Drabble:133
"They look cute together, don't they?", Annie's hushed whisper made Billy look away from the clogged pipe he'd been studying.
"Who?", he asked in his gravelly voice, wondering whom his dotty wife could have been talking about.
"Them.", she subtlely pointed to a corner of the café she'd spent the last 30 years working in. A couple was seated in a cubicle, talking with their heads buried together. "They come here almost every Sunday morning and sit in the corner and cuddle."
"Cuddle?", Bill asked in alarm, thinking of what that word might entail.
"Nothing indecent, Billy. They hold hands and whisper together. Look!", she nudged him excitedly, making sure he had a view of the young man reaching across the table and clasping his partner's hand before kissing her knuckles.
"She always leans against his shoulder that way, and he always buys her two doughnuts-to-go. It's so cute.", Annie gushed dreamily.
"Hmpf! It doesn't look cute.", Bill grumbled, anxious to get back to his pipe. "She looks like a college-kid and he looks like someone who should be getting himself a wife, not frolicking with that young thing. For all we know, he's cheating on some stowed-away wife with that poor duckling."
"No, Billy.", Annie shook her head vehemently, concern and determination settling all over her plump features. "See how he looks at her, like she's his entire world. And she seems very sure of him, I've talked to them and they seem very nice….it just can't be."
Billy decided to let her stick with her romantic notions, and diverted her attention instead. "Don't you have a shop to run, Annie?"
"Don't you have a sink to fix?", his wife teased. "Or should I call in that cute-as-a-button plumber?"
"I'm perfectly capable of fixing it! I've been fixing them for you for decades now.", Billy huffed, muttering a few choice words about that plumber. "You go serve your guests and leave me to it."
With a smile, Annie did just that.
"God, I missed you this week! I couldn't wait to come home and spend the weekend with you.", Rose gushed, finishing her hot-beverage.
"I love you.", Dimitri replied with a smile, kissing her head.
Before Rose could reply, the café owner approached them with a friendly smile. "Need anything, dearies?"
"Nothing, Mrs Tanner. We're good here. Is your arthritis causing you pain?", Rose asked good-naturedly, scooting closer to her beau, so the old lay could settle into their cozy booth.
"Not too much, honey, and especially not as much as my Billy.", Annie Tanner sighed, looking at her husband bending behind the kitchen sink.
"Should I help him?", Dimitri asked, eyeing the old man thoughtfully.
"No, dear. The man takes tremendous pride in fixing things around the place. Let him have his fun."
"Dimitri's the same way. He fixed all the furniture in our apartment himself.", Rose replied with a smile.
"You painted the walls, Roza.", Dimitri retorted.
"We painted the walls."
"Billy and I painted this whole café ourselves when it opened.", Annie shared, getting a far-off look in her eyes. "Brush by brush, and board by board, about thirty years ago. But we're old now-"
"Still so in love.", Rose smiled. "I want that."
"And you will have it, dearie. Just don't let this one get away, he seems like a keeper.", Annie winked at the beautiful girl.
"I won't, trust me.", Rose winked back.
"Don't I get any say in this?", Dimitri teased.
"No", both women said together and laughed before Annie left the young couple to get lost in each other again.
"You know who they reminds me of, Billy?", Annie asked later, watching the brown-haired couple leave.
"Us, all those years ago?", Billy guessed wryly, watching his wife's favorite customers leave hand-in-hand. "But at least the boy looks like he knows she's got him wrapped around her pretty fingers. I was blindsided. Then again, they do say that love is blind and I love you, Annie girl"
"There's a reason I've kept you around all this time, Billy. And it's not your inability to fix sinks. Now call the plumber before you cause the café to flood again.", Annie ordered, leaving her husband of 31-years with a pat on his arm.
"That was just once! And it was thirty years ago!", Billy's outraged reply followed her as she made fresh rounds around the café, armed with coffee.
This one's for everyone who wanted an RxD piece. I know it isn't exactly a 'Romitri' piece, but this refused to be 'uncharted'. So enjoy this one, coz the next one's all doom and gloom.
Oh, and I'll probably not be able to upload all throughout next week, so it's a double-drabble-update today/tonight :D
Don't forget to review and stay tuned!
Cheers!