Free Lines We Forget by J.E. Warren Page A

he wants to leave just yet, but she feels like it’s more a case of when , not if.
    As he tilts his head and peers down, she finds the courage to let him know it’s fine if he wants to get dressed, leave.
    He puts his hand on the side of her waist. “Nope, I’m good. Have all I need here. That’s if you’re okay with it?”
    “You want to stay over?”
    “Yes, I just don’t want to out stay my welcome, though. You can say no.”
    Anna laughs. Not in a mean or horrible way, but with hearty warmth that means she can’t believe her crazy luck. How she’s gotten so fortunate.
    “Of course, it’s fine. If you’re sure you want to.”
    When Charlie buries his head close to hers, breathing softly, she laughs again.
    Because she really could get used to having him beside her, into the late hour of night, close and warm, skin-to-skin, deep under the covers.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Six
     
     
    Charlie
     
    December 13 th 2008
     
    “What’s that myth about swans again?” Anna asks, hands full of breadcrumbs. Charlie quietly laughs at how eager and excitable she is about some birds in a pond.
    “Well it’s not a myth as such,” he replies. “It used to be classed as treason to kill them, especially in the city or on the river. I doubt, though, you’d get hung for such a thing these days. They won’t drag you up to the Tower of London or anything.”
    He watches as she tilts her head to throw in another handful of crumbs, which fall into the murky water before them.
    “Who’d even want to kill a swan, right? They’re so beautiful and elegant. Plus I read that they can break your arm, they are literally that strong, Charlie.”
    He kisses the top of her head, places a hand on the small of her back, and thinks about how lucky he is, to be with a girl like her. One who is so in awe of life’s little mysteries and all of its strange, beautiful wonder. He loves how he’s been able to spend every weekend with her since their first night together. With long afternoons spent walking along the heath, meandering into the vast frost-covered parks that cut through the city.
    And he really loves being able hold her hand and call her his girlfriend.
    Passing strangers give him joy too, to watch them study his and Anna’s faces and obvious affection. How they look and smile at them both—a young couple so deeply lost in their own world, on the cusp of love.
    They’ve spent many hours circling paths down to ponds and secret gardens in the past weeks and Charlie has discovered so much more about Anna—his wonderful girl, who doesn’t shy away from rubbing her nose against his like an Eskimo. A girl who likes to snuggle tight at every opportunity, on the Tube and bus journeys home as the daylight faded and air turned cold.
    He’s learnt so much from their walks that he thinks he should maybe be writing it all down so he’ll never forget any of her quirky, endearing traits. Like how Anna’s now telling him that her favourite dinner is fish and chips. “But the proper kind, eaten by the seaside.”
    And later she tells him which Spice Girl she always wanted to be ever since she was a young. “Geri, everyone wanted to be her. She was the coolest, but my mum wouldn’t let me dye my hair ginger.”
    Charlie continues to observe and listen, through archways and secluded grey gardens. Finding out that she prefers sweets to chocolate, wine over beer , walking in lieu of driving. Enjoys taking the Tube instead of buses. How she likes to sometimes just hop on and go explore a different part of their vast city.
    Anna keeps telling him random snippets of information about her life and her loves like her favourite colour—black; time of year—Spring; film—a toss-up between Ghost and Back To The Future 2 ; cocktail—strawberry daiquiri—and he won’t ever tell her to stop because he enjoys listening to her talk too much.
    “My older brother is such a laugh. I think you’d really get on, actually,” Anna