My Anxious PenPal | A Prinxiety Story

10

The restaurant they were in was warm, much to Roman's delight. They found a private booth in the back away, from anyone else that was seated, and it let them talk about whatever they pleased without being worried about anyone listening in. They each had water brought to them as they looked at the menus they had, wanting to get that out of the way first so they could talk without being interrupted.

The waiter came back to take their orders a few minutes later once they'd closed and set aside their menus. "What would you lovely couple like this evening?"

Before Roman had the chance to correct her that they were not a couple, Virgil had already begun ordering his dinner before turning to let Roman order. "What would you like, Ro?"

Roman wasn't sure he even remembered at this point. He could swear he was dreaming if it hadn't been for that all too real hug earlier and the small letter still in his pocket. He ordered a small bowl of fettucini alfredo before the waiter took their menus and left.

"I know you have questions, but save them. We'll get to that topic soon. For now, just enjoy the time we have. I'm sitting right in front of you for the first time and I want to relish in the fact that you're here too." Virgil stated, smiling softly at Roman's confused expression before he nodded.

It was then that Roman noticed that Virgil was wearing the watch Roman had gotten him. He'd almost forgotten about it until his eyes landed on Virgil's wrist. "Okay, so explain to me how that works for you. When I read up on it, it said that it was initially made to help ease tremors caused by Parkinson's Disease with its own form of vibrations. How does that help you when it comes to anxiety?"

Virgil smiled and began fiddling with the watch. He hadn't taken it off except to shower and sleep ever since he got it. It became a part of him that he didn't realize he was missing. "Well, it works similar to the Emma Watch that you're talking about. For that one, it emits vibrations to throw off sensory signals to the brain. The person with the tremors could see them, but not feel them." He explained.

"This one is similar but slightly different. When I put it on, the face of the watch has to be pressed against my pulse." He turned his wrist the other way to show the circular face of the watch pressed against the skin. At the movement, the screen lit up with the words 'detecting' on it. "It has to be on my pulse because it can read heartbeats and decide whether or not my anxiety is heightened. It's reading it right now, which is why it says detecting. It's detecting a pulse. If my anxiety is heightened, it'll do one of two things. If it's bad, it'll start vibrating to help calm me down. Vibrations and listening to people talk help a lot in attacks, the same thing with rubbing circles into my palm with your thumb. I'm not sure why, something about the nerves." He shrugged.

"If my hands are shaking, it'll move a mechanism it has to land over a pressure point in my wrist and it'll sit there either until the shaking stops or I can function with it." The screen lit up again with a green checkmark before going black. "See? I'm okay, so it has no need to be awake and it puts itself to sleep."

Roman watched in amazement. He did a little research on the watch but initially left that up to Logan to find the right one since he seemed excited to learn about it. It made more sense now with how Virgil was explaining it to him. "That's amazing. How'd you even find out about it?"

"Patton mentioned it to me during an attack he was helping me through. I usually have whoever is with me talk about random things to distract me from whatever is making me anxious, and he started talking about this weird watch he saw online that was supposed to help with things like that. I remembered it a few days later and did my research on it." He smiled over at him. "Then, of course, my penpal sent me one and it showed up at my door. How did you even afford this? You're in college."