A Conversation Without Words

Valentine's Day is ridiculous. Hearts are not shaped like real hearts (though to be fair they never really are). People do not need a special someone for their day to be fun (couples may get a teddy bear or flowers but one of those is useless and the other dies within the week. Why don't they just buy themselves chocolate? The non-valentine chocolate is always cheaper anyways). There are also always those people who feel the need to bash the holiday just because they don't have a significant other (but unsurprisingly once these people find someone their opinion on the holiday changes immensely).

So. Again. Valentine's Day is ridiculous.

Cafés always have such a calming clarity to them. No one talks too loud; everyone converses quietly as they just enjoy each other's company or catch up with someone they haven't seen lately. They have decent snacks to nibble on as you talk. Warm drinks keep your fingers from freezing on cold winter days. It's just a nice escape sometimes. Outside is too loud to offer any kind of serenity. Here there are enough people that it's not lonely; there also aren't so many that you feel like you're drowning in sweaty bodies and ill-spoken words.

She sat in one of these little cafés she happened to stumble into. It was tucked into a little side-street a few miles from her place. They were everywhere in that town.

She knew of many hidden cafés around there. Most days she'd just walk the streets for hours, wandering wherever her feet decided to take her. Some days she'd step out onto the sidewalk and turn left; other days she would turn right. Her feet had never failed to lead her someplace wonderful before.

Today she had gone left. Obviously there was a reason for this or her feet wouldn't have guided her in that direction.

Excitement coursed through her whenever her feet hit that sidewalk. She skipped over the cracks, petty superstitions nipping the back of her mind. Hands stuffed into pockets, she waltzed through the city, the life of it pulsing through her veins.

As she sat in this plain, insignificant café during a ridiculous holiday, drinking her simple hot chocolate, a man approached her. He smiled warmly at her, gesturing at the chair across from her, an eyebrow arched in question. May I?

She shrugged, flexing her ringless fingers around her steaming cup. Be my guest.

He smiled wider, nodding. Thank you.

She nodded in return. Welcome.

Neither had even said a word at this point. They conversed surprisingly well without them.

To keep up the game they seemed to be playing, he pointed at her with an arched eyebrow and pursed his lips as if kissing someone. It came with the slightly wet smooch! attached. Got a valentine?

She grinned. How unusual.

Her head shook back and forth minutely. No.

She pointed at him, one eyebrow arching. Eyebrow raising apparently indicated a question in this game they were playing. You?

Another shake of a head, a small grin accompanying it. Nope.

Neither of the two had ever suspected body language could show so much personality.

A heart appeared, made from his hands. One side curved higher than the other and his fingers seemed clumsy and almost out of his control as he made the shape. He raised it up to his eye, looked through it, then pointed at himself and then at her. An eyebrow raised. Love at first sight?

She rolled her eyes. You've got to be kidding me.

He grinned boyishly. Nope.

A bewildered look on her face, she shook her head. No way.

He shrugged again, a nonchalant, understanding expression across his face. Okay. Fine by me.

Extraordinary, they were. No words. Their bodies just seemed tuned to each other. It was inexplicable, really, the way they interacted.

They "talked" for close to an hour, using nothing but hand signals and facial expressions. It got easier after the first ten minutes, the both of them growing accustomed to the other's movements.

A single finger held up. Wait a minute.

Pointing to the front counter, an eyebrow raised, at the displays of wafers and cheesecakes and pastries that had names that were too fancy for what they were. Want anything?

A shake of a head paired with a small smile. No, thank you.

A wallet retrieved with a finger pointed at himself. I'll buy.

A miniscule smile and a visual battle between yes and no, her heading leaning back and forth, swaying on her shoulders. Maybe...

A large sweep of the arm over the display case and a finger pointed back at himself. Anything you want. Anything, and it's on me.

A shy smile and a nod of her head later and she was standing next to the goodies, pointing at a tasty looking cream puff.

He bowed. Anything for my lady.

She curtsied. Why, thank you, sir.

Lots of giggles and laughs later and the café was closing. So much time spent communicating in such a unique way definitely made the minutes tick by faster.

Neither of them knew really anything about the other. Their conversations consisted mostly of petty small talk - the weather, how they were, that sort of thing. Usually those topics were enough to bore the conversing pair to death, but the way they talked about it made it so, so interesting.

Names weren't known, and that was okay. They got along just fine without them.

Valentine's Day is still ridiculous with its sickly sweet endearments and silly pink and red gifts all wrapped up in pink and red (not-at-all-accurate) heart paper; and the mentally unstable couples that decide distance between two people is overrated don't help its case.

Yet the holiday decidedly isn't all that bad if you spend it in a plain, insignificant café with a nice, simple hot chocolate and perhaps even a person willing to spend their time conversing without words.