Astralprojecringe

Honestly, all James wanted to do was have a coffee after work and wait for peak hour traffic to die down.

Instead, he was stuck with an involuntary front row seat to possibly the cringiest thing he'd ever seen. A surprise public proposal, complete with marching band, balloon shower, and a bunch of the soon-to-be-single idiot's cronies on standby to take pictures.

Beside him, the waiter looked sympathetic. "I hope her friends are free tonight. I'm about to Astralprojecringe, and I'm not even involved!"

James turned the neologism over in his head, grateful for the distraction. "Second-hand embarrassment so bad your soul leaves your body until it's over?"

The waiter grinned. "Something like that. I suppose it'd be bad form to offer a date with the assurance that I'd never pull a public spectacle like this?"

A resounding 'SLAP' and the beginning of what promised to be an epic rant about appropriate three-month-anniversary gifts, respect, and paying attention when she listed her dealbreakers, tempted James's soul to stay and enjoy the show, rather than following the waiter's on a tour of the universe. "Better not. I'll buy you a coffee if you want an excuse to hang around, though."

The waiter grinned, snagging an empty - clean - cup and pouring himself a a drink. "Be a good meet-cute to tell the niblings. I'm Alex."

James tapped their mugs together lightly. "He might want to tell his buddies to stop filming, too. I'm James."