Chapter 4

It was six in the morning, and I hadn't gotten a wink of sleep the night before. I was never able to sleep the first night at a new place. On the bright side, my bag was completely unpacked and my room completely organized. I pinned one last photo on my wall, a picture I had taken of Drew on his sixth birthday. He had just started intensive chemotherapy and tufts of his chocolate hair had begun to fall out. Five years ago. Back when he had so much longer to live..

My head needed to be cleared. I grabbed a clean set of clothes and hopped into the shower. I let my worries swirl down the drain, and blew my thoughts away with the hair dryer.

...what the heck? Am I a freaking poet now or something?

Instead of indulging in the art of written word, I resorted to my beloved camera.I slipped some pink Toms on and left my apartment, camera slung around my neck.

Once outside the door, I bumped into a tall, slender, well-dressed boy.

"Morning Dan."

"Oh, hi Lucy." He waved and smiled sleepily at me. "Off to snap more photos?" He gestured towards my camera.

"Mhm. I wanna catch my first sunrise in the UK."

"Cool! I was actually going to go for a walk. Couldn't sleep. Want a tour guide?"

"Sure."

"Alright, m'lady. Right this way to explore London!" He offered his arm to me, I took it, and we headed into town.

"Here is the pavement," Dan gestured towards the ground, "or as you Americans like to call it, a sidewalk." He stretched out his vowels ridiculously, trying to sound American and failing terribly.

I swatted at his arm, laughing. "We don't sound like that."

He stopped, jutting his hip out and putting his hands on his waist. "I'm Lucy. I'm American, and I have purple hair. I also enjoy photographing the beauty of this world."

"I don't sound like a valley girl!"

He chuckled. "Do I get a sticker for effort?"

I pondered this suggestion. "Maybe. Depends on your behavior for the rest of the day."

He crossed his heart, looking at me innocently as if promising to be good.

We traveled to the London Eye, and although the sunrise was covered up by stormclouds, I got some pretty awesome pictures of the famous ferris wheel. I also snapped some not-so-awesome picture of Dan being a dork.

"Would you get out of my shot, you nuisance!"

"Oh, of course," he'd say every time, then at the last minute, he'd jump in and make a stupid face. This earned him plenty of glares.

After he tired of ruining my pictures, he finally took a seat on a bench, waiting patiently for me to finish.

"Hey," he spoke up. "Wanna go to Shakeaway?"

I look at him confused. "What's that?"

His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "You honestly don't know?"

"Isn't it like that weight you shake to get all toned?"

He rolled his eyes, grabbing my wrist and tugging me along. "We're going to Shakeaway."

I succumbed to his wishes, and he dragged me down the street all the way into a brightly-colored store with literally hundreds of candies lining the walls. My eyes widened as I asked, "Is this real life?"

He chuckled. "Mhm. And you can pick any two sweets you want."

I patted my pockets. "My wallets at home."

"No worries. I'll pay."

"No, no it's fine. I'm not that thirsty anyways." I hated people paying for me.

"Seriously, it's fine. I'm paying for you." He handed the cashier the approximate amount. "Now pick."

I sighed. "Okay. How about...Oreo and Dime?"

He laughed quietly to himself. "Okay, Phil..."

He ordered my Oreo and Dime and got a Maltesers and banana for himself, and we took a seat in a booth by the window.

He stared intently at me, smirking.

"What?"

"I want to see your face when you take your first sip."

"Uh...it's just a milkshake."

"Just take a sip."

I eyed him weirdly and took a small sip of my milkshake. My eyes widened, and I took a larger gulp.

"Oh my gosh...it's magnificent! It's like...ponies prancing around a chocolatey field under cotton candy skies!"

"Isn't it!"

I sucked happily on my milkshake, and halfway through my delicious confection, Dan spoke up.

"Y'know, that's almost exactly how Phil described his milkshake the first time he tried an Oreo and Dime one."

I continued slurping my shake, cocking a brow at him.

"Actually, now that we're on the topic of him..." he scooted closer to me, asking excitedly, "are you interested in him?"

I choked on my shake. "Phil? I barely know him."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh c'mon. We all saw your shirt yesterday. We know you watch his videos."

"So? That doesn't mean I really know him. I can't like him."

"I just asked if you were interested."

I lied and went with a, "No."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Okaaaaaaayyy..." he just smiled like he knew something I didn't. I stuck my tongue out at him.

He practically had to drag me out of the store when he decided he wanted to visit the mall.

"You could've told me we'd be buying stuff! I would've brought money."

We stepped into the monument of a mall. "You don't have to go to a mall with the intention of buying something."

"But I'm a girl! And this is freaking England!"

"Just, c'mooooooon."

Escalators and brightly colored stores surrounded us. All different genres of music floated through air from different kinds of stores. The faint scent of pretzels and sandwiches filled the air.

Dan dragged me into a store simply labeled Game. Guess what they sold?

Yep. Video games.

And I was pretty amazed.

"Pretty awesome, huh?"

I nodded my head. I was a gamer. Not an extreme play-24/7 kind of gamer, but I loved video games. I picked up an old copy of Oblivion. At home, I'd torn this game up within a month. If there was one game I could play for forever, it would be this one. A longing to play it suddenly entered my mind, but I realized that, for one, I had no money, ad secondly, I had no game console. I mentally facepalmed myself. Why in the world had I not thought to bring my Playstation?

"Lucy?" Dan waved his hand in front of my face. "You there?"

"Huh? Oh, yep. What's up?"

He smiled. "I have a copy of Oblivion at home. You can play it if ya want."

My eyes lit up. "Really?"

He nodded his head. "I've got Black Ops II on pre-order, so let's leave before I purchase a million games. I don't have the money for that."

I chuckled, and we left the store, exploring many more throughout the day. I could definitely get used to this mall.

We exited the mall as the sun was setting, and I stopped every now and then to snap photos of the wonder. I capture an amazing snapshot of the sun setting behind an office building. Wait 'til Drew saw this.

Successful day? Definitely.

A/N: Yay! Looks like Lucy's pretty comfortable with Dan. Good friendship is being built. (: Tell me whatcha guys thought! I accept all input. Thanks for reading!