How To Love A Dead Boy

Chapter 34 | Worth Every Second

WORTH EVERY SECOND

The clouds are turning orange and pink by the time Ryden and I finally get out of Aunt Dedree's apartment. Out on the path outside the building, I look up at Ryden and draw in my brow. 

"I'm really sorry about that," I say, rubbing the back of my neck. He shrugs, with a casual smile. 

"It wasn't so bad. You're family seems a least slightly sane," he tells me.

"Ha! You should see the Christmas dinners. You'll take that back in an instant," I laugh dryly.

"Pfft. I doubt it. I mean you should have seen the Christmas dinner's my family had. Absolutely barking mad they were. I had cousins playing with fire, cousins out on their dirt bikes in the fields of my grandad's farm and then cousins who just sat around on their phones the whole time," Ryden says, a smile on his face. 

We start walking slowly down the street, and I smile to myself as I try to imagine Ryden and his family at a Christmas dinner table. 

"And where were you?" I ask him, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jacket. 

"I had a shot at everything. One year I set the Christmas tree on fire. Another year I broke an arm when I rode my older cousin’s dirt bike into a tree. And then there was the year I got a big telling off from my mum in front of everyone for being unsociable at the dinner table 'cause I was on my phone. I wasn't even cool enough to be texting friends; I was just playing a dinosaur hunting game," Ryden replies. I look up at him as I see the nostalgia of it all bring a smile to his face. 

"You're so strange," I find myself saying before I can help it. He glances towards me, an eyebrow raised. 

"What? And you're completely normal? It takes one strange person to know another," he says with a dry laugh. 

"I meant it in a good way," I tell him, looking back down at the snow. I kick it as we walk. 

"So did I."

*           *           *

Ryden and I arrive before the London Eye just as the sun has finished setting. I look at my phone and see that it's only four o'clock. It always took forever for me to get used to the really ultra-short days. 

I'm about to go and walk up to by myself a ticket, when I'm stopped. I look back and see that Ryden is gripping my forearm. He stares up at the wheel with a frown. Confused, I step back towards him, taking his hand off of my arm. 

"Ryden? C'mon, let's go," I say. His eyes shoot down to look at me. There's fear in his eyes. For a second he just stares at me, before he shakes his head and suddenly smiles. 

"Sorry. You're right, let's go," he says. 

After lining up for a little while, we finally get into one of the capsules, finding ourselves sharing it with a few other people. Inside, there's a bench down the middle, where an older couple quickly waddle over to and sit down.

Not really sure of where to go, I walk over to one of the windows. It would be a little while before we actually got to the top, so I sit down on the cold ground and Ryden sits down next to me, crossing his legs.

I smile to myself as I see Ryden's legs jittering, wishing that I could be just as excited and nervous. I had been on the London Eye several times as a kid, but I guess it would be fun to be able to see London at night. Looking around the capsule, my eyes land on the older couple sitting on the bench. It's cute how they sit so close to each other, one leaning on the other. 

They remind me of my grandparents on my dad's side, and how they used to sit in their tatty old couch, my Nan’s homemade quilt over their legs, surrounded by end tables covered in doilies. I still remember sitting there in front of their fireplace, probably not even five years old yet, and listening to pa's stories of how he had fought in World War II. After pa had had his turn, Nan would then start talking to me about how she met pa and how I should find a nice boy one day.