It's been two months since the Toronto campaign ended. I'd kept close with Ella, and gotten into a few playful Twitter fights with Finlay, but I'd never heard from Asa. A part of me was thankful that he didn't try to contact me after. It would've made me feel worse that I threw away a friendship like that.
Finals were over, and the summer break was in. I was working as an intern at an advertising firm for a couple of weeks to help with my resume.
"Hey Anaïs, what's up?" the manager of my section, Chris, came by every so often to check up on the interns, to make sure we weren't getting too overworked.
"I just finished the sketch for that new DMV up the street. I'll give it to Helen when I'm done," I responded, typing away at my computer.
"That's what I like to hear," he said, happily walking away. I sighed.
I loved the internship, but it took a lot out of me. I haven't had a real break for over two months. I jumped straight into the internship after finals week. But, thankfully, the internship was over today, so I had about one week of real vacation before school started again.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I reached inside to get it.
To: Anaïs
From: Ella
Check your mail when you get home!
I raised an eyebrow, putting my phone down on the desk. Ella was full of surprises, she really was. She kept me up to date with the campaigning schedules and was often ranting about the boring questions that they would often get.
It seemed like days until the work day ended. When Chris came around to tell us that our final shift was over, I quickly packed my bag and headed out. It was a Friday night, but all I wanted to do was sleep. I was finally free of work, and I wanted to just be able to relax. It was rush hour, so trains were slow and buses were packed to the very brim. It seemed like an eternity to get home, but I finally did. Stepping inside the house, the strong smell of congee and oyster sauce took over. It was good to be home.
Sitting at my desk, I ran over a couple of old designs for some old projects, sipping on a warm cup of tea. My final project for this year stared me in the face. It was for Miss Peregrine's. After the photoshoots, I drew inspiration from the photos of Asa and Ella, and they just kind of worked well together. Looking at it, I shook my head. I liked Asa, I liked him more than the average person. Maybe because he was kind of nice, and funny, and just overall friendly. I wish I wasn't so awkward about it all.
A knock at my door pulled me away from my own thoughts for a moment.
"Come in!" I exclaimed, closing the computer.
"Hun, there's some mail for you," my mother said, shuffling through a collection of envelopes and handing me a few.
"Thanks Ma," I said, rifling through them.
There were some letters from the bank, followed by one in a golden envelope. Looking at the return address, it made a bit more sense. It was from Ella.
Opening the letter inside, I began to read.
Dear Anaïs,
It's been so long since I've seen you, and I miss you so much! I'm back in London since the Miss Peregrine's publicity stuff has kind of stopped for a little bit. Since you have the next two weeks off, I thought I would do something special for you. I know we talked about it earlier, but you can finally come to London. You can stay with me for the week and we can spend all our time together! The boarding pass is below! See you soon!
Yours truly,
Ella
Underneath the letter was a boarding pass, taped to the paper. Picking it up, I examined it. The plane was leaving tonight. Are you kidding me? I checked the time, it was 7:45. The plane leaves at 10:30.
"Ma!" I shouted, running to the door. "I'm going to London tonight!"
"You're what?!"
I don't know how it happened, but I managed to shove two weeks' worth of clothes into a suitcase in half an hour. I needed to get out of this place, even if was for a little. I had to thank Ella when I got there, this was incredible.
Sitting on the plane, the nerves began to build. Sure, I was excited to go to London, who wouldn't be? But, this meant that I would be that much closer to Asa. Before, there was half a giant land mass and an ocean separating us. Now, it will be just miles. I sat between a sleeping man and a looker looking guy for the entirety of the six-hour flight. I deeply sighed, preparing myself for landing. I couldn't help but have butterflies in my stomach. London was calling, and I was lucky enough to answer.
As I left the luggage belt, I could see Ella flailing her arms around as we made eye contact.
"Ella!" I exclaimed as I ran up to hug her.
"Anaïs! I'm so glad you made it!" she said, hugging me back.
We walked side by side as we walked out of London Heathrow and into the giant city that is London.
Getting to Ella's apartment (or as she calls it, a flat), I immediately went to bed. Having stayed up so long during the flight and through the day before, I needed sleep before anything else. She ended up going out with some friends that night, and I spent the entire night in the guest bedroom. Nothing felt better than sleep at that moment.
Waking up, it was about 8 AM on Sunday, I had essentially slept through an entire day. I would've called my family, but due to the time zone changes, they were probably still asleep. I shuffled around the room, thinking about what I should do. I walked out of the guest room into the living room of the flat. The sun lit up the flat nicely, and I could tell that Ella was proud of it.
"Anaïs? Are you awake?" I turned to see Ella standing in the doorway of her bedroom, looking as if she climbed out of a grave.
"Yeah," I said, yawning. "Just barely."
Ella shuffled over to me, her bunny slippers making small squeaking noises as she did so. She pulled me into a hug.
"I'm so glad that you're here Anaïs."
