that lighten up. I could see the reflection of myself in his eyes, which was a shame since i would have preferred losing myself in those blue eyes. My heart was racing. It was hot and cold at the same time. I was close to tearing but again, just because I got to look at him like that. The smile I had on my lips grew bigger and bigger, and the only thing I felt was happiness. He as well smiled down on me. I am not sure for how long we stood there, five inches apart, just looking into each others eyes.

          It must have been over five minutes, because I heard our train coming into the station. It felt like seconds ago, when the time table had said seven minutes. Apparently I had gotten lost in his eyes. And he in mine. I did not stop looking at him, until a lady wanted to get into the train, which doors we blocked, "Excuse me, lovebirds, but I have to get this one!" My cheeks turned bright red. It was an older lady, who then walked past Chandler and smiled at me for a moment. My eyes jumped from her back to Chandler. "Tha.. that is our train as well!", I had to clear my throat to speak properly. He turned around to take a look at the time table again. As he turned back, he whispered, "I could do this another four minutes." I didn't even know what to say. 

         I got all my grip together and took his hand, just to pull him after me to the next bench. When we had sat down, I let go of it. My hand tingled, it felt like thousands of ants were on it. The moment I had let go of his hand, I wanted to hold it again. I cleared my throat again and whispered, "Thank you for this day." He looked at me and grinned, "Eve, this day is not over yet. Who knows what might surprise us today." I chuckled, "Now that sounds mysterious. If I get a cake at I Sodi, I do not want someone to jump out of it." He rolled his eyes sarcastically. "You've ruined my whole plan." At this moment our train entered the station once again and this time we even entered the train.

✥

WE GOT OUT of the B train at the West 4 Street Station, which was Washington Square. I was still very new to New York, so I was glad I had him knowing where to go. But so much for that, as soon as we got out of the station, Chandler exclaimed, "God, I'm so stupid, we could have taken the 1 train. Then we wouldn't have to go these extra 400 metres." I couldn't believe my ears. "Chandler, you are not stupid. We are not that old, we can easily walk those ten minutes." He smiled at me and continued our conversation about The Chew. I already knew he wouldn't let go of this topic for the couple of hours, but it was worth it seeing his eyes sparkle like that. 

          "Look! We're here!", he pointed at the glass door, that said I Sodi. He took a step past me and opened the door and took a little bow, "My lady?" I chuckled and pretended to take a little bow as well with a dress in my hands, "What a gentleman." We walked in and halted abruptly. A waitress already walked up to us quickly, "I'm so sorry, we do not have any free table right now." I took a little step back without even noticing, "Oh.."  Unlike me, Chandler handled the situation, "When do you think will there be a free table for two?" The waitress looked around. "If you come back in thirty minutes I am sure there will be one." She smiled at us, "Would that be alright?" I looked up to Chandler, who nodded keen. "All I need is a name, so I can reserve the next free table for you two!" Chandler gave her name to write down, we thanked her and left the restaurant.

          The cold, fresh air hit me a little unexpected, so I kind of stood there for a second, just breathing. "You know, you didn't have to do that?", I said after a few moments. "Do what?", he asked visibly confused. I looked at the ground. "Get us a table. I understand, if you want to go home. We live like two minutes from here, it would be understandable, if you'd rather eat there than waiting for a table now. Plus, you're even more tired than I am, and it's been a long day an–" Chandler took a step closer, so I had to look at him. "Woah, woah, woah. Evelyn, please stop. I got us a table, because I want to spend the rest of the night with you. I want to have dinner with you. If I wanted to go home, I would have gone home. But Eve, I am here with you and I enjoy every second of it. Maybe I am tired, but I am very, very far away from being tired of you. I don't know any reason why I would want to go home. Okay?" I looked him in the eyes. You could tell how serious he was right now. I don't know why, but it felt so good to hear that. He was here with me. And only with me. I couldn't stop myself and hugged him tightly. "Thank you..", I whispered into his jacket. After a second of shock, he hugged me back. I felt a warmth, I never wanted to let go of again.

         "It's my pleasure. Now come on, we have half an hour to explore our neighbourhood", Chandler smiled and kind of held my hand with two fingers. It kept that warmth in me. It was the best feeling. I let this feeling sink in, letting Chandler guide me. We crossed a street and another and another, without even talking. Just walking, really close to each other, enjoying the moment. Suddenly and putting me out of my trance, we halted. "We're here!", Chandler announced excited. "We're where?", I asked looking around confused. "I walk past this shop every day, for more than five years now. I kind of felt drawn to it, for no reason at all. And I think today is the day I will finally walk in." He threw his left hand, the one i was not holding onto, in the air and pointed at a small sign, I hadn't even spotted yet. "Psychic Consulting, specialized on Palm Reading!", I read out loud. "That's the shop, you've wanted to go in the past five years?" Chandler nodded excited and grinned like a little kid. I raised my eyebrows, grinned back at him and said, "Let's do it!"