Chapter 7: 50

If Arthur was nervous for his first date with Alfred then he was acting absolutely hysterical for his second one. He couldn't help but think Alfred believed Arthur was an angry man with a ridiculously short temper who only wanted to go on a second date to be polite. Arthur himself didn't even know why he became so furious with Alfred over something as simple as a rearview mirror, it was quite childish now that he thought about it. He decided his past relationship had left a more lasting imprint on him than he would have liked, causing him to distrust even the nicest people. Alfred had always had good intentions from the moment he met him, granted Arthur barely knew him a month, but Alfred had never caused Arthur to doubt him. Arthur frowned, there was no reason to doubt Alfred in the first place, it was just an overreaction that unfortunately ruined their first date. Nevertheless, he was set on making it up during the second date. He had stayed up the night before planning how he would act and how he would try to resolve situations that could be a threat to their date. He was going to act gentlemanly (as if he wasn't already) and not become angry over any small matters. He would take on the duty of paying for the meal since Alfred had already paid for the tickets and he'd try his best to maintain his temper.
He sat on his bed, in his pajamas working on the event for the queen. Once that was out of the way he could focus all of his attention on the date. Of course, he still had piles of work to finish up. Arthur squinted at his computer screen, it was too bright and his eyes were burning from staring at it for nearly three hours reviewing and supervising every small detail. He rubbed them and looked at the digital clock perched on his bedside table. 3:20 am it read, Arthur audibly groaned and shut his laptop. He was tired from a long day of nonstop work, but he doubted he would be able to sleep with the constant thoughts of Alfred and the London Eye.

Arthur smiled softly and threw the covers over his head. He supposed there would be other people in the gondola with them, but to him it would just be the two of them. He had only been on the infamous Ferris wheel twice, once with his mother when he was younger, then again by himself. Only this time he wouldn't be with himself, or forced to go on the tall wheel kicking and screaming as a child, he would be with Alfred.

He didn't know how he managed to drift off to sleep, he could only guess it was from the utter exhaustion he had to face for the entire week. It was approaching nine am when he woke up, groggy from his sleep he began his Friday ritual - he took his shower to fully wake him, dressed in a sweater and slacks, and cooked (burnt) his breakfast. It wasn't until he was reading the paper with a cup of tea in hand did he realize he had a date. He tried his best not to let the thought harm his daily routine. However, no matter how hard he tried every word he read on the newspaper would not register. He turned the page grumbling in agitation, unconsciously he had promised himself he would read and comprehend at least one line from the newspaper. He stared at it and began to recite a sentence over and over aloud.

"All are awaiting François Hollande's visit to England, many preparations have been made in Buckingham Palace for his much anticipated arrival." he paused scanning over the words once more "François Hollande's visit to England..." Arthur felt like a fool the entire section was about the newly elected French President's visit to the Buckingham Palace, the exact event Arthur had been planning for last week or so. He folded up the paper and placed it on the table. He picked up his cup and held it to his lips, taking a sip from his unsweetened tea. The contact between the cup and his lips suddenly jolted the memory of the kiss he shared with Alfred. What if Alfred tried kissing him again? What if it was while they were in the Gondola with other people? What if it turned out he was a bad kisser? What if he couldn't appeal to Alfred's expectations? Arthur became deeply concerned. He couldn't bear the thought of Alfred being dissatisfied with Arthur. He remembered Tom always critiquing his every movement from his basic mannerisms to the times they shared to together in bed. Arthur sighed, he was just overreacting, he knew Alfred wouldn't stoop that low. He's was much too different from Tom. Arthur smiled, he was happy Alfred had taken off his rearview mirror. He sat in his chair devoting the rest of his thoughts entirely to Alfred and their date.

He returned his cup back to its original place on his table and glanced at his watch. It was already noon and he promised to meet Alfred at one o'clock. He gave his dishes a quick scrub and headed out his door taking his keys with him. As he was just a short distance from his garage when his cell phone began to vibrate. He took it out of his pocket and reluctantly answered it.

"What do you want Francis?"

"It's not Francis amigo but if you want I can put on a ridiculous French accent while I talk about my lovely luscious blonde locks," Antonio said mocking Francis in an absurd French accent. Arthur opened his garage with his clicker and approached his car. He stepped into his garage, unlocked his car door, and climbed in.

"Zat is not funny you stupid Spaniard! Now give me zat phone!" Arthur heard Francis shout from the background. "Now mon petit caterpillar 'ave you decided to join us tonight for another round of pub?" Francis inquired while Arthur slowly back out of his garage. It suddenly dawned on Arthur that he hadn't informed his friends of his date with Alfred. All he mentioned was that there was no more conflict between the two and that they were continuing their relationship.

"I can't I-I have a date with Alfred."

"A date? Arthur why 'aven't you told us about zis? I am tres upset. Where is 'e taking you?"

"London Eye," Arthur hesitated. He wasn't so sure if he should have told them the exact whereabouts.

"Should we follow them?" Antonio whispered.

"We 'ave nothing else to do." Francis replied.

"If I see you two anywhere near that area I will call the police and report that I saw two suspicious people." Arthur hung up his phone in a fit of rage. He was looking forward to this date and he didn't want them screwing it up. He took another look at his watch, he was making good time. He had 45 minutes left and was at least half an hour away.

