The Longest Time

Prologue

"Do you ever feel like you're destined to do something absolutely amazing?"

"Not really. I mostly feel like I was destined to be the mediocre best friend who gets forgotten by the person destined to do something absolutely amazing after they do said thing."

"You're crazy Eire." A pair of fiery brown eyes, full of mischief, quickly moved from where they'd been looking out the window to meet the gaze of the girl. "Don't you ever think for a second I'd forget you. I'd purposely lose your number and you know it."

A high speed train flew by, rocking the slower one on which these two young women sat as they laughed together. The sound of steel on steel almost drowned them out until it was gone as suddenly as it had come.

"Bitch."

Their laughter caused a few of their fellow passengers to scoff or 'tut' and shake their heads, shaking their newspapers out as they stuck their noses back into them. A mother with a sleeping baby in a buggy even glared. But the two of them were in their own world altogether and paid all of this no mind.

"I've missed you. I'm so glad I could come visit you."

A gentle smile spread across Eire's face. "Me too, Em."

The train's wheels clattered along the tracks, breaking the comfortable silence between them into much smaller chunks. Their gazes drifted to the passing scenery, the buildings passing slower and slower as the train pulled into its final destination.

The girls stepped off the train onto the hard concrete platform. Rare rays of sun shone through the hazy glass above and cast the white-painted wrought iron of the station in a golden glow. They weaved themselves through the oodles of people standing, staring at the departure boards, and made their way toward the exit.

The open air greeted them with a cool breeze that made a fantastic and welcome contrast to the hot, stagnant air that had been in both the train car and the station. The went arm in arm out into the street, heading north to the river.

The smell of candied nuts and barbecued meats carried itself on that relieving breeze as the pair matched their pace to the flowing water beside them. South Bank was packed with people doing the same; enjoying the feeling of the sun on their skin. Their chests fluttered with the excitement of not just being together again at long last, but of being together in such a miraculous place. The city was much busier than the place in which they'd grown up together, and the pair were happy for this. As sleepy and restful as small town life could be, young people crave the hustle and bustle of other people around them.

London runs on this almost codependent relationship: young adults crave noise and London craves youth with its centuries old buildings.

The girls crossed the river toward St. Paul's Cathedral, making sure to take a few pictures together with Tower Bridge standing proudly in the background. On the north side of the river in front of the cathedral, the roads were still bustling with a plethora of perky tourists and grumpy looking business people on their lunch breaks. But as the girls made their way to their destination, the crowds thinned until it was only the pair walking down narrow, slightly dingy alleyways.