Where You Are

London

Birgitta

I woke up with a dull headache when my alarm went off the following morning. I groaned and reached for my phone. Six AM? I groaned again and turned off the alarm. I felt slightly nauseous, not enough that I felt like I was going to imminently throw up, but enough that I was uncomfortable.

I sat up slowly and rubbed my eyes, willing the headache to go away. I had some painkillers in my backpack, I popped a couple and took them with the smallest sip of water possible.

Right, I had to get up to get Jesse back to the airport. Had it been two days already? Well, not two entire days, one full day anyway. How was it over? He'd only just got here. I pouted for a minute, indulging myself. I'd had a lot of fun. I could remember everything from last night, drinking screech and dancing to The Rankin Family and Great Big Sea. He's seemed to enjoy himself, too. He'd... asked me to do a ten K with him? In September?

What the hell was I doing locked in my bedroom? I had to take advantage of all the time I had with him before he was thousands of miles away again.

I dressed quickly and stumbled out of the room into the main part of the small house.

Like he was yesterday, Jesse was already awake and fully dressed, making breakfast in the kitchen. Though, today he was dressed in his pilot's uniform.

'You alright?' He turned and smirked at me when I emerged.

'What? Yeah, fine,' I told him, raising an eyebrow. Then I caught on. 'I wasn't that drunk!'

'You hardly made it back here last night, rather, early this morning,' he chuckled. 'I thought I was going to have to carry you!'

'I didn't throw up. Plus, I remember everything,' I told him, taking a seat at the table. 'I don't drink much.'

'We'll have to fix that,' he shot me another grin and handed me a mug and a plate full of fried eggs, toast and bacon.

'You're spoiling me, but thank you,' I told him, pouring myself some tea from the pot already at the table. 'You're ready to go?'

'Yeah,' he shrugged. 'I mean, not really, I had a lot of fun with you. I sort of wish I was staying a bit longer.'

I couldn't help my silly grin.

'I had a lot of fun, too,' I told him. 'What are we going to do when I come to London?'

'Well,' he took a seat across from me with his own plate and half-drunk mug of tea. 'Loads of options, rich history, modern comforts, massive population, we could do literally anything.'

'What do you like to do?' I asked him.

'When I'm home?' He asked. I nodded. 'Sleep.' He laughed. 'I'm quite boring, really. The first thing I do when I get home is catch up on sleep. I might go out to the pub with my mates, play a bit of rugby, visit with my parents and brothers. I live near Windsor Castle, have you heard of that?'

'You live near a castle?' I repeated. 'That's wicked! Is that normal?'

'There's a few more castles around London than there are here,' he winked. 'Is that something you'd be interested in seeing?'

'Yeah, definitely,' I nodded eagerly, making a mental note to do a bit of research about Windsor Castle before I saw him again. 'Anyone famous live there?'

'Well, the Queen,' he chuckled.

'The Queen?' I sputtered. 'You live near the Queen of England?'

'Not all the time,' he replied. 'She prefers Scotland to Windsor, but she does spend a bit of time in Windsor Castle when she's in England. She's not even a very good neighbour. Never invites me over for tea or sends a Christmas card.'