AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My scholarship only pays half my tuition. And that means on top of room and board and helping my mom, I’ve got to come up with a lot of money each month. So, I work a lot and had to save every penny I could to afford this trip. Even then, I was only able to afford it because Dave’s brother, Jacob, lives here and is letting us stay with him. But, I’ve been wanting to give her this trip for a long time. And looking down at the smile of pure happiness on her face makes all of the sacrifice feel like nothing.
Once we’re on the walkway in front of the giant Ferris wheel, I force us to come to a stop.
“Why aren’t we walking anymore?” She pouts and wrinkles her nose at me.
“Because we’re going to fall, Sunshine.” I tug at her arms
“No, we won’t. I’m your cape, remember?” She smiles cheekily and only holds on tighter.
“Right.” I look over my shoulder and raise a mockingly skeptical eyebrow. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you’re on backward.”
“Well, maybe I’m the superhero, and you’re the cape,” she says.
“I’m not sure if I’m a cape, but you most certainly are a superhero.” I tap the end of her sweet nose before I pull her into me for a hug.
It’s almost eight o’clock in the evening. The riverside is awash in blue light from the hundreds of fairy lights strung on the trees that line either side of the walkway, and it makes the whole evening feel … magical.
“Thank you so much for today. It was perfect.” She pulls out of my hug and tilts her face up at me. The flurry of freckles that I love so much is even more prominent now than they’d been when she was a girl.
I cup her cheek, and take her in. The same blue lights that make the riverbank sparkle, flicker over face, and her hair.
“You’re perfect,” I say. A smile curves her peach-colored lips, their perfectly bowed shape still visible even when her lips widen. That chin of hers is so expressive, so fucking stubborn.
But it’s her eyes that are my undoing. They hold a universe of futures in them. Each of them composed of galaxies that burn bright with possibility. With them, she sees everything. And nothing and no one is insignificant when Apollo looks at them.
I want to be her.
I want to be hers. More than I want to be anything.
But I know this isn’t the time. Not yet.
“Thank you for the best eighteenth birthday anyone’s ever had.” She tips her head and smiles at me.
“The best anyone’s had? Ever?” I say doubtfully. But, I’m smiling right along with her, because I think it’s been pretty good, too.
“Ever,” she repeats, adding a firm nod of that expressive chin that makes me want to kiss her so badly.
“Well,” I stare upward in mock contemplation. “I think, that just maybe, the queen of this beautiful country might have had a better eighteenth than flying to London in economy class, sleeping on a friend’s pullout, and doing all of the fun stuff in London on the cheapest tickets possible.”
“Well, I bet she didn’t get to see Ryuchie Sakamoto perform just for her at The Royal Festival Hall,” she huffs.
“Apollo, we snuck into the rehearsal,” I remind her with a laugh.
“We did not sneak in. That lady let us in,” she protests but laughs, too.
“Only after you told her she could touch my hair.” I shake my head at how easily she talked into that ridiculous scheme.
“It worked, right?” she says as if that proves her point. She wanted to see that show so badly. I tried for months to get tickets. But, they were sold out at the box office. The scalper’s prices were way too rich for my blood. I told myself that I would bring her back. One day when I could afford it, and I’d surprise her with it.
I stop arguing and just let her enjoy her birthday. I know she doesn’t care we’re doing the city on a budget. Today is the best day I think either one of us has had in a long time.
“So, what’s next? I feel like we’ve done so much today already,” she asks and then yawns.
“You tired? I packed a lot into today. I figured we were only here for the weekend and I wanted to make sure we got to see as many of the major sites as possible. We can stay in tonight, if you—” I’d forced her to stay up when we landed early this morning. Dave said it was the best way to avoid jet lag. But it meant that we’d both been awake for almost twenty-four hours.
“No.” She stops us and pulls me to the railing that lines the Queen’s Walk and turns us so we’re facing each other. She grasps my hands in hers and says, “Tired is the last thing I am. This whole trip has been incredible. I can’t believe you remembered about Fortnum and Mason’s. That might have been better than meeting Zadie Smith and getting my first edition of White Teeth signed.” She laughs.
“How in the world could those little sandwiches and a cup of tea be better than meeting, and I quote, ‘favorite author and the muse of my life, Zadie Smith’?” I shake my head at her.
