“I know I keep saying it, but I’m going to keep saying it, I wish Maddie were here making her classic and sardonic comments on every little thing. She’s the most unimpressed person on the planet on any given subject unless it has to do with soccer. I mean, football. Who knew she’d get so angry at me saying soccer, like, there are more important things,” I sigh, running a hand through my hair, turning to grin at Raleigh.

Maddie had to leave early for the training center, scarfing down nothing but a protein bar, but I guess they do feed them over there. She hugged us both hard in an aggressive display of affection, as if she still can’t believe that we’re all here together, finally. She promised she’d meet up with us at the end of her day, and that left me and Raleigh to slowly get up on our own time, cleaning up Maddie’s apartment, and grabbing the extra key she made for us to lock up.

“See? This is why living in Seoul is better. No keys!”

“What do you mean there’s no keys?”

Raleigh shrugged. “I don’t know about everywhere else, but most apartments I’ve been to have touchpads, where you put in a passcode, and you get in that way.”

“That sounds both wondrous and terrifying,” I say, glancing down at the key and twisting it once inside the lock, making sure Maddie’s place is secure.

We’re currently looking at Westminster Abbey, the both of us wearing light denim jackets in case the overcast clouds decide to finally make the decision to rain today.

I glance over at the abbey, and even standing a whole block away, the wind ruffling through my hair, the beautiful architecture takes up most of my attention.

Raleigh stiffens up next to me just as someone touches the back of my head, startling me, but when I turn to find it’s Ayden, all I can do is give him my biggest smile. “Sorry, Raleigh. I should have told you that Ayden was going to show up.”

Raleigh huffs, almost bending over at the waist, breathing loudly, having clearly taken the drama card from Maddie in her absence.

“Shit, I thought I was going to have to fight off a random stranger and then somehow get thrown out of the country before going to the concert at the end of the week. Shit. Hi, hello.” Raleigh waves when she gets to her full height, blinking at Ayden like she’s trying to place his face, but she doesn’t say anything.

“I’m Raleigh. It’s nice to meet you,” she says, half-stopping herself from bowing a little, a habit she clearly picked up in Seoul, then thrusts her hand out for a shake.

Ayden shakes her hand, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and squeezing me close. It’s nice, having the both of them here, finally introduced outside of video calls and phone calls. It’s nice to share the same physical space.

“What have you been up to?” Ayden asks, pushing some of my hair out of my face and winding it behind my ears, but apparently the wind has other ideas.

“Where haven’t we been?” Raleigh laughs. “My feet and legs are killing me. Aria’s finally in her natural habitat, nerding out over all the architecture and ruins and shit. Have you ever seen someone get so excited over gothic architecture in your life?”

Ayden grins, kisses my nose. “I’m sorry I missed it. I’ve been with my parents all day. Mom and Dad are shopping and walking around.”

I kick at the sidewalk. “Oh. I guess they’re kinda upset that I ditched you, huh?”

Ayden shakes his head. “Of course not. They understand.”

“I’m just so excited…there’s so much to see. Did you sleep well?”

“Raven hogged the bed for the most part, even growled at me, the bugger, when I had to move him over, so I didn’t fall right off.” Ayden turns to Raleigh. “Sorry, we’re being quite rude.”

Raleigh just waves him off. “No, no. You’re both good. Do you want to go and grab some lunch? I could eat.” Raleigh pats at her stomach, glancing around where there’s a thousand and four restaurants we just passed, but nothing’s really calling to us.

“I’ve got the perfect place, actually,” Ayden says, glancing down at me, giving me an affectionate squeeze against his body. “We’re going to have to walk for another twenty minutes or so, if that’s all right? And my parents are going to meet us there, too.”

I glance at Raleigh, who nods, and honestly, just because one of my best friends is going to be there doesn’t make it feel like I should be really nervous hanging around with Ayden’s parents for lunch.

It’s because I didn’t get to eat dinner with them the other night; instead, I took an expensive-as-hell taxi to Maddie’s apartment and stayed the night at her place. So now that we’re gonna have lunch altogether? Yeah, I want Raleigh in my corner, for sure.

“Yeah, sure. Let’s go.”