[ONC 2022 SHORTLISTER] She was running from something while he was running to something. When strange circumstances throw them together, they realise that home isn't just where you sleep at night.
When Lily Gilmore visits her family home over Chris...
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Life is strange, right? You get one; you're told to enjoy it but also told to work hard. You only get one go at it, yet you're told to take risks and enjoy those risks. I haven't checked my phone in a good hour and a half, but I make the risk of checking it. More voicemails, which I assume are from Bruno because I can't see he's messaged me since I blocked him. A few messages from my mother, and a few calls from her too.
Life is strange enough to have brought me on this train for a reason. Wyatt takes the phone from my hands and places it on the table so I don't get tempted.
I suppose life is also strange yet beautiful. There are beautiful things within the unexpected, right? Not only are they unexpected by nature, but they also bring things you don't look for and that makes it beautiful.
Beautiful like a dark-haired, light-eyed, dimpled Welsh man.
"Instead of worrying about them, why don't you tell me about your life outside of this place? Job, degree, that kinda thing?" Wyatt asks.
"You're distracting me," I point out.
He laughs. "Absolutely, and I'm glad to see it's working."
I roll my eyes in jest and tell him, "I'm doing a work placement in the National Museum. Got it through the university, but they've offered for me to have a Saturday job till I graduate, then get a permanent job with them."
"That's amazing!" he enthuses.
I nod. "Yeah, I know. I just don't know what I want to do after. I'd love to go and teach in Egypt or something. I don't know, it's probably a pipe dream, but getting a job in the museum is a good start. It's just so early on, I haven't even thought beyond paying my bills yet."
He grins. "It's not a pipe dream if you do your research and work hard. But that job will look good on your CV anyway."
"What about you? I mean, I didn't think accountant when I looked at you."
He laughs and shakes his head. "I mean, not many people look at others and think they have it in them. It's a hard degree. But I don't know what I'm going to do. Everything is up in the air right now, what with Rose and everything. I was thinking I could start my own business in accounting or something, I don't know."
"That'd be amazing, though."
"Maybe I could be your personal accountant," he teases.
I snort. "They say accountants make good money, so maybe that first date might go very well after all."
He winks, and when he smiles those dimples come back out. My breath hitches a little with his implication.
