💳💥💳💥💳💥 i would like to see more pls
(but only what your comfortable with)
a taste...
He laughed and started unloading the bags. He arranged everything nicely, despite them not having any napkins or plates. He ripped the bread into even pieces, but paused when he got to the cheese.
“Jos, do you mind?” He motioned to her phone which was tucked in her lap and she tapped the flashlight back on.
Out of his pocket came a pocket knife, and Josie felt her whole body tense. She wasn’t afraid of him—if she was, she wouldn’t have gone and he didn’t have that vibe. That being said, knives outside of a kitchen didn’t feel right to her. She had never been around very outdoorsy people and her brothers barely knew their way around a butter knife.
He quickly set to cutting the cheeses into smaller pieces, while she watched in silence. He traded the knife for the corkscrew and popped open one of the bottles.
“There.” He said and handed it to her.
When she took it, her eyes flickered down to the pocket knife that was still in his hand.
“It was my grandfather’s.” He put the corkscrew away and flipped it over. On the other side of the handle, the initials T.C were engraved into the metal. “Theodore Church. He fought in the war. The second one. But he’s gone now. He passed away a year ago.”
Josie swallowed hard. “I’m sorry.”
“He was great.” Ben rubbed the initials with his thumb. “He lived in the countryside and used to make these big adventures out of camping in his garden. He loved to play pretend. He took me to my first audition, actually. I was twelve and it was Peter Pan.” His smile was wide, but sad. “He was great.”
She couldn’t look at him. She couldn’t see the acceptance. She wasn’t ready. “He sounds wonderful.”
“He was.”
She knew that she was supposed to offer up part of herself then, to divulge some vulnerability that would connect them.
Josie took a swig from the bottle.
“Do you use it often? The knife.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
He cleared his throat, sensing the change in the conversation's tone. “Yeah, more than you’d think, actually. Comes in handy during times like these.”
“Oh, so you have ‘times like these’ often?”
“No, no,” he smiled and looked down. “I just mean…impromptu adventures, you know?”
“Yeah,” she said even though she didn’t. Josie’s last adventure had been two years ago and even then, she was an exchange student so her experience was pretty meticulously planned. It needed to be, since she still had deadlines and classes to attend. The only thing close to being impromptu was her trip to Nice. It only lasted three nights and she wasn’t supposed to be there alone, but it ended up that way. It ended up meaning more to her than she imagined and after she got over the slight panic of being there alone, she was able to really enjoy herself.
And now she was back, and the feelings she felt the last time were there but they no longer fit her. That’s the only way she could describe it. She recognized them and tried to feel them again, but too much had changed. The person this place had turned her into years ago didn’t exist anymore. She was waiting again for something new, and she was starting to worry that it wouldn’t come.
She passed him the bottle and he took a sip.
“So, London.” She swiped a piece of baguette through the small mound of goat cheese and popped it in her mouth.
“London.” He repeated. When he didn’t continue, Josie motioned for him to elaborate while she chewed her mouthful. “It’s nice.”
“And yet, you left.”
“I didn’t leave London. I left what was in London. I’ve always loved the city. I’d been dreaming about living there since secondary school. I thought I’d live in the West End–and work there, obviously. Even though that didn’t happen, I still walk through every weekend. I go to the shops on the high street and Borough Market–for a local it’s embarrassing how much I’m there. And I don’t mind the rain, actually. It makes everything smell good.”
He wasn’t looking at her anymore, but picking at a thread on his jeans. Josie could picture it all: the old buildings and windy streets, the fog that greeted her every morning on campus. The way he talked about it made her chest ache.
“Whatever it was, it was that bad that you were willing to leave a place you clearly love?”
“We’re both running, remember?”
“Yeah, but you know why I’m running. I know nothing about you.”
‘Which makes sense since we’re basically strangers.” After he pulled the bottle from his lips, Josie swiped it.
She knew he was kidding, thanks to his smirk, but she wasn’t laughing.
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