Abroad

Seven

There was this one day that Alex clung to when things took a turn for the worst. It was the time before everything went south, before "George" became the single most frequent word out of Henry's mouth. It was a memory that Alex smiled upon even when he wanted to rip out George's throat. A memory that came to him in dreams.

It was about two weeks after he and Henry had sorted everything out. They were back to hanging out regularly both during and after class. It was before things got more serious with George. Before Henry tried to hang out with his friends and his boyfriend at the same time before settling for just hanging out with his boyfriend instead. It was a cold day and Alex and Henry decided to go ice skating. It had been ages since Alex had gone skating and he thought that Henry would be magnificent on the ice, so they had both agreed to it almost instantly. He showed up at Henry's apartment at ten in the morning with an Early Grey tea for Henry in one hand and his own, shitty coffee in the other. 

Henry beamed at him when he opened the door. "Right on time," he said, eyeing the to-go cups in Alex's hands.

Alex handed the tea one to Henry who took it gratefully. "And with your gross tea," he added, gesturing to the cup.

Henry hummed in agreement and took a sip of it. "Mm, did you put a splash of milk in this?"

"What can I say? I memorized your stupid tea order."

He wondered, vacantly, if it was weird that he had memorized the tea order. Or that he knew how much Henry adored Jaffa Cakes and The Great British Bake-Off. How Henry liked to keep his socks on in his own apartment. Upon recalling Jaffa Cakes, Alex slipped his hand into his pocket and produced a package of them. He'd found them at the same place where he'd gotten their drinks––a small café he'd discovered on the walk over. He handed them to Henry who grinned at him again. 

"Interesting breakfast choice," he remarked, turning the package over in his hands.

Alex rolled his eyes. "I know you constantly have to replenish your supply. And, with finals coming up in less than a month, I thought I'd help you get started."

Henry's face fell. "Oh," he frowned, "finals. Right."

Alex knew what that meant. Finals, which were fast approaching, meant going home. It meant leaving Henry and Pez and the magic of their strange friendship and returning to Georgetown to finish his degree. Even though he was looking forward to going home and seeing his family and his friends (if he still had any), he was nervous about leaving London. Henry and Pez were the best friends he'd ever had and he couldn't help but get this sinking feeling in his stomach whenever he thought about leaving them. It would be different when he went home. They would carry on with their lives in London and Alex would go back to living in DC. They would always be five hours ahead of him and the talking would get harder and harder until there were just four thousands miles of silence between them. 

"Come on," Alex said, trying to return that light vibe to the conversation. He really hadn't meant to make them both sad with thoughts of the uncertain future. "We've got some ice skating to do."

Henry nodded and handed Alex his tea so he could slip on his pretty, grey peacoat. He took his drink back and followed Alex down to the lobby and outside. 

"These drinks were a lovely idea," Henry said after they had walked for about a block. "It's freezing."

"Its always freezing here. You should come to DC in the summer. Get a dose of sunshine and humidity."

Henry chuckled. "Would you really want me to visit you?"

Alex frowned at him. "What? Of course I want you to visit me! I'm gonna miss you like crazy, H. Plus, I wanna show you all of the American museums that'll make your British sense of superiority crumble to the ground." He looked over at his friend who hung his head, clearly thinking too hard about something. Alex nudged him with his shoulder. "What's wrong?"