Caramel | #WATTYS2018

14

Song at the top: Wolf Alice - Don't Delete The Kisses 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Will

Reuniting

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The subway was crammed full and extremely stuffy when Will squeezed on at Wilsden Green. Men and women of all ages shuffled about to make room, while a steady stream of people poured out of the open doors, allowing for a little more room than before.

Will hated the heat of a full subway car, but he endured it. He preferred it over the smell of cooking oil and clatter of plates that drifted up from the family diner below his bedroom.

Years of traveling on the subway had granted him exceptional balance, and even when the car shook violently and caused a middle-aged woman; a tourist, judging by her large backpack, he didn't move an inch. The woman apologized profusely, and he offered her a kind smile in return.

He cursed his friend's decision to meet up at such a busy time in the evening. Who in their right mind would commute in the evening rush-hour traffic unless necessary? Will was one for avoiding it all together, preferring to meet up earlier in the day or later in the night, but Jenna, his childhood friend, had insisted.

After minutes of bumping shoulders with strangers, he was finally able to squeeze out of the crowded train onto the humid Waterloo platform.

Jenna waited for him beyond the ticket barriers.

As usual, she stood out like a sore thumb. It had been a few months since he had seen her last, but the bright orange hair was unmistakably hers. She had dyed her hair that often that he had gotten used to recognizing her by the back of her head.

Today, paired with her orange hair, she wore a bright green raincoat, a colour that he could only describe by comparing it to a high visibility jacket.

He wondered why all of the female friends he had dressed so peculiarly, his mind drifting back to Nancy and her vibrant purple sleeping bag like coat.

Jenna's eyes were cast downwards on the phone in her hands. In her ears were a pair of earphones, something she seemingly couldn't live without. Upon his approach, she looked up. When she recognized her lifelong friend, her face split into a grin.

"Billius!" She had taken to calling him that after her Harry Potter obsession during secondary school. She claimed he had the ginger hair to fit the name. He'd asked her why she didn't nickname him Ron instead, but she put her foot down at that.

He cringed slightly as her shout drew a few pairs of eyes in their direction, not that her neon appearance hadn't already done the trick.

"Will you please stop calling me that?" He asked through gritted teeth. A cheeky grin rose onto Jenna's mouth. she knew that the nickname irked him.

"I don't think I will, Bill." He let out a sigh. Bill was better than Billius, he supposed.

Jenna's arm snaked around his, and he quickly found himself being dragged out of the station onto the bustling lamplit street beyond. Christmas was fast approaching, and with it flooded in a tidal wave of tourists eager to see London decked out for Christmas.