Authors Note:
Hello all! It's been a long time but I honestly had no idea that this year would be so ridiculously busy. Tests, homework, choosing trips for next summer and prefect applications -which I was successful in by the way :) - all leading up to options in January. I also wrote a debate speech about Disney for a competition…which we admittedly lost to a private school that had twice as long as us to prepare…but it was still fun. Blood Brothers earlier this month was good but Les Mis yesterday was perfection. I also got my first musical related shirt there, which is way too big for me but very comfortable (I'm wearing it now).
Now onto review replies!
DJ Ginger- Thank you for the compliments, although I still think the last chapter was a little lacking in substance. And the Halloween costume sounds amazing- I went as a skeleton from the Day of the Dead.
TayTayWoody- Thank you for returning a third time and for the lovely comments! I think this instalment will lean more towards pure fluff but conflict will definitely come up as the story nears its climax.
Sarah- Thank you so much and sorry for keeping you waiting for so long! I hope this doesn't disappoint.
Peace-n'-Luv-4601- Is that a Les Mis reference in your username? Thank you just for that and of course the great review!
THANK YOU AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Standing outside the local station in the quickly fading light, Tia shivered. It wasn't from the cold-although the English winter air certainly qualified in that respect. Nor was it from illness, for despite many children dropping like flies from seasonal bugs over the last few weeks, she had been lucky enough to evade them.
No. The reason for all my shudders, she thought with a repressed grin that threatened to transform into a squeal if she opened her mouth, is that I am about to go on an ACTUAL DATE with the very person who I have fantasized about since I was twelve!
The whole concept seemed unreal; the plot of a terrible straight to DVD movie or a sitcom from the nineties. And if that wasn't enough, she just seemed too….normal. She didn't have a secret superpower; she wasn't the heir to a foreign throne or the most popular girl in school. She was just- Tia.
In an effort to calm (and to convince herself that the involuntary movement had not spread to her hands) the brunette took out her phone and navigated to her Fanfiction page. Since everything had started she had been negligent in updating, and recently it had occurred to her that she should check how this was impacting her following. As she opened the reviews however, she was pleasantly surprised- aside from the few regulars begging for the next instalment sooner, there was nothing even remotely negative. Sighing, she folded the case back over with a snap. There didn't seem to be a point in writing anymore. The characters were real to her now, and it struck her as selfish to be making up fictional scenarios when there was one staring her right in the face. Hopefully tonight would create a solution…..
A train rattled overheard; its harshly monotonous rhythm was all she could hear until it had grinded to a halt. When intuition told her to look back and see the time of the next one, she was startled to see Erik walking up the path from the corner of her eye. She had expected him to arrive, of course-if not she would have been hyperventilating by now, but had definitely been imagining waiting for longer. As she told her mum earlier that she was due to go out with a boy, she had been sure to remind her to drop her off only an hour after she finished school so as to quell any suspicions that may have grown over the two day period. Because of this she had been prepared to wait hours, so the forty minute reality was somewhat gratifying.
"Hey." she greeted as he neared her, reaching into her coat pocket to retrieve the two tickets she had purchased upon her arrival. She took one of the small cards into her other hand and pressed it into his palm.
"That's yours."
As the object came into contact with his skin he looked up sharply.
"Tia, you didn't have to pay…"Any gratitude that he had was gradually disappearing under a growing frown.
"Honestly, it's alright. You can buy the ice cream."
His eyebrows rose. "It's December."
"So?"
He shook his head with a grin, knowing when he was beaten.
Although it was still a work night for most, the city was packed. The station chewed them and spat them out barely digested with the throng, looking distinctly more disgruntled than when they had arrived. The flow of people, much like that of a river, thankfully filtered and spread as it neared the sea. Many had abandoned the view of the water in favour of getting some early Christmas shopping done, or simply due to the fear of the icy breeze without adequate insulation. Glad that their ability of unconstricted movement had returned, the pair headed through the winding lanes until they reached a small shop on one dishevelled corner. Its sign bore the image of two words encased in a white cloud against a black background speckled with candy-pink spheres- 'Boho Gelato.' Tia said the name like it was an incantation.
"You weren't joking about the ice cream then?"
"Nope."
"You are crazy."
