Gentleman in Waiting

Dinner, dancing, theater...will any of it wait?

The man stood by the mantle, idly looking at the pictures there, but not really seeing them. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and put his hands in his pockets. He pulled them out and buttoned his jacket again, looking expectantly at the staircase. He looked at his watch and sighed.

This is taking forever, he thought with exasperation. Our reservations are for seven o'clock tonight, not two nights from now!

To pass the time (which is already stretched as it is!), he totted up the time it took him to get dressed: underclothing, three minutes at most; trousers and shirt, another three...

Oh bother! It takes ten, fifteen minutes, tops!

He sighed, more impatiently this time. He bent over and wiped a speech of dust from his immaculate shoes. Back to the mantle; glance at the stairs. Back— this time something on the mantle caught his eye: a picture of a man and a woman, smiling and laughing. The woman was in a white flowing dress, and the man word a tuxedo with a maroon cummerbund—a wedding photo.

As he pulled himself back from the memory of that day, smiling, he heard something at the top of the stair. "I hope I'm still as pretty for you as I was then."

The man turned, and his breath caught. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen stood at the top of the stairs, more glamorous than any catty model and as natural as a nymph.

"I hope we're not late," she said. "I'm sorry I took so long."

The man's voice was thick with love. "Who cares if we're late. You'll be with me wherever we end up; and it's always worth the wait.

As they left the door, he smiled and thought, This night can't last long enough.

NOTES: ▼

Word Count: 300
Submitted for "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge" 
Prompt: Use the phrase "This is taking forever"