George was fidgeting and nervously tugging on his sleeves. After he had agreed to help Lexi with her collection she had told him to meet her at the coffee shop on Wednesday at 9:00. It was 8:55 and he was regretting signing up for this. What had he been thinking? He had things to do. He needed to work at the shop; surely the shop girls Annie and Victorie were tired of running things without him. And he had promised his mom he would go through Fred's room.
I can't do this. He thought as he pushed away from the table. A hand on his wrist stopped him.
"I'm not late am I?" Lexi huffed flipping her hair out of her face. She looked at the watch on her wrist then back at George. "Nope. Not late. In fact I'm a couple of minutes early."
"I….I'm sorry. I don't think I can do this." George stuttered out.
"Yes you can. I know you can." Lexi gripped his hands in hers. "Just try. For today. I promise not to ask you to do anything super weird."
He wanted to say no again. Yet once again he nodded and allowed her to pull him from the shop. She kept her arm wrapped with his and pulled him down the street chatting away happily.
"Are you always like this?" George asked, stopping Lexi in her non-stop dialogue.
"Like what?" She asked innocently.
"Oh you know, picking up random blokes in coffee shops, taking pictures of them, dragging them through the streets of London." He looked at her as she smiled. Then she threw her head back and laughed.
"Yep. That sounds like me." Lexi looked up at George. "But what other way is there to live?" George pondered that as she pulled them down the street. She stopped when they reached a park. "Well here we are!"
"Ok? What are we doing here?" George looked around. It was a simple park with a swing set and jungle gym. A few couples and families were around playing or enjoying the break in the rain.
"This is where we're going to take the pictures today." Lexi pulled George over towards the swings. "All you have to do is sit here and do what feels natural." George looked at her skeptically. But after a minute he shrugged and made his way to the swing. He sat down feeling utterly foolish. What was he supposed to do here? He wrapped his fingers around the chains and sighed.
"This is weird." George said looking at Lexi. Her camera was posed as she snapped pictures of him.
"What would make it feel not weird?" Lexi asked without stopping.
"I don't know…." Being able to tell Fred about this…George thought. Fred would have gotten such a laugh out of this. I mean honestly, someone wanting to take pictures of me? George thought. It's insane.
"Try swinging? Or do you want to do something else?" Lexi paused and looked at George. "It's up to you."
"Let's just go for a walk." Lexi said after George sat silently for a few minutes. She pulled him up from the swing and held his hand as she pulled him along. They walked the path silently for a while. George started to relax, even started to enjoy the feeling of Lexi's hand in his. Then Lexi broke the silence. "It's days like this that are hardest isn't it?"
"What are you talking about?" George asked.
"Everyone always thinks that it's the big days that are the hardest. The holidays and birthdays and things. And don't get me wrong those days are hard, but I find it's the simple days, the ordinary days, that are truly the hardest." Lexi smiled up at the sky as birds flew overhead.
"I still don't get what you mean." George said although a nagging in his stomach told him that he did.
"When you lose someone important to you. Everyone warns you about the big days, but on regular no one tells you how bad you're going to want to call them up and tell them all the little boring parts of your day." George tugged his hand free and stopped.
"I don't know what you're talking about." George said through gritted teeth. Lexi looked at him with sad eyes.
"We both know that you do George."
"I'm leaving." George growled and stormed off. Lexi watched as he walked off.
"I'm sorry." Lexi said as she slid into the seat across from George. It had been a couple of days since their failed photo shoot. George nodded and looked into his coffee without answering.
"Ok. So you're never going to talk to me again. That's your choice. I just wanted to let you know that I know we barely know each other but if you ever want to talk about it, I'm always here to listen." Lexi went to stand up when George spoke.
"It just feels like he's still here." It was barely a whisper, but it caused Lexi to sink back into her chair and grab his hand. "He would have found it hilarious that you wanted to take my pictures and would have insisted that he was the better looking one." The ghost of a smile formed on his face.
"Who was he?" Lexi asked.
"My twin brother." George said.
"I'm sorry." She said. "I'm so so sorry." They sat like that barely speaking for the next couple of hours. When Lexi and George finally parted ways, George somehow felt lighter.