Like Never Before

London. They were finally in London! Well. Not really London, at least not technically. They were stuck inside the plane, waiting to disembark so they could go through customs and grab their baggage, but that wouldn’t take long, only an hour or so. Ella was relieved that the plane had finally landed. She had spent the flight wide awake, the mixture of excitement and nervousness, refusing to let her sleep, but now that they had landed safely, she felt at ease. She felt ready for everything that was to come. She had a very long, detailed list about what she had to do while she was in England. Most of which consisted of taking tours that she’d read about on the internet or heard of from friends, but there were also a few sports matches that she wanted to go to. As well as a few spots outside of London that she really wanted to visit, the most notable of which were Bath and Brighton. She’d read about them in Jane Austen novels and had seen them in the film adaptations, so she had to go there. There was another place that she wanted to go to, a small town in Ireland, but she wasn’t sure if that was a good idea. She’d wait on it. See if she thought differently.

For the time being, she would focus on London, on starting life anew and seeing where things went for her. Sessions with her therapist would begin in a week. Lectures at King’s College London would begin in three. Although, to be completely honest, she wasn’t as worried about school as she probably should’ve been, she was only taking thirteen units, the minimum requirement by the university and even then, her courses weren’t upper division courses. They were two introductory courses to European politics and a philosophy course that dealt primarily with ancient philosophy. It was only three courses per semester. She was used to taking five courses. Once, she’d taken six. So taking three would be simpler, give her time to explore and unwind, which was the real reason why she wanted to go abroad. She had been looking forward to studying in London since she first started college, which was why she took so many units during the first two years, so she’d be able to go abroad guilt free. Evan had the same courses as she. They figured that since they were both majoring in the same subjects, it’d be best to take the same classes so they could do the work in half the time and have the same time off.

Hopefully they’d be able to pay attention during lectures, since they didn’t exactly have the best track record of paying attention when they were together. In the last class they had together, they ended up getting glared at by the professor on numerous occasions, before the professor finally lost it and scolded them in front of the entire class. It was embarrassing to be scolded like a pair of five year olds that couldn’t stop giggling, but as embarrassing as it was, they didn’t really feel guilty about it and halfway through the scolding, they ended up getting told to move to the back of the lecture hall because he no longer wanted to look at them. They thought that was a bit overdramatic.

Especially since their only crime had been laughing at him when he hit himself in the eye with the clicker for his presentation, something which he had done very often throughout the course of the semester, they didn’t think there was anything wrong with laughing at him over that. After so many weeks, they figured that he’d have known better, but he was still hitting himself and if he was stupid enough to keep abusing his eyes, then he deserved to get laughed at. At least, that’s what they thought.

A smile played across her lips as she remembered how red their professor’s face had gotten while he scolded them. She honestly thought the old man was going to pass out from anger.

“Evan,” she called to him. “Remember that time we got told off?”

His lips curled upwards. “How can I forget? Honestly thought he was going to write our names down and fail us for being cheeky little bastards.”

“We weren’t being cheeky.”

“What were we being, then?” he turned his face in her direction, staring intently upon her face.

“Hmm,” she pressed her finger to her chin. “I like to think that we were simply appreciating his innate comedic abilities.”

“Should’ve told him that when he went off on us.”

“Nah, I think my giggling while I said, you fucked your eye up, was so appropriate.”

“So appropriate that it got us sent off to Serbia!” he joked.

“Hey, I didn’t force you to laugh when I said that. If you’d just held your laugh in, you could’ve stayed in the front.”

“Wouldn’t have been any point in that.” He said. “Both know that in that class, we had to stick together.”

“And we still barely managed to get a B-.”

“Highest grade in the class was a B+, so what we got wasn’t really that bad.”

“Guess you’re right, but I bet if someone else had taught it, we would’ve gotten A’s. That professor didn’t know how to teach, his helpers sucked and the readings he chose were confusing as hell. Felt like I was decoding some ancient text whenever I opened up his reader.”

“You’re mad, you are!” he laughed.

“And you must be fucking insane if you willingly hang out with me.” Ella rested her head on his shoulder and peered up at him. “Can’t believe we’re actually here . . .” she mumbled.

Evan nodded in agreement, “Feels like just yesterday we were putting in our applications. And now . . . now we’re here. And once my parents leave, we’ll go out to bars, see the city at night like it’s meant to be seen.”

