I checked the time on my phone, and realized that we only had ten minutes to board the train. I motioned to Brooke to run with me, while we dragged our bags behind us. I could see that she was making a conscious effort not to jostle the puppy in his carrier. Nine minutes.
The train was in sight, now we only had to find our seats. Where the heck was compartment three? And how were we to find our seats? As these questions flowed through my mind, I slowed down. I was out of breath already but I kept walking.
"Aha! There it is!" I yelled in satisfaction, ignoring the strange looks. Brooke's and my faces were totally flushed, and we were breathing heavily. I held the paper up to my face as I compared the train names. Yep, this was definitely our train, thank heaven. I memorized our seat numbers and went to find them.
Along the way were a few elderly people with wispy white hair, a few women with their children, a man reading the newspaper, and about ten businessmen. We found our seats and sat down, Brooke shoving our bags under our feet. We didn't bother with baggage claim since there wasn't much in our suitcases.
A thought struck me all of a sudden. We haven't really let the dog out of his carrier to use the... grass I guess you would call it, "Brooke, do you think he will last two more hours?"
She looked at me with a confused expression, then at the dog, then back at me. Her eyes widened when she realized what I had meant by that. She raked a hand through her hair and sighed. Brooke shrugged and I could see a glint of worry in her eyes, like it was too late.
I thumped back in my chair and huffed. Could it be possible that he went when we were taking the selfie? He was on the grass for a few measly minutes afterwards. Oh well, we'll hope for the best. And if the best doesn't happen that it won't smell too bad.
"You know, we can just-" Brooke started, but I dismissed her with a wave of my hand. If anything were to happen, we didn't know anybody. What was the worst that could happen? The only two people we had met were Dan and Phil, with the matching hairstyles. Even though I got Dan's number, what were the chances that he was even on this train?
I sat back in my chair and watched the steady stream of people boarding the train, a few more men in suits, a couple with their baby, a pair of too-tall men. With Starbucks. Un-flipping-believable.
They looked around at all the empty seats and passengers, their eyes finally landing on mine. A spark of embarrassment flourished in my stomach and I quickly looked elsewhere, anywhere but them. I could feel my face blush pink, probably because I just met them and they will think I'm now stalking them. Amazing!
I buried my head in my hands and peeked through my fingers. They were on their way over to our area, locking eyes with us. Phil seemed like he was just following Dan, but he also appeared eager to sit with us. I noticed that whenever he looked at Brooke, his gaze would linger and then he would look away blushing and suppressing a smile. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I think he might have the hots for Brooke. Oh my God, I ship it so hard.
"Hello again," Dan spoke first while nervously switching his cup between hands. "Do you mind if we sit with you guys?"
"Well, I can't think why not, sure," I answered coolly. I smiled at them both and twisted a lock of my hair that was hanging near my cheekbone. The short strand was catching the light, so it had hues of gold and tawny glowing through.
Dan and Phil sat down in the seats directly behind us, so we both turned around. The boy with the chocolate eyes ruffled his fringe, and straightened it out. He looked up at me watching his little show and smirked. I shot him a small smile and turned away.
"So, where are you guys heading?" Phil prompted, looking eager to start a conversation and break the silence. His blue-green eyes were drawn to Brooke, as if he wanted to hear her answer his question. I have to admit, this is really adorable.
"To our new apartment, it's near a bar and a library, surprisingly. Probably very convenient too, for people who like to drink while reading about alcoholism." Brooke joked smoothly, while giving a faint chuckle. Dan and Phil snickered, and I grinned. I wonder if they can help us find it? It's more than likely that we will get hopelessly lost in the first ten minutes of searching.
Dan gave Phil a strange look, as if he were thinking about something. His eyebrows were knit together and creases formed on his forehead. "Phil, don't we have a library and a bar near our flat?"
"Yeah, and you wouldn't know that because you don't remember going there every Friday night," Phil looked us in the eyes with a hand in front of his mouth so Dan wouldn't hear and whispered, "He's too hammered." Wait, wasn't today a Friday?
Dan laughed and rubbed his face with his hands, like he was embarrassed. I kinda got Phil's drift, but I wasn't completely sure.
"I'm assuming you mean drunk, right?" I spoke with a confused expression. It was a sudden realization that the English people here had different slang than Americans do. The only words I knew were cheerio, mate, and bloody. Even then, my knowledge was limited. I hope that there won't be any miscommunication involved.
Phil nodded and I silently praised myself on my brain's ability to use context. Woo.
I turned back to sit the right direction in my chair and took the last sip of my coffee. The vanilla flavor tasted really good, and I yearned for more. I turned the cup around in my hand while listening to Brooke and Phil's chatter.
There it was. The phone number that looked so foreign, because it really was. The phone number looked different compared to American numbers. Or maybe it was just me and I'm clearly going bonkers. I whipped out my phone and added the new contact under friends. I shot him a text that said it was me and thanks again for the coffee save.
I slipped my phone back in my pocket and realized that it is really warm on this train. After weighing my options, that I had a tank top on underneath, I decided would slip off my sweatshirt. I pulled my arms into it and made sure my tank top was covering me, and I lifted it over my head.
I patted my hair back into place and placed the clothes on my bag. Behind me, Dan coughed and muttered something to Phil: "Can you pass me that bag there? Thanks."
I turned back around and joined in the conversation, which happened to be about Brooke's favorite frozen yogurt shop, TCBY.
From the corner of my eye I could see Dan looking my up and down subtly, before looking back at his phone. I turned to look at him and noticed he had a small, black fabric bag draped over his lap. My eyes slipped over the scene and my cheeks blushed bright red. He looked up and his eyes widened slightly, and he blushed too.
I turned back around in my seat and I rubbed my temples methodically. My cheeks still burned and a bad image stuck in my mind.
Suddenly my phone vibrated and I took it out of its cozy spot in my back pocket. It was Dan: "meet me at Charlie's Bar @ 9 tonight".
I looked back around at Dan and he smiled at me. I gave him a thumbs up and said, "Meet you there." My first day in London and I already have a... date? Yeah, I guess you could call it that.
