They Say Home Is Where The Heart Is
“We need to take a ride on your motorcycle sometime.”
Twilight perked up as she picked up a conversation happening a few feet away from her as she walked behind her parents, taking in the beautiful sights of London. Twilight looked over, watching a tall boy with dark green hair and pale tan skin walk next to a golden skinned shorter girl with red hair streaked through with yellow.
“Says the guy who’s constantly talking about his ‘kickass scooter’,” returned the girl, making air quotes with her fingers. As they laughed, the girl turned her head slightly in the direction of Twilight. Twilight almost stopped walking right there as she caught a glimpse of her smile.
After a short pause, Twilight shook her head and ran to catch up with her parents. She didn’t take her eyes off the couple as she walked. Soon though, their paths split and Twilight had to follow her parents towards the restaurant they had a dinner reservation at.
The next day and Twilight was leaving a small boutique where she had originally just been looking, but ended up buying more than she really had the money for, but her dad shouldn’t be too terribly mad at her for buying ‘souvenirs’ with her credit card. As she was exiting, she bumped into someone. He rbags went flying, scattering along the entryway. She ended up on the floor. She rubbed her head and adjusted her glasses, looking up to find a golden-colored hand reaching out for her.
“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going!”
There was that voice again. The same one from yesterday. She took the hand, following up her arm and up her blue coat to her face. Looking down at her was the prettiest set of turquoise eyes she had ever seen. Her face was angelic, framed by red and yellow wavy locks.
“It’s okay, I wasn’t watching ei-either,” Twilight stuttered. The girl helped her get up and then together they gathered her bags. “Thank you.” Twilight thanked her once everything was back in her arms.
“Of course.” If Twilight had blinked at that moment, she would have missed the wink the redhead sent her way as she walked off into the store. Twilight walked out, making it only a few feet from the door when she mentally kicked herself. She had forgotten to ask for the girl’s name.
If she went back in now she would look dumb. Twilight accepted her fate and walked off, knowing she would never see the pretty redhead again.
Okay, not the universe was just fucking with her.
Twilight was walking through a market with her family, shopping for a few essentials as they moved to a nicer hotel for the second half of their stay in London before they flew out to Paris for Christmas. She heard a laugh to her right and thought her eyes were deceiving her for a moment. A girl stood with her back to her, red and yellow hair falling loose down her back. She was closing an umbrella in the entryway. She was with that same boy, and Twilight could only assume that he was her boyfriend.
She grabbed a shopping basket, walking into the produce section of the market. She picked up an apple, looking at it with an emotion in her eyes Twilight couldn’t place. Against all her instincts, Twilight found her feet walking her over to the girl.
Next to the apples were the pears. Twilight picked one up.
“How good do you think pears are this time of year?” Twilight found herself trying to make stupid small talk.
The girl looked up from the apple, pulled from a trance-like lock.
“They were best in October,” she says. Twilight found herself hanging on every word she said. Her accent was beautiful, light and airy but mature at the same time. Twilight sets the pear down at the same time the girl sets the apple down.
“Hey, I ran into you yesterday!” she exclaimed, suddenly recognizing Twilight. The boy who came with her who was browsing the fresh vegetables looked up at her outburst.
“Oh yeah, we did? Small world I guess.” They laughed, and Twilight couldn’t think about how cute the girl’s giggle was.
“Are you on holiday?” she asked, looking Twilight up and down, studying her.
Twilight nodded. “My family is touring Europe for a few weeks.”
“It simply is just beautiful here. Especially this time of year. It’s always raining, but sometimes some of the rain turns into snow and they mix and it’s amazing,” the girl gushed, looking out the window.
“I never did get your name. I’m Twilight, by the way/” Twilight blushed at how awkward she was.
“Oh! I’m Sunset. Sunset Shimmer.” Sunset held out her hand and Twilight shook it. She was wearing mittens, but Twilight still managed to memorize every curve of her hand, from the way she held her fingers to the way she gently squeezed as she shook. Twilight never wanted the interaction to end.
“Sunset! Come on, we’ve got to hurry.” The boy came up to them, taking her arm and tugging gently. She rolled her eyes.
“Maybe I’ll see you around, Twilight.” She gave her a small wave before being whisked off.
“Yeah, see ya…”
It was the last day of Twilight’s stay in London. Twilight just wanted to see Sunset again, to take one last good look at her and say goodbye.
They were in the airport, getting ready to fly to France. Twilight knew she wouldn’t find her here, but her eyes couldn’t help from scanning the crowds. They were walking to their gate when she spotted her.
For some reason, she was here, and she was waiting at the gate next to Twilight’s. She was on her phone, texting.
She looked up, locking eyes with Twilight.
“Twilight?” Her voice carried across the terminal. She broke out into a smile. Twilight waved, beginning to walk over.
Sunset’s eyes widened and she reached into her pocket. She pulled out a blue sticky note, handing it to Twilight.
“I’m really sorry. I have to go, but call me some time.” There was that split second wink again. Twilight glanced down at the note. A number was written on it. She recognized it as having a California area code. As she turned to go, one of the questions rushing through Twilight’s mind slipped out.
“What are you doing here?”
Sunset looked back at her, a smirk on her face. In a American sounding voice Twilight had never expected to hear from the local, she said,
“Going home.”
Author's Note
I've been on a Taylor Swift binge lately, letting my Alexa put all her songs on shuffle while I paint. London Boy quickly became one of my favorites from the Lover album, with Soon You'll Get Better and The Archer being close seconds. while I'm no 'Swiftie' I do enjoy her music quite a lot, so there may be more stories loosely inspired by her music in the future, or references to her stuff in my work!
There's a lot of little references in this story, see if you can find them all!
