A Wandering Nutcracker

[ t w o ] ❝ Big Ben is not a person ❞

Dedicated to Zee (septemberisms) simply for being amazing and lovely ♥

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I blinked at the moving figure, which was meant to be still, gripping my wrist tightly as I was about to launch my leftover crepe at his face. His eyes, which were a pretty golden brown color, filled with annoyance and anger as he looked down at me.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he said with a British accent, not detaching his deathly grip around my wrist.

I blinked. And gulped. “Um…”

Think, Kyra, think!

“I, um, I can explain,” I said. Actually, no I can’t explain. He wasn’t supposed to move and ask what I was doing. He was supposed to stand still, let me annoy him to my heart’s content and I’d walk away as if nothing happened. Why wasn’t he following the script in my head?

“Go on,” he declared after realizing I wasn’t going to answer any time soon. He lowered his hand, bringing mine along but not loosening his grip.

“I’m lost,” I started.

He raised an eyebrow, meeting my eye to see if I was lying. Damn, his eyes. “You’re lost?”

I nodded. “I’m a tourist,” I said again. “Well, half tourist. I didn’t want to be here in the first place.”

“And?” he pushed.

“I was walking around aimlessly…” I trailed off, averting my gaze to anything but him.

After I paused yet again, he grunted and said, “For goodness sakes, do I really need to push you to continue after you say five words?” He sounded annoyed. I don’t blame him though.

“Now now, a good story comes with patience. You know, to build suspension,” I said, hoping my weird reason for stalling was appropriate.

Judging by his facial expression, it surely wasn’t. “What suspension is there to build?” he said.

“Well, you know when a person tells a story and then they just leave you hanging and you’re left with this feeling—”

His sudden groan cut me off. “I didn’t ask what suspension is! Just tell me why you suddenly thought it was cool to start doing what you did to me?”

I finally gave up the stalling act and sighed. “I was lost and didn’t know where to go. That was basically the whole story.”

He blinked at me. “You’re kidding me.”

“Not at all,” I said, shaking my head. “I didn’t know where to go so I bought myself a crepe and wandered around hoping to find a way towards this Big Ben guy.”

“Did you just say ‘Big Ben guy’?” he asked in disbelief. “You cannot be for real.”

I ignored his remark. “And then I saw you. It was my first time seeing a real life nutcracker so I was rather fascinated.”

“We are not nutcrackers,” he defended.

“You sure look like one. Look at that fuzzy tall hat and that red suit thingy.” I grinned at him. “And I heard you weren’t allowed to move at any situation until being told to do so, so um… Yeah, I decided to, um, you know, annoy you?”

He stared at me for the longest time. His gaze made me uncomfortable as I was always self-conscious whenever someone stares at me.

“You’re really telling the truth, aren’t you?” he finally said.