The morning went by fast as we cooked up a quick breakfast and watched television for a good portion of the morning and afternoon. We did this for a day or two as we wanted to spend some time inside catching up, though, there wasn't much to catch up on.
It was now Tuesday, and you had finally adjusted to the time zone change. At about 11, Ella had finished showering and was in the process of picking an outfit.
"Hey Anaïs," she called from her bedroom.
"Yeah El?" I called back, flipping through some channels.
"Should I wear a black or white shirt with this skirt?" she asked, coming out with her options.
"White shirt," I said, "It goes with the weather."
She nodded as she ducked back into her bedroom to put together the outfit.
"What are we doing today?" I asked, opening the bathroom door.
"Fin and Asa are coming over today, we'll take you out for lunch or something. We can explore the city a little bit," she explained as she came out of the bedroom, fully dressed.
"I'm just going to run out to get something from the shops, do you need anything?" she asked, slipping on a pair of shoes.
I shook my head.
There was a knock at the door, and Ella ran to get it. I could hear the door open.
"Hey guys!" Ella exclaimed. "Anaïs! Fin and Asa are here!"
I immediately closed myself in the bathroom, locking the door behind me. Why did I do that? I could've easily just stayed outside and confronted him. But in my Hello Kitty pyjamas?
I turned on the shower, stripping down and tossing my clothes into a pile on the floor. Stepping into the hot shower, I could feel my muscles relax. For the time being, the water would be able to wash away all my worries.
After my shower, I stepped out, wrapping a towel around myself. Looking around, I realised that I didn't have any new clothes to put on. The last thing I wanted to do was walk out essentially naked in front of Asa or Fin. I had to act quickly. Opening the door, I peeked through to see if anyone was in the living room. It was empty. Maybe they went with Ella to the shops. Fully opening the door, I took a deep breath of cool air as I stepped out into the living room.
"Were you looking for somebody?" My heart jumped.
Looking beside me, I saw the all too familiar Asa Butterfield standing there, his hands in his pockets.
"I-um... I forgot my clothes in the bedroom, so I'm just going to go there," I said, quickly moving past him and into the guest room, closing the door behind me.
I rested my back on the cool door. Of all people, it had to be him.
I rustled through my clothes before I pulled out a pair of white shorts and a dark blue t-shirt out of my suitcase. Pulling those on, I tossed my hair up into a bun to keep it from dripping on the floor or all over any of the furniture that I might encounter.
Opening the door, I could hear the television playing some random show, and I knew I'd have to face him eventually, this time not in the nude. Sitting on the other side of the sofa, I nervously ran my hand over my wet hair.
"We've got to talk at some point," he said as I looked down at the floor below.
I was quiet. I didn't know what to say, what to do.
"Come on Anaïs," he moved next to me on the sofa. "We can't keep going on like this."
"I know," I said, finally. I looked up at him, and he looked back at me with those all too familiar blue eyes.
"It was a mistake," he said. "A drunken mistake."
"A very drunken mistake," I said with a dry laugh.
He smiled, giving my shoulder a squeeze.
"Glad to be talking to you again. These last couple of months seemed off without you."
"We knew each other for a week, you couldn't have missed me that much," I said as crossed my legs underneath me.
"Ella did," he said. "She wouldn't shut up about you!"
"What can I say? People can't get me out of their heads; I have that effect on people," I joked, adjusting my glasses.
"Yeah, you do."
"How are you and Ella?" I asked, my eyes blankly staring at the television. It was generally recent news that he and Ella had become official, but fans speculated that they'd been together much longer than they put out.
"We're good. It's been just over a few months now, great girl," he said.
"A few months?" I asked, counting backwards in my head. "That would mean that..."
"I cheated on Ella," he finished, grimly. "Yeah, I did."
We sat silently on the couch, the sound of the television in the background. It was an uncomfortable silence. I never thought of Asa as the cheating type, but he was drunk that night, and so was I. Did Ella even know? Did Asa tell her?
About 5 minutes later, I could hear Ella's voice coming up from behind the front door.
"Mum, I thought you said that you were coming next week," she said as she opened the door. She waved at me and Asa as she walked into the kitchen, a bag in her hands. "You can't just switch the dates mum; I have someone else staying here for the week! No, it's not Asa."
I waved to Fin who came in as well, carrying a few other bags to the kitchen.
Ella sighed loudly as she walked out of the kitchen. "So, my mum's coming to town tonight and wants to stay here," she said, exasperated.
"I can find a hotel," I said, quickly getting up.
"You could probably stay with Asa," Fin said, popping out from the kitchen.
"Fin, I don't think that..."
"I think that's a wonderful idea!" Ella exclaimed. "Asa doesn't live too far, so we can still see each other pretty often. Doesn't that sound like a good idea Ace?"
I looked over at Asa who was trying to distance himself from the conversation, but he knew there was no escaping it.
"I mean, I do live nearby." It sounded more like he was stating a fact than agreeing with Ella, but she took it as agreement anyway.
