Meet Me on Thames Street • All Time Low

Chapter Two

                                                              *Holly*

                 We had finally landed at London Heathrow Airport at 10 pm and I really had to pee. The line for the restroom in the plane was insane – apparently there was something wrong with the food they provided us and over half the people on my flight ended up with food poisoning. I was thankful that I had hoarded my own junk food into my purse and oversized jacket.

            I quickly located the nearest restroom and emptied myself of the large root beer that I had drunk hours before. When I went to wash my hands, I was seemingly oblivious that there was a girl near my age at the sink next to me. That is, until she screamed in my ear.

            “HOLLY!”

            She screamed it repeatedly in various forms of questions and exclamations. It took no time at all for me to realize just who this girl with the ear-splitting shriek was. I mean her dyed red hair, black beanie, and tall stature was a dead giveaway.

            “MARIANNE,” I screamed, “IT’S REALLY YOU!” Then I hugged the life out of her.

            “I wasn’t expecting to see you for another half hour,” my best friend said once she regained her composure. “Our plane landed earlier than expected,” I gushed with a giant grin. Marianne merely screeched in my ear once more before grabbing my wrist and dragging me to the luggage claim.

            Once we had my oversized suitcase and carry-on bag in tow, we found the nearest bureauxde change and traded my American dollars for British notes and coins. After we effectively hit on the young guy working and traded numbers with him, we swiftly made our way to Central Bus Station and waited for the next bus.

            “I already bought our passes, and you can pay me back later,” Marianne said, giggling as she looked at the newly added name in her phone. “Jake was quite the looker, don’t you think?” I just nodded my head and smiled.

            The truth was I wasn’t in London for some summer fling. I just wanted to have a fun summer with my best friends. I had my eye on a boy back home although he never bothered to look my way. It was kind of sad if you thought about it hard enough.

            “Carly and Michaela already got here and settled in at the hotel. They’re probably both asleep right now, actually.” I laughed at Marianne’s words and let it finally sink in. I was in London with three of my closest friends. We were all meeting for the first time, and everything was actually falling into place.

            As people started boarding the bus, I ended up tripping up the steps. That’s why my mom always ironically called me Grace; I was the biggest klutz you’d ever meet. I laughed and stood up quickly before brushing off my sweatpants and towing my heavy suitcase up with me. “That was quite the tumble,” the driver commented. “Are you alright? I said I was fine and gave her an encouraging smile. Then she winked at me.

            I was by all means no homophobe, but I just didn’t bat for that team. I wasn’t sure whether to be offended or take it as a compliment. Either way, I moved on and shuddered before tripping over someone’s foot.

            Once we finally arrived at Victoria Coach Station and retrieved my bags for the final time of the day, we descended on our four block walk to our hotel. I was so jetlagged, but the energy of the city was surging around me. We reached the hotel in record time, and I started squealing the moment Marianne unlocked the door.

            “Christ sake, what’s going on?” A very groggy Carly complained. I then proceeded to tackle her into a hug. “Holly?” She asked, confused. “It’s me!” I cheered before stepping back and allowing her to wake up more.

“HOLLY!” Carly shouted after realizing what just happened. I laughed and did a mini happy dance in the middle of the room before jumping on Michaela’s bed.

“Wake up. WAKE UP. MICHAELA. WAKE UP!” I shouted in between jumps. She only rolled over, or should I say off. After hitting the floor with a thud, she groaned and sat up whilst rubbing the back of her head.

“Fuck you, I was asleep.” I laughed and continued jumping. “HOLLY!” she shouted once she was fully conscious. “MICHAELA!” I yelled back and crossed my fingers that we weren’t going to get complained at by neighbors for being too noisy. Michaela leaped up and pushed me off of the bed before taking back her previous sleeping position.

“It’s nice to see you and all, but I’m tired. We’ll celebrate us all being here in the morning.” Carly said before settling into her on bed once again. I yawned and nodded in agreement.

“Holly, you can do whatever you want really but I agree with those two. I’m tired as hell.” Marianne told me before shoving Michaela over to the other side of her bed and wrapping the other blanket around her.

“I’m actually tired too,” I said with a yawn. “Carly, you better not hog the bed. I swear to God if you do, you’ll be on the floor for the rest of the trip.” Carly flipped me off and snuggled into her pillow even more. I just rolled my eyes and claimed my side of the bed without bothering to change from my sweats and Beatles tee.

As I drifted off to sleep, I pictured different scenarios that this vacation could possibly bring me. From kissing a prince to that boy back home professing his undying love for me via phone call, my imagination wasn’t even close to what awaited me the next day. My final thought before falling into a dreamless sleep was, London, you better be good to me.