“Is it beautiful at night?” she asked.

“From what I’ve seen, it is. Can’t really say much about the bars,” he smiled sheepishly. “Never been to the ones out here,” he explained. “Mum says only way I can go out is if I go out with my brother, but I don’t really get on with Hugo, so I’ve never been.”

“Your mom’s adorable.”

“She is,” he agreed. “And she was so ecstatic when I told her, we’d be here together. Think she’s gonna start a wedding registry for us, with the way she’s been acting.”

“Maybe that’s why she got the family together to welcome us. This is probably gonna be a surprise engagement party. We’re gonna walk in and everyone’s going be congratulating us.”

Evan parted his lips to speak, but was silenced by the booming voice of the blonde stewardess, “Ladies and gentleman, welcome to London Heathrow Airport where the local time is approximately 6:22pm. The captain has parked us at the gate and turned off the seatbelt sign. Please use caution when retrieving your personal belongings from the overhead bins, as contents do shift during flight. On behalf of your crew, we thank you for flying with us today. We hope you have a great day in the London area or wherever your final destination may be.”

The pair exchanged grins, before unfastening their seatbelts and grabbing their carry on luggage from the overhead bins. With their luggage in tow, they waited for the first class passengers to head out, and then they followed suit. They walked out of the tunnel, emerging into the terminal where others were waiting to board that very plane back to America. Ella couldn’t help but smile as she walked out. She felt taller, as if she had grown a foot in the last eleven hours of her life. It was foolish. She knew it was, but she just . . . she felt better. She’d only just stepped off the plane but she already felt so much freer than she had in the previous year.

Evan noticed the difference in her composure and asked, “Happy?”

“Very fucking happy,” she answered honestly.

“Just wait until you actually see London. It’s absolutely beautiful and it’ll probably be all lit up by the time we get through customs.”

“Do you think it’s gonna take very long? I’ve never been through customs as a foreigner.”

“Thought you’ve been to Mexico, though,” he commented.

“Yeah, but Mexican customs is a joke. All you have to do is walk through and then they charge you a fee for stepping on Mexican soil and that’s it.”

“Are you serious? They charge?”

Ella nodded. “They charge for everything at Mexican airports. It’s ridiculous. Like I always weigh my bags before I go to the airport in Guadalajara and they’re usually four lbs less than they’re supposed to be, yet somehow, when they get weighed at the airport, they’re always over and then they try to make you pay for it, but they forget about it, if you have an actual Mexican person there that speaks good Spanish and will fight with them over it.”

“But you speak Spanish really well.”

“Not good enough. People always know I'm American and then they try to charge me more for stuff than they do to the people that live there. That’s why when my papa Gabriel takes me to the market, he has me point to what I want and then he gets it for me. That way they don’t try to charge us more for it.”

“Do they charge a lot more for it?” he asked as they approached the customs area.

“Not a lot more, it ends up being like a dollar, but it adds up quick. Especially considering the fact that with one dollar, you can get a soda, chips and some gum!”

“Are they all in miniature?”

“Nope, it’s good sized stuff! And believe me, Mexican coca cola is the best. They use real fucking sugar in the recipe.”

“I’ve had that one, right? At that restaurant your parents took us to.”
Ella nodded.

“You’re right. It was delicious. Sugar truly does make a difference.”

While they waited in line to get through customs, they kept talking about how much better sodas taste when they have sugar in them instead of high fructose corn syrup. The line in customs moved fairly quickly and after having their respective passports checked and answering a few questions, they were finally allowed to walk into London.

“Welcome to London, Miss Acosta, enjoy your stay,” spoke the customs agent.

“Thank you, Sir,” she managed to croak out as he handed back her passport. “Evan!” she practically jumped on him as she went to give him a hug. “We’re in London! We’re in fucking LONDON!”

Evan let out a booming laugh and held onto her tightly, his face buried in her mess of dark brown curls that smelt strongly of wildflowers. “Haven’t seen you this happy in ages,” he whispered.

“I haven’t been this happy in a long time,” she pulled away, her eyes brimming with tears of joy. “This is a new start, Evan. And it’s gonna be fucking rad. I can feel it.”

