The Last Train Home

Chapter Thirty-Three

"I can't believe you've actually grown used to being here," Alec said, stuffing a sandwich into his mouth. I don't even think he chewed it, he just swallowed it whole.

"Why?" I wiped my hands on a napkin. "You were the one who said that it gets into your bones "

"I did say that, but I didn't think it would happen so quickly. Especially since you were so determined that you weren't going to like it here because the city is your home."

"The city is still my home, it always will be. What's wrong with growing a little comfortable?"

Alec laughed. "Nothing! I'm just saying that you took faster to this place than I would have thought."

I shrugged. In truth, I felt the same way, but it had been over six months so it made a little sense that my feelings towards the country had changed. London would always be my home, how could it not be after I spent most of my life there? That didn't mean that I couldn't enjoy myself a little in my country and grow to love the place that had been my home for a few months. Alec had been right all those months ago, the country did get into a person's bones.

We ate the picnic in silence with Alec inhaling more of the food than chewing it. Mrs Thompson had made the picnic with it consisting of small sandwiches, cakes and general snack foods to keep us going for the day. There were bottles of ginger beer that had been labelled so Alec wouldn't get it confused with the water, although that would be a feat seeing as they looked so different from one another.

The weather held up. The sun lurked just above the trees, lighting everything up in a warm glow that made the slight heat a little more worth it. We had placed the picnic blanket in the shade of trees so we wouldn't be overly hot, but it did mean we were finding ants on the blanket and having to contend with the flies buzzing around and being interested in our food. A picnic in the country was a lot better than a picnic in the city, even with the bugs.

Once the majority of the food had been eaten - mainly by Alec who didn't even stop to breathe - we sat in the silence of the country. Silence, however, had never been something Alec had been a fan of.

"Right, I need to climb a tree," he said., wiping his hands on his jeans.

"Any particular reason why?"

"I always feel like I need to climb a tree after I've eaten, it's good fun. A chance to blow off some steam, if you will."

"Or projectile vomit your lunch."

"Exactly, good fun."

"You're disgusting."

"Thank you."

Alec grinned his usual lopsided grin, and stood up, brushing his hands off on his trousers once again before making a b-line for the trees that surrounded our little spot. I watched him, trying to fight the smile at his stupidity, I didn't want to seem like I encouraged him if he fell and got hurt. Brushing an ant off my slacks, I stood up and followed him over to the tree as he stood at the base of it to try and figure out his route up to the top.

After a few seconds of staring at the trunk of the tree, Alec started forward by placing his foot on a small notch at the bottom. He grabbed onto a different notch and hauled himself up, slowly starting to make his way up the tree. A few times, his foto slipped on the bark and he almost fell backwards, but he managed to recover his balance and continue his climb up the tree without a care in the world.

He continued to climb until he could shimmy his way onto one of the thicker branches mid-way up the tree. I watched him slide along the branch and sit on it, grabbing onto the one just above his head and smiling down at me through the tangle of branches. I shook my head and raised an eyebrow. The branch didn't look all that stable to me.