Last Train Home

Eight

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The cake tastes a bit like lemon, which is a nice change as I was expecting a plain sponge.

"Fun fact, I prefer the lemon flavour over the plain old vanilla," Wyatt pipes up. "Vanilla is boring."

I snort. "I agree about this particular cake. But vanilla isn't boring, Wyatt. Vanilla might be plain but it's nice and sometimes more superior than other flavours."

He swallows his cake and raises his eyebrows at me. "Oh, is that right? I mean, there is nothing wrong with plain vanilla, but sometimes you have to just mix it up a little."

I almost inhale the last bit in my mouth at his insinuation before I compose myself. "Definitely. Other flavours are interesting, but sometimes vanilla is just... better."

His mouth twitches into a sly grin. "Oh, trust me, it can be." He passes me another cake. "So, I demand an embarrassing story."

I roll my eyes in jest. "Oh, for goodness sake. All right..." My voice trails off while I think of one. I haven't actually been that embarrassing; my life has just been coasting along. I suppose the only embarrassing thing I've really done is believe Bruno's stupid words.

But then I remember something. "All right, so during school, when I was like fifteen, we were in science. I think it was biology. But they all blend into one for me. Anyway... the teacher gave us this long list of like, fifteen things we had to do for homework as well as studying for exams. So, I literally just got up, raised my fist in the air and started chanting down with homework like I was some rebel leader in a war or something. Soon enough, everyone starts joining in and yeah, I became the hero of the day. By the end, we still had to do the homework, but we all got detention for it for like two weeks and we had to do it there. I don't even know what possessed me, and my parents were fuming. But it made me popular at school."

Wyatt laughs, wipes his eyes as if he's crying over it, and for a moment, I find myself laughing as well. "What in the world? Starting a revolution when you were only fifteen? I'm impressed and scared."

"I think I was just pissed off because I'm so bad at science I didn't want to do both, plus I was tired that day, so why not. The punishment wasn't worth it, but the popularity for a while afterwards was," I admit.

He chuckles. "I can imagine."

"Your turn, Mister Perfect."

He snorts. "Hardly! Mine isn't as interesting as yours, but it's kind of embarrassing. For the longest time, I thought the Great Wall of China was in Japan—"

I gasp. "What the hell? Wyatt? Seriously? It's in the name."

He holds his hands up as the staff come around with the drinks trolley again. This time I order a tea, and he orders a hot chocolate. The steam comes out of the little takeaway cup as I hold it like a hot embrace. The snow outside is still falling like tiny little white angels against the grey sky outside.