He stopped at the florist two blocks from his house. It wasn't a large or exquisite flower shop, one that he would order from for his job, but a small, homely one. The flowers were always fresh and he had barely found any blemish on any of the petals. Although he never bought from them often (only for Mother's day or for birthdays), it was one of his favorites. The flower arrangements were simple, but at the same time romantic. Arthur thought it would be perfect for Alfred who seemed like the type to hate being fussed over. He browsed the flowers of the small shop looking over the roses, lilies, and orchids. They were all nice choices, but he didn't have any clue onto which flower Alfred would like. He didn't think the boy had received flowers from a date before, only giving them, and doubted Alfred had much of a care towards flowers. He stopped at a section of roses. No one could really go wrong with roses, he assumed, and looked through it. He passed many colors and shades of them, the traditional red roses down to the innocent white ones. The only color he thought Alfred would like would be the yellow ones with the light red tips. He ordered a dozen of them, paid, and brought the flowers safely into his car.

Arthur started his car for the south of London. He didn't suspect there would be much traffic since he left early, but he was unfortunately mistaken. Not even halfway to his destination he sat in bumper to bumper traffic. He groaned and leaned his head back on the headrest, the traffic report didn't say anything about the traffic clearing anytime soon. He would have to wait it out and risk being late to the date. Alfred would probably get there first, assuming he would take his motorcycle instead of the company car, he could just drive through the cars and get to the large Ferris wheel in no time at all.

The traffic was still barely moving near the halfway point. Arthur glanced at the digital clock in his car, he saw he had twenty minutes until their date would begin. He had dreaded doing this, but in this current situation there was no other way possible if the traffic didn't start clearing soon. Arthur took his phone out of the cupholder and dialed Alfred's number.

"Arthur?"

"Yes. About the date today -"
"You're still coming right?" Alfred asked, cutting Arthur off.
"Of course I am, but there is a lot of traffic so I might not make it on time. I'm sorry this was supposed to be perfect."
"It's fine. I don't mind waiting for a bit, I was just worried you might cancel on me. I wouldn't want to ride the Ferris wheel without you. I don't care if you're late. As long as you show up I'm fine."
"I would never stand you up," Arthur replied.
"I just thought you would be called into work, I heard from Francis that you have a big assignment coming up and all."
"I took care of it all last night," Arthur then more quietly said, "so there is more time to spend with you" Alfred smiled.
"When I see you I'm going to hug you and I'll never let you go." Arthur blushed profusely. He had never been told that by anyone and it made him happy. After a long pause Arthur spoke up once again.
"Where are you at the moment? Are you in front of the Eye?"
"No I'm in McDonald's working on an essay"
"In McDonald's?" Arthur questioned. He was sure there are more sanitary places for Alfred to write his essay. "Well if that's where you're most comfortable. Did you want me to meet you there?"
"No, we'll meet in front of the Ferris wheel like we said, just call me when you're there or I'll look for you."
Arthur smiled, then turn his attention back to the road, "The traffic is starting to clear up, so I might not be as late as I thought. I'm going to go, but I'll be sure to call when I get there. I'll see you soon."
"Alright, I'm looking forward to that hug, Artie!"
Arthur hung up the phone, Artie? He hadn't been called many nicknames, no make that many flattering nicknames. He wasn't sure if he liked the name but it would do. He was making progress towards his destination, seeing the Ferris wheel in sight and suspected he would be there in no time. Of course he was fifteen minutes late from the agreed time, but Alfred was fine with it.
Soon enough he was nearing the base of the large Ferris wheel and looking around for a parking spot. He ended up having to park far off from his desired location due to all the cars already parked, and half of the street clogged with cars. He didn't know why there were so many people today, he could only guess it was tourists. He grabbed the roses from the passenger seat and pulled out his cell phone while walking to the base of the Ferris wheel. He spotted the McDonald's Alfred would have been eating in and called his number. He waited for him to pick up but there was no answer. Thinking nothing of it, he started towards the cross walk. When he got to the other side, there was no sign of Alfred. Arthur began to worry, maybe his phone ran out of battery or there was some kind of incident at Ludwig's Garage that he needed to attend to. He found himself making many excuses for the American's absence, Arthur slipped his phone back in his pocket. Alfred was probably still in McDonald's working on his essay and couldn't hear his phone go off, Arthur could easily find him. He turned the corner to the front of the Ferris wheel only to be met with a large crowd of people.
He hadn't expected there to be a crowd, or at least for so many people to want to go on the wheel. He began to wait, only to see the crowd spread into the street huddled around something. Arthur rolled his eyes, Alfred must be in there somewhere trying to see what all this commotion was about. Arthur pushed past people, searching for the golden haired American. He held the flowers close to his body as he tried pushing to the front, careful to not damage any of its petals.

He finally got to the front of the crowd where all the people had been blocked off by yellow barricade tape. He saw police shooing people away so they wouldn't catch sight of the gruesome scene laid in front of Arthur's eyes. A bus was stationed not too far off along with a paramedics car. Arthur stood to his full height while trying to peer over the officer's arm, to get a better look at who the victim was but it was no use. He was about to head the other way to look for Alfred until he overheard a conversation between two bystanders.

"Poor bloke. What the hell was he doing in the middle of the street anyway?" said an Englishman from the crowd.
"He was waiting for someone I think. Probably thought he saw them across the street, he ran over. Typical bloody American," the other replied with little sympathy present in his voice.

Arthur felt sick, he took his phone out and frantically dialed Alfred's number. He hoped, just hoped that maybe Alfred would pick up his phone and tell him he was okay and that he was still at McDonald's. Anything but what he was facing. Only several yards away, he heard the shrill ring of Alfred's phone, he began to follow the sound but stopped when he found it was coming from beyond the yellow tape. He slipped underneath the tape without anyone noticing and collapsed at the injured body. It wasn't until he saw who the person was that he began to cry, his body shook violently as he let out multiple sobs. He dropped the flowers so that their discarded petals fell into blood. He clutched at Alfred's number 50 jacket, desperate for some movement, even just a sound.

"Alfred!"