Foreign Affair ›› n.h. mature

Twenty-Three

Olivia Allen

It was a beautiful sunny March day in London. Not quite warm but not freezing and the sun was out. It's Friday and I'm with Niall. I'm happy.

"What should we do with our afternoon?" Niall asked me from behind the wheel.

"At home when we finally get a day like this after cold weather, we just like to cruise."

"Cruise?"

"Yeah like a bunch of us just get in the car and drive around listening to good music. Maybe get a happy hour."

He laughed. "Is there nothing to do in Oklahoma?"

"No, there's plenty! Sometimes it's just nice to get away from campus and drive around enjoying the view and listening to music."

"Happy hour? I don't know about in the States but here we aren't allowed to drink and drive," he joked.

"Not alcohol! Like from Sonic. It's a fast food drive-in place. They have happy hour from two to four every afternoon which just means their drinks are half off. Do you guys have Sonic here?"

"Never heard of it so I don't think so."

"Oh. Well you're missing out. They have the best cherry limeades. Fun fact: it actually started in Oklahoma City and now they're all over America."

"Oh how fun," he made fun of me. "I forgot, is Oklahoma City where you're from?"

"No, Tulsa. Well Brookeside, technically. It's a suburb. Except OU is an hour and a half away in Norman which is really close to Oklahoma City so I spend a lot of time there too."

"Well how about we go get cherry limeades and drive out of the city and just "cruise" this afternoon. Since apparently that's the thing to do."

There's a hint of a grin on his face but I still think he means it. "That sounds perfect."

We did just that. We stopped at a deli and got cherry limeades to go and then drove away from the hustle and bustle of London into Greenwich. It was nice to finally see more trees.

I played music the whole time, a mix of my typical country, pop, and his requests, trying to not bore him.

"Just like home?" Niall asked.

"Only difference is I'm not looking at cows. I love this."

"I'm glad you're happy." He squeezed my hand.

"Thank you." I smiled at him.

"Excited for tonight?" He looked over at me.

"Yeah for sure! It will be fun. We haven't really gone out drinking other than just having lunch at a pub since that first night we met."

"Wow that first weekend feels so long ago."

I smiled. "Good times."

"For sure. I remember how much I immediately liked you, but then I was so crushed when I heard you came with Harry. I was scared to step out of line."

"Yes! Remember how we argued over America versus Ireland within the first ten seconds of meeting?"

"I do. I believe we settled on Ireland."

"I believe we didn't." I grinned.

"Some things never change."

I sighed. "I like it that way."

"I just remember sneaking away from the party to make out."

I felt hot with the memory. "Yeah, and I thought my heart was going to come out of my chest!" I added.