A New Maybe

Anxious Meeting

Warnings: None

He's nervous.  No, that'd be an understatement, he's having a partial mental breakdown.  There, that's better...Anyway...

Bucky is pacing his room, his stomach twisting into knots as he fixes back his hair again and tugs at the neck of his shirt.  The heavy weight of anxiety sews into his back leaving him rigid as it threads its way around his chest.  When he gets a glance of himself in the mirror, he stutters, "I should wear a different shirt."

Sam shakes his head and jumps off his seat on the edge of Bucky's bed and grips the man's shoulder, "No, you look fine, just chill a moment.  You're meeting her daughter, not her freaking parents, take a breath, you'll be fine."

Bucky groans inwardly and starts pacing again, "That's the problem, I'm meeting her daughter, someone Anna shares her entire life with, someone that could very well hate me and Anna could simply say 'nope, she doesn't like you, you're out'," Bucky rants and Sam tries to interject but he continues, "And if things go to plan, I'm going to be like a father to her, and I want her to have a good impression of me, y'know?"

Sam sighs, "Look, everything is going to work out.  Y.n is going to love you, I mean, it'll take a while, but you'll be fine.  Just push past the initial awkwardness, break the ice.  Show her that you are going to love her as well as her mom.  Let her know you care about her interests, but for the love of everything good, don't ask about her school.  There isn't a kid on the planet that likes that conversation."

Bucky sighs and rubs his hands over his face, nodding as a thread coils around his abdomen and tightens.  His shaky hands grab his leather jacket and shrugs it over his shoulders, breathing heavily as he attempts giving himself a pep-talk, one that he hopes has a delayed reaction and will give him the courage he needs to finally meet you.

It has been three weeks since Anna had told you about the relationship between the two of them.  Three weeks of wondering how you are taking it and whether or not you are already hating him, which he knows sounds a bit crazy, but still.  He guesses he's asked Anna a few too many times how you were taking the new dynamic because a few days ago she suggested that he could meet you if he wanted, which is why he is in the situation he is now.  Nervously driving down the roads with the music on, paying more attention to traffic than normal in hopes of ignoring the swelling knots in his stomach.

When he pulls into the small parking lot of the pizza place Anna had told him to meet her at, he has to force himself to release the breath that has been trapped in his lungs for a bit too long and parks the car.  He steps out and takes in the front of the building, it is small and has an older twinge to it, some of the bricks cracking and falling apart, yet it still looks well maintained.  He catches a whiff of the flowers that color the side of the building that sit in front of the large windows, passing a few outside tables before he opens the front door and walks inside. 

The mixture of basil and tomato, crusted cheese and yeast hits his nose and he smiles, and for a moment, the nerves twisting his gut settle.  However, he is quickly reminded about his purpose for being there when his phone buzzes in his back pocket and he scrambles for it as a waitress pops up with a menu folded under her arm.

"How many?" she asks simply and Bucky perks up.

"Oh, um, three, my girlfriend and her daughter are coming in a bit," he stutters out, and the woman nods, grabbing a couple more menus and takes him to his table, telling him she will be back in a bit for his order. 

He unlocks his phone and quickly taps his messages, a mixture of excitement and anxiety pulling at his chest at the sight of Anna's text.

Anna, 5:21 pm: we are on our way, should be there in about ten minutes.
Bucky, 5:24 pm: I'm here, waitress sat us in the back near the old photos.
...
Anna, 5:33 pm: We are here.