"I know. But this place is almost worth the straightjacket."
She led the boy inside the shop, which was unsurprisingly empty; even the staff appeared to have taken a break to the office behind. Striding to the counter, her eyes became saucers as they danced over the fridge before them. Row upon row of technicolour goodness winked back at her.
"I try and have a different flavour every time I come down here", she explained, turning back to her amused friend. "And this time I think I'll go with…...honeycomb." The last word was accompanied by a stab of her index finger onto the glass, in the vicinity of her selection.
"What do you want?"
"Oh, I don't know…. I've never had one before."
Tia performed a bizarre jump, as if she had just been shocked.
"You never…had a...never?"
Erik shook his head. "The fair sells them a lot, but…"
As she looked at him, the brunette felt a stab of guilt for her recent surprise. In her excitement she hadn't seemed to register that what he'd said was perfectly plausible. Besides, this was an opportunity to introduce him to one of the other loves of her life, and that was definitely a good thing.
He had noticed her expression faltering, so she plastered a large smile onto her face before she spoke.
"Well, there's a first time for everything. You like chocolate right? Good. You can never go wrong with chocolate."
He smiled back, reassured, and nodded.
Seemingly on cue- or perhaps having been listening from the back- a woman clad in the company uniform appeared behind the counter.
"Hi, can I help you?"
"One honeycomb and one chocolate on cones, please." Tia said, stepping back in awe to watch them being prepared. She knew it was childish to display this kind of fascination but she couldn't how it. It amazed her how such beauty could be contained in a ball of flavoured milk…..wow, that's a weird way of putting it. Or maybe she was just the type who found it in unexpected places….
Her server handed the cones-with serviettes wrapped around them for safekeeping-across the countertop, where Tia proceeded to pass one to Erik.
"That will be four pounds please." said the woman, opening the till with a soft chime. At this Erik paled and whispered frantically.
"Tia, I don't actually have any-"
"I know." she interrupted gently. "I've got it."
"So? Do you like it?" Tia asked, having to shout to be heard above the wind. They were walking up the promenade towards the pier, whose lights were flashing manically in the now more prominent darkness, and up until this point the girl had been purely focusing on attempting to eat her ice cream without swallowing a stray bit of hair instead. With a small kiosk blocking the weather's onslaught though she had time to find out if her edible gift had gone appreciated.
"Yeah, it's nice. Though in my opinion not entirely worth a straightjacket." he turned towards her, his eyebrows betraying the otherwise reasonably well concealed sarcasm.
"Ha. Look at all these other people, the ones shivering and cutting their trips short because of the wind. Obviously it's because they have not been blessed with THE POWER OF ICE CREAM." In her last phrase she donned an announcer's voice and flung her arms wide, almost simultaneously throwing her dessert to the passing seagulls and dealing a blow to Erik's head. He caught her before the latter happened, guiding the limb back to its normal position.
"Okay, I believe you. Very much worth it."
"See? I knew you would agr-oh, Erik!"
"What?"
"The starlings!"
Sure enough, as she spoke, a pitch black cloud was moving across the water. It seemed unnatural, twisting in a way that surely could not be controlled. As one looked closer, however, they would see that this writhing mass was in fact made up of many tiny bodies, each with the common goal which appeared at this moment to be putting on a show. The birds moved as one, creating a vortex of beating wings in the air. More swarms arrived as they watched, and soon the sky was full with hundreds upon hundreds of starlings.
Unconsciously Tia leaned closer to her friend, wanting to share this moment with him. She did not realise how close this had really been though until her cheek touched his arm right beneath the shoulder. Knowing he may not like this contact, she drew back, only to be brought closer again by the same arm wrapping itself around her. She closed her eyes, oblivious now the wind which whistled chillingly around her ears, and wished this moment would never end.
Authors Note:
Well, that was difficult. I've never written a romance this prominent before and since I have hardly any real life experience (besides the fictional crushes of course) doing this was even harder. Still, I think it turned out alright, what with the reveal of Tia's more eccentric side.
Boho Gelato is a real place in Brighton by the way, and I'm not using it for product placement although it is amazing. I'm not an ice cream-holic like Tia but I do love it and my favourite flavour is mango :)
R and R!