a very English story

Good morning sunshine

beep beep beeeeeeeeeep

Her alarm clock wailed from her room as she stepped up from the dining room table covered in books she was resting her messy head of blonde hair on.

8:30

"shit"

Lily realized what time it was and started to hastily scoop together the books that were sprawled around the table. Her mind felt like a blender full of feathers and cement when she tried to stretch her back from the chair. After noticing she did not have time to change her clothes, she stood up wearing her baby blue blouse with a knee-length Burgundy skirt that both reeked of beer. The previous night Lily had gotten home late, (and quite a bit tipsy) despite an important paper to study for that robbed her of her precious sleep. As she shoved the books and notecards into her worn leather book bag, she found a small orange slip of paper that was about the size of a sunglasses case sitting by the leg of her chair. Although she was not swimming in time, Lily picked up the small sheet of orange paper that had some messy cursive handwriting all over it.

"where was I last night?" she thought to herself as she read over the piece of paper that said-

'Lily you must come meet us all again at Rick's pub in the village on Monday at 9! Show us your stuff! -Bri' along with her address on the back, strangely enough.

Lily couldn't remember any of the names or places mentioned as her hungover self moped through the doorway and into her car, thinking of the mysterious note, a million thoughts running though her head.

"who is Bri? where was I last night? what was I doing? who was I doing it with?"

These thoughts plagued her mind until she showed up at the doorway of her university, where she had to take electrical engineering so she could apply to her bachelor's degree in astrophysics. As she passed by the different classroom doors with bright lights shining through the thin glass windows, she directed her thoughts to the paper she had to get done in order to pass her chemistry course. After finally finding her way into her classroom, she plopped down on her seat, feeling the cool leather of her book bag press against her bare calves as she stretched in her seat. Now realizing that she was a few minutes early, Lily started highlighting and circling passages of her chem book that she had to memorize.

After hearing the bell ring from her seat, Lily gently closed her papers into her book and put it into her book bag, watching other students file into their seats, filling up the spacious room , and waiting for instructions on how to proceed to the test. As the teacher had gone over the contents of the paper they were to write a week before, the teacher merely summarized the topic and format in which it was to be graded. Lily took a few deep breaths and started on her paper making sure of every word she had written.

---

four hours later Lily was sitting in a small bakery with her friend Mary, talking about their exams that morning and general catch up stuff.

"so how was your night last night?" Mary immediately said after changing off the subject of astrophysics to Lily's personal life.

"I honestly don't remember much at all, other than feeling like shit today" Lily said, speaking truth as she sipped her tea and placing the used tea bag on the side of the plate gently.

"don't you remember last night? We went to Rick's because you said you felt like you were under pressure with all the studying?" Mary said sounding very inquisitive and surprised.

"what happened after that?" Lily said worried for what dip in the story may occur.

" well you said you wanted to stay a bit longer and that you would find a ride home from someone else at the bar, but I was a bit worried because you had already had a few drinks, so I gave the guy you were chatting with your address because I trusted that he would stay sober" Mary said, taking a breath,

"don't you remember him? the tall guy with the curly hair and clogs?" Mary asked.

" Not at all, but I guess that explains the note I had." Lily said as she took a sip of her tea.

"what note?" Mary asked.

"this one" lily said as she rummaged through her book bag long enough to find the very orange slip of paper.

as Mary read over it, she nodded and looked closely at what Brian wrote and how he signed it '-Bri'

" I just wrote your address, but I guess this 'Bri' wants to meet you again at Rick's" Mary said, glancing up at lily who now looked surprised and concerned, reaching for the paper back from Mary.

"should I go? I don't even know this man!" Lily said as she bit into her biscuit with a frustrated look on her face.

"I would go with you dear but I have a date with this lovely boy, he has such an exotic look and a bold personality, I just cannot pass meeting up with him." Mary said with a sad tone.

"thats alright, just promise to tell me all about this boy when you get home and call me ok?" said lily with a smirk. She so desperately wanted Mary to have somebody to love, Mary had recently broken up with her high school boyfriend, with things not on smooth waters, to say the least.

---

Mary and Lily spent the rest of the afternoon walking around London and window shopping through occasional stores. After a few hours together and a showing of 'a night at the opera' by the Marx brothers playing in the vintage theater nearby, Mary had to go, she had to go to an afternoon shift where she worked. Lily, now walking alone on the streets pleasantly, noticed the sun setting and looked at her 24-hour watch for it to read 19:39. She was only a few blocks away from her house, so she did not rush her way home, but just feeling the cool air of the evening slip from the summer sun onto her knees and through her fingertips taking deep breaths.

---

20:02 Lily read on her watch as she unlocked her front door to her flat, turning on the lights and taking off her shoes. Lily then walked across her small living room to her bathroom and flicked on the lights to see herself in the mirror. The reflection staring back at her had a wavy and scruffy honey-colored blonde hair which was cut off at the shoulders. The haircut suited her face very well, as she had a tan complexion, that got rosy on the tip of her nose and on her cheekbones that were naturally defined over her chin. Her petite but shapely nose had an abundance of freckles that stretched onto her cheekbones, enhancing her luminous features. Lily picked up her hairbrush, aggressively stroking her hair with it and then giving up trying to detangle it to focus her attention on turning on the faucet of the shower.

---

out of the shower and standing in her room, Lily had to choose an outfit to meet the man that left her the note. Feeling stressed at the different colors and textures of all of her potential outfits, Lily leaned down and stared at her options with a sigh.

"too loud"

"too boring"

"perfect!"

now standing, lily was holding a copy of 'abbey road' by the Beatles after sifting through other records that laid on her floor. As she placed it on her record player, she relaxed at the opening of 'come together'. Standing up and looking at her options, Lily was thinking about how lucky she was to have the album, in the local shops, they could barely keep up with the demand for the Beatles latest album. Lily finally decided on a yellow knee-length skirt and a fitted long sleeved light pink boatneck shirt to go with it. as she looked in the mirror in her room's vanity she applied some mascara and dotting some black eyeliner under her eyes, trying to replicate that of twiggy's style of eye makeup. checking the time, it was 20:55. Slipping on some grey ballet slipper style shoes and grabbing a tan clutch, Lily took a deep breath and opened the door, leaving her flat.