Twist Of Fate

Twelve

CHLOE

Harry is quiet throughout most of the journey to Totnes and I take the opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep, given the fretful previous night. I am woken by him climbing across me back into his seat, two paper cups of coffee sitting on the table in front of us. I look up at him, momentarily disorientated, and he runs a hand through his hair as he sits back down and looks at the drinks.

"Got you a latte," he mutters, as though he is embarrassed to have done something nice for somebody.

"Thanks," I croak, my voice failing from non-use over the past couple of hours. I sit up straight in my seat and reach for the coffee, thankful for the change of taste in my mouth. It's been several hours since we were sitting in Caffe Nero formulating our plan, and I realise as my stomach growls unceremoniously that I haven't eaten a proper meal since the fry-up this morning. 

A quick glance at my watch tells me it is almost half past three, and we are just over half an hour away from our destination. I don't want to pester Harry, as I know how much he hates questions, but yet again I am left wondering what we are going to do once we arrive in Totnes. We put all our energy into working out how we were going to escape London and leave a false trail, so unless Harry has something ingenious up his sleeve we are going to get off this train, walk out of the station and stop dead. 

"So," I venture tentatively. "Do we need to come up with a plan for when we get there? Or do you have something in mind...?"

He lifts his gaze to my face, chewing on his lip for a moment and fiddling with the rim of the coffee cup he is holding. "I need to lie low," he answers. "I don't want to draw any attention to myself." 

I nod slowly, as though he hasn't said this before a hundred times. "We need to find somewhere to stay tonight, then," I put forward. "Maybe a little B and B or something? I'm sure there will be a few in the town centre so we won't have to venture too far."

Harry is staring at me as though I have grown another head. I swallow nervously, unsure what I have said wrong now.

"A B and B?" he echoes. "I was thinking more like finding a quiet corner of a park or something."

"Sleep rough?" I squeak, unable to disguise my horror. "Again?!" 

He looks me up and down with disdain. "Oh yeah, I forgot you're too much of a princess to slum it under the stars."

"No, no," I hasten to correct him. "It's not that - I'm not trying to be a princess or anything. I just think we could find a cheap little hotel that would at least be warm and dry. We could have a shower..."

The corner of his mouth tugs into a smirk, and he raises one eyebrow pointedly.

"Not a shower together," I add, horrified at the look on his face, and then immediately feel a rush of heat flooding my cheeks at what I have just said. "I just mean... it would be nice to have a wash... to get clean..."

I swallow again, avoiding his eye and wishing more than anything that I wasn't so clumsy with, well, everything. 

"Yeah. Well. As fun as that sounds," he remarks dryly, "I don't want to go anywhere that involves speaking to anyone or seeing anyone. I need to stay completely off radar." 

"For how long?" I ask warily. The thought of going longer than two days without a shower makes me feel positively nauseous.

Harry shrugs nonchalantly. "Dunno. Play it by ear." 

I can sense from his tone that he isn't going to be dissuaded, so I decide not to pursue this argument for now. "Are you hungry?" I ask, changing tack.