“Well then lets start this properly,” he said, arms still wrapped around her. “We’ll grab our bags, meet up with Hugo and then go home. Oh God. Sounds strange saying that,” he mused aloud. “Never called London home before, it was Berlin when I was a boy and New York when father was reassigned.”

“And now it’s London,” she added with a smile, patting his chest with her hand as she did so. “Are you ready for it?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” he took her hand in his and they journeyed to the baggage claim area where their luggage was barely being unloaded.

It was there that they pulled their belongings from the baggage conveyor belt. Ella waited with their luggage while Evan went off to grab a cart for them. When he came back, they piled their belongings on it and walked out to the pick up area. They were supposed to meet his brother there. His mother had made it very clear that they were not to take a cab home. The honor was to be bestowed upon Hugo, whom had personally volunteered to pick them up. Evan knew that wasn’t true. Hugo never volunteered for anything. He only cared about himself and only helped others when it was absolutely necessary. Their mother would never acknowledge that about her son. In her eyes, both her boys were sweet dears. And in the eyes of her husband, they were both fine young men that were well on their way to becoming extraordinary lawyers, just like him.

Sure enough, Hugo was waiting for them. He was dressed in a grey suit, looking as if he’d just gotten out of the office, which he had. He’d been working late, having only gotten off of work at five o’clock that evening. He’d then rushed over to the airport, cursing his brother the entire way there and once he arrived, he started messing about with his smart phone. He wanted to look busy, to make his younger brother feel guilty for having been picked up by him. Hugo was, at least in looks, very similar to Evan. He stood well above the six foot mark and had strong, broad shoulders. His hair was a dark shade of blonde and eyes were a cool grey. He was the twenty six year old version of Evan.

“Evan,” he greeted him coolly, bowing his head slightly in acknowledgment.

“Hugo.” Evan gave Hugo the exact same treatment.

And as Ella stood there, watching the strange exchange, she couldn’t help but think that maybe, at some point, they were going to hug or tell each other that they really missed one another. That’s how things were done in her family. If you hadn’t seen someone in over a week, a big fuss had to be made, complete with tight hugs, kissing of cheeks and exclaiming over and over again, just how much you missed them. But that wasn’t going to happen, not with these two.

“Gabriella, this is my brother, Hugo,” Evan handled the introductions. “Hugo, this is my girlfriend, Gabriella.”

“It’s very nice to finally meet you.” Ella spoke, a friendly smile decorating her face as she stepped forward to hug him.

Hugo was caught off guard by the hug. He immediately tensed, but after a moment managed to muster a weak hug in return. “Pleasure to meet you as well, Gabriella.”

“That made you uncomfortable, didn’t it?” she took a step back. “Sorry about that. It’s just that we’re huggers in my family and I just went for it. My apologies,” she added nervously.

“Quite alright,” he reassured, forcing a smile onto his face that didn’t serve to put anyone at ease. How was the flight?” he asked her, completely ignoring his brother.

“A bit long, but thankfully it was very smooth, no turbulence.” Ella replied. “I hope there wasn’t a lot of traffic on your drive here.”

“There wasn’t. It was very light.” It was now that Hugo looked over at Evan. “Are you ready to go now?”

“Obviously,” answered Evan.

“Now, now, be polite. Wouldn’t want to seem like a prat in front of your girlfriend, would you?” he looked over at Ella. “Forgive my brother; he can be a bit of brute.”

Evan held back a curse word. He wasn’t going to let his brother get to him. Not this early on.

“You say that like there’s something wrong with being a brute,” replied Ella as she looked over at Evan and wiggled her brow suggestively.

That was clearly not the reaction Hugo was looking for. He wanted to embarrass his brother, something he’d been doing for most of his life, and since it backfired, he said, “We should get going. Mum has the family over for a dinner in your honors.” Hugo turned around and proceeded to lead them out.

“Thank you,” whispered Evan, his eyes twinkling mischievously. “That prat won’t be running his mouth around you anytime soon. Hah. I can’t get over the look on his face! Looked like he wanted to run out, he did. Oh. Wish I could’ve gotten that on camera. Really framed the moment!” he chuckled.

“Next time I’ll make sure to take a picture. I’ll keep a camera handy for when I say something to make him feel awkward.”

“Please do! Now come on, time to show you off to my family.”

Ella laughed. “The things I do to have a nice home in London,” she joked.