know ;hes

Chapter 7

"I'm under attack, and I've got it bad for you" - This Century

• • • • •

"So what was Connecticut like?" Harry asks as we stroll along a path next to a river.

"Boring as hell," I say. "Our biggest tourist attraction was probably my neighbor's Coke can fort he built in his front yard."

Harry looks over at me, chuckling.

He was right in saying it's nice out. It's slightly breezy but the air is warm.

He's in a forest green plaid shirt that makes his eyes look brighter than usual with his curly brown locks tucked into a gray beanie. He keeps tugging on it whenever we pass by groups of people but I don't mention it to him. I think he looks hot in it.

"You're from a small town, aren't you?" he asks.

"Minuscule," I say, emphasizing with pinched fingers. "Like, if you looked on the map of Connecticut, Adamsville is half of a quarter of an eighth of a speck of dust."

"And how does a small town girl adjust so quickly to a big city?" he asks.

"Well, it wasn't quick, that's for sure," I confess. "I'm so glad I had my roommate, Effy. I don't think I would've survived here without her."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. During my first week in London, I was still getting used to the currency system and there were, like, twenty impatient people behind me in line at a sandwich shop because I couldn't tell which coin was which."

"So how'd you figure it out?"

"I had to ask the cashier, it was so embarrassing. But after that, I took Effy with me wherever I went and she showed me the difference between ten pence and fifty pence and which route to take on the subway and things like that. I'm a lot better at navigating on my own now."

A couple bicyclists cruise by and we split to make way for them.

"You know, you can tell the difference between coins by the numbers on them," he says, trying to bite back his cheeky smirk.

"I know," I reply defensively. "I guess I was just so nervous when I first came here."

"You thought British money was confusing but you came from the US. Aren't all their banknotes the same size and color? How in the world do you tell them apart?"

I haven't really thought of that before. "Good point," I laugh.

We stop at a bench close to the riverbank. The water looks like a painting with the way it reflects the pastel orange and pink of the evening sky. A duck and her ducklings leisurely paddle toward us. Harry pulls out a package of crackers from his pocket and begins breaking off small pieces to feed them.