Roses and Flame

Chapter 5

The next day after graduating me and Daniela had already planned to go to the center to go to London Eye. It was kinda our tradition to spend our summer days taking rides at it.

When I woke up to get ready, I received a text from her saying to meet there cause she's already in town with John, but he won't be joining us then. I didn't like the idea to take a bus myself to get there, we always did it together, but it's life and things are changing so knew I'd be okay. There's always the possibility of asking my dad to take me there... No! I'm 20 and I should be able to do it on my own. I even smiled at myself in the mirror before going to take a quick shower. I ended up spending more time in the shower, lost in my thoughts, that I lost the track of time and I only had 20 minutes till the bus, but I still was not dressed, eaten breakfast and it took about 10 minutes to get to the bus stop. I decided to wear my new, floral dress that went almost to the floor with spaghetti straps and my trusty brown Birkenstocks. Grabbing my purse and phone I went downstairs. I checked the time - I had to leave, like, now if I wanted to make it to the bus. Damn it, no breakfast to me. Okay, I'll get something later. A quick "I'm leaving" to my parents and I was out of the door on my to the bus stop. I barely made it, but, luckily, there were more people getting on. I sent a quick text to Daniela letting her know that on my way and then begin to watch the view from my window. When we got to the center, again I was so lost in thoughts that I almost missed my stop. Luckily the bus driver wasn't angry when I asked to get out when we just passed the bus stop. I checked the time on my phone - I still had 20 minutes till meeting her, but there were no messages from her. I wasn't so worried about it, so I just went through the streets till I saw London Eye. I checked my time again, I was right on time, as usual, but she sometimes was late. Especially if she was hanging out with John before meeting me. I decided to sit at the bench and enjoy the warm day with my sunglasses on. I heard my phone signaling me about a new message. Opening it I saw that Daniela won't be coming after all because she was "in the middle of something" and couldn't leave. That wasn't like her. I tried to call her, but it went straight to voice mail. Great, now I came here for nothing then? Just great.

I tried to think of a plan for what to do next, but then my stomach started grumbling as a reminder that I didn't eat breakfast. Standing up I saw a cafe close by so I decided to get something to eat. Then I heard a voice behind me saying "Miss, I think you dropped this." I turned around and oh..my..god. Was this guy actually talking to me? No way, I must be imagining because there's no way a guy like him would be talking to me. Until I saw that he was holding my sunglasses in his hands. "They are yours, right? I just saw you getting up and they dropped to the ground," he said a bit amused. Great, I must be looking funny. "Yeah, umm, thanks for noticing that," I said trying to take them from him and just leave, but he pulled back his hand that was holding my sunglasses. "I'm Tyson, by the way," he said holding his other hand for a handshake. "Rosanna," I said taking his hand. Wow, I just said him my actual name instead of Rosie and his hand felt nice in mine. Then, awkwardly, I pulled back and smiled. "Nice to meet you, Rosanna," he said, still not giving my sunglasses back, "would you, maybe, join me for a ride?" he asked pointing to London Eye. "My company canceled on me and I saw you looking upset so I thought, maybe someone has canceled on you too," he said then quickly add, "it's fine if you have other plans" and handed me my sunglasses. I took them and thought to myself "what would I lose if I said yes" and then said, "Yeah, okay, why not?"

"Wait, actually?" he tried to hide his smile, then quickly add, "shall we go then, miss?"

The ride with him was nice and he even paid more so we could be the only one in the pod. I mean - look at him, how could it not be nice? He was the most handsome guy I've ever seen. No, the most handsome guy in the whole world, and yet he wanted to spend his time with me. I had to pinch myself. "Ouch," I said after pinching way too hard myself. "You okay?" asked Tyson. "Yeah," I said and I couldn't possibly admit that I was pinching myself because of him.

After we got out of our pod he said, "Thank you for accompanying me for the ride. It was better than riding with a lot of people."

"Wow, so you liked it because there was more space?" I asked a bit annoyed.

"Oh, no, no, that's not what I meant," he quickly said, "what I meant I enjoyed the ride with you" and then turned to look at River Thames. Wait, did he really just said that?

"Wait, actually?" I asked before realizing that I said it out loud.

"Yeah," he said turning to face me, "why wouldn't I enjoy the company of a beautiful woman?"