Someone Else

Chapter 7

Soundtrack for this chapter
Times like These—Foo Fighters
Soul Meets Body—Death Cab for Cutie
Everybody's Watching Me—The Neighbourhood

7

Instead of travelling by the Tube, I followed Jude to a black SUV with tinted windows that was parked a few streets down from where we had eaten. I walked over to get into the car when Jude threw me a puzzled look.

"Er, do you have your license here?" he asked.

"What? No. I take the Tube to work."

"Well you're standing outside the driver's door."

"I doubt I'll ever outgrow that. Sorry." I walked around the front of the car to where Jude was standing, and he opened the door for me. "Thanks."

Jude shut my door and walked back over to the driver's side of the car. When he started it, music filled the silence. As he drove, we both stayed quiet, but occasionally, I heard him softly sing along to whatever lyrics were being played out, at least until he remembered that there was someone else in the car with him. 

"So...where are we going?" I asked.

"You'll see."

Before I knew it, the car was rolling to a stop and Jude was telling me to close my eyes.

"I'll come open your door and let you out. Then I'll lead you to where we're going."

I looked around to see if I recognized where we were, but I had no clue where he had stopped us, and I was hesitant in answering. "Okay."

"Elle?"

I turned to Jude and saw a mask of confusion on his face.

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

"I hardly know you."

"That's not what I asked." Jude stared deeply into my eyes.

I sighed before responding. "I'm sorry, Jude. You've been nothing but kind, but...I'm cautious, and I've been questioning a lot of things over the past year that turned out to be not what they seemed. I guess I trust you, at least as much as I can trust someone I've just met."

"I get it. Listen, if I were in your place I would also probably question the guy I barely knew driving me around London while trying to disguise himself and telling me to close my eyes." Jude smiled at me and placed one of his hands on mine. "But I promise you, I'm not going to kidnap you or anything."

I smiled back at him and closed my eyes. "Ready when you are."

I felt a soft peck on my cheek and couldn't help the light sensation that was building in my stomach. I think I'd forgotten what it felt like to have a man cause butterflies to float around in there. I heard him get out of the car and open my door, and then I felt him pull my hands to direct me. Jude led me for a few minutes before he stopped and told me to open my eyes.

"Here, we have Westminster Abbey." He gestured his hands towards the impressive structure before us.

"Jude. Robert Browning is buried here. Did you know that? He's my favorite British poet. Oh, and e. e. cummings is my favorite American poet, but he's buried back home in Massachusetts." I realized I was rambling a bit. I tended to get very excited when on the subject of literature. "Sorry, that was a bit of a ramble."