"Hey, I've been thinking," the boy with the sandy hair said.

The girl sitting opposite him giggled. "Yes?"

"I... I... Do... Umm..."

Mikayla took a gulp of her coffee in annoyance. She had never particularly been fond of couples-- they were much too sappy for her liking-- and this type of couple were her least favorite. They were young, clinging on to each other's every breath as if they could not live without it, full of hope for a future in which they got married, had kids, before divorcing and dying alone. A textbook life.

Sandy struggled to put together his next sentence. Here it comes, Mikayla thought, which grand declaration will it be this time? Will you be my girlfriend? No, they were a long ways past that stage, judging from the distance between them-- well, the lack of distance. Will you marry me? Probably not, the boy appeared to be too romantic to propose in a random coffee shop. His girlfriend was special, and, just like every other girlfriend in the entire world, she deserved something more than that. What comes in between girlfriend and-

"Will you move in with me?" That makes sense.

The girl squealed, a shrill thing which made Mikayla take another gulp of her coffee. "Oh, Henry! I... I..." Another squeal. "Yes!"

"Really?" Henry was every bit as dim as he appeared, it seemed. Why did he look so amazed? It was like he'd just seen a dodo fall from the sky.

Squeal. Dodo girl dove into his arms, or would have if there wasn't a table in the way. It's a good thing they had finished their drinks a while ago, as Henry's beige chinos would not have survived an assault of black tea. "Yes, Henry, yes! A million times, yes!"

Mikayla finished her coffee with a gulp. Unfortunately, this couple was worse than they had first appeared. The idiotic girl hadn't even took one second to consider Henry's offer, surrendering her life away without a thought, a life that now completely revolved around Henry's, from dawn until dusk, spring until winter, now until forever-- forever being about ten years from now.

Cohabitation. Did the girl even know she only had a fifty percent chance of making it to marriage? And that they would be more likely to divorce within the first seven years if she did get that far? Mikayla had read all about the dangers of living together multiple times. The premise seemed nice and all, finding somebody who cares for you so much that they want to spend every waking hour with you, who really, truly loves you, but there were too many downsides. It wasn't for her.

"I can't believe this is happening," muttered Henry. What a cliché line. Mikayla looked at the bottom of her empty cup and sighed. He had asked her, after all, so why was he in such shock? Had he seriously not expected her to say yes?

"Me neither," dodo girl responded, looking up. Oh no. Peering over the top of the newspaper that she had finished an hour ago, Mikayla's dark brows lowered into an almost indiscernible frown. Henry looked down at dodo girl. Ew. Their gazes dulled, honing in on each other in an almost tunnel-like fashion. Time to go.

Next update: Wednesday 11th April 2018