"Great! Then it's settled. Anaïs, you can stay with Asa for the rest of the time," she said, excitedly.
"Uh, sure," I said, forcing a small smile. "Why not?"
I could think of a million reasons of why I shouldn't go stay with Asa, but none of which I could say to anyone without making both of us look like fools. My stuff was in the back of Asa's car, and we'd be using it to travel today, so we'd just unload when we got there at the end of the day.
"Where to?" Fin asked as we piled into the car, Asa driving, Ella beside him, and Fin and I in the back.
"Let's visit Trafalgar Square, that's a great place to start," Ella said, putting on her sunglasses.
We ended up parking at a train station, then took the London underground to Trafalgar Square. I hadn't been told much about London, but from where I stood in the square, everything felt so surreal. I couldn't help but smile at the sight. I pulled out my phone, eager to take photos. Looking through the screen I tried to focus on one of the statues, but something caught my attention on the corner of the screen. Asa and Ella were standing there, lip locked. I put the phone down and averted my gaze. I didn't want to come to terms with what happened that night, especially now that I know I betrayed one of my best friends.
"Hey," I heard Fin come up behind me.
"Hey," I said as I leaned in for a hug. Without warning, Fin hugged my waist tight before lifting me into the air.
"Fin!" I exclaimed, laughing. "Put me down!"
"Never!" he exclaimed as he threw me over his shoulder and ran off with me. I couldn't stop laughing.
Looking out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ella laughing, her arms around Asa, who watched on with an emotionless stare. Fin eventually put me down, and we weren't too far from the square, but out of view of Ella and Asa.
"What's a Scotsman got to do to get a drink 'round here?" he asked, walking down the street of restaurants. We walked into a nearby pub, which was surprisingly populated for 3 in the afternoon.
We sat at the bar, Fin ordering an ale, and ordering myself a bottle of beer. As I took a sip, I grimaced. I forgot how horrible English beer tasted. Fin laughed at me as he took another swig of his own.
"Welcome to London, Anaïs."
Asa and Ella eventually found us and we sat around, having a decent conversation.
"Fin actually jumped into the pool, it was hilarious," Ella laughed as she picked at the pile of fries (or chips as they were called here) in the middle of the table.
I looked over at Fin, who gave me a cheeky smile.
"You're such an idiot," I laughed, tossing a fry at him.
"Don't waste the chips!" he exclaimed, picking the fallen potato on his shirt and tossing it into his mouth.
I rolled my eyes, looking over to Ella who was across from Fin, and quickly glancing at Asa who was beside her, across from me.
I felt Fin's arms rest across my shoulders, pulling me to him in a side hug.
"It's great that you came Anaïs," Fin said, "It gives me a break from these two snogging each other's faces off."
I gave him a small smile.
"It's great to be here, I've always wanted visit here. Thanks for keeping me company," I said, looking at them all.
Looking at the time, it was nearing 6 in the evening and the sun was visibly setting.
"We should probably get out of here," Asa said. "It's getting late." We all agreed.
Getting back to the train station, we got into Asa's car, driving towards Ella's apartment. When she got out, I went with her, giving her a tight hug, thanking her for the trip. She shook her head as she walked through the main door.
Next was Fin's place. It was on the farther end of northern London, but it seemed like a good area. He pulled me into a hug as he got out. We both pulled back, and I gave him a smile.
"Have a good night," I said, my voice somewhat quiet.
He looked at me, almost contemplating something. He shook his head as if to get rid of a thought.
"Good night," he said, opening the door and walking out.
As Fin walked away into the building, I expected Asa to continue moving, but he didn't. "Asa? Are we just going to sit here?" I asked, impatiently tapping my leg.
"Why won't you talk to me?" he asked, looking back at me.
"I am talking to you," I said, matter-of-factly.
He sighed. "We were friends before this, why can't we just go back to that?"
I was silent.
The ride home was unbearably awkward; the only sound was the occasional cough. Pulling up the in the apartment parking, I sighed, mentally preparing myself for these next few days.
Asa's apartment was a lot cleaner than I anticipated. Moreover, I didn't have very high standards to begin with.
"Are you hungry?" he asked as he dropped the suitcase by the door.
"Not really," I said, walking around the small apartment. There was only one bedroom.
"I'll take the couch," he said, walking through the living room setup.
I shook my head. "I'll take the couch. It's your bed."
"But you're the guest," he retorted.
I sighed, knowing that this argument could go on for days if we didn't stop it early enough. "Fine," I said, running a hand through my hair. "I'll take the bed."
Asa looked pleased with himself as he hauled the suitcase to the bedroom.
I shook my head, chuckling to myself. He may have won the battle, but I'm going to win the war.
A/N: Hey there! I hope that you enjoyed chapter 3 of Connections! A new chapter will be up soon! Don't forget that imagine requests are open if you'd like something specific. Stay peculiar! <3