4. Anxiety

William hesitated before he sat down, eyeing the other patrons in the diner. "Are you alright?" asked Tony, his other friend at the table.
"Yeah, for now." 
"What is it about crowds that makes you so anxious?" Tony asked, "do you think one of them is going to hurt you?"
"I don't know," William said uncertainly, "the more people there are, the more uncomfortable I get.. And the louder they are, that just makes it exponentially worse."
"Well," Tony warned him, "a group of college kids just came in. Are you going to be okay?"
"We'll just have to wait and see."
The four college kids took a table right next to them, but luckily were quietly talking about classes and homework and professors. William sat nervously on the edge of his seat for several minutes, just waiting for them to start yelling and being rowdy before he finally managed to relax a little bit.
At William's table, they were talking and joking about their last roleplaying gaming session. They were always careful to remain calm and quiet, not just for William's sake, but to be courteous to people around them.
"No way!" one of the students yelled out loudly. William straightened up and tensed.
"I'm telling you," another student answered just as loudly, "professor Wiefald almost had a coronary when I asked that."
"Okay, I gotta go," William told his friends as he stood up.
"Hey guys," Tony called to the students, "can you please keep it down over there?"
"Up yours," on of them snorted, "it's a public place and we'll be as loud as we want to."
"It's alright, Tony, "William said with a grateful smile, "don't make a scene out of it." And with that, he turned and left, his nerves jingling the whole way.