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TODAY MARKED THE FIRST day of the road trip. My suitcase was packed, to the point it was almost bursting at the seams. I’d gone a little overboard purchasing a secret surprise for Bonnie and myself to wear at the comic convention. Apparently on the opening ceremony they’d organised a roller disco, according to Tristan, and entry was costume only. I stuck with the same theme she’d chosen for our big costumes, and just hoped she’d like them.
I’d asked Tristan and his girlfriend, Poppy, if they wanted to travel with me down to London but they didn’t accept my offer. They were meeting up with the other couple beforehand and travelling down with them on the later train. I went ahead alone on the earlier train and promised to meet Bonnie when I’d go to London. I hurried to the station, not wanting to miss my train and luckily I made it just as the train pulled into the station.
My seat was reserved and I didn’t have another passenger next to me, which allowed me to spread out. I’d not only brought my suitcase and an additional rucksack, but also my camera equipment. The group had begged me to take some photos of the costumes they’d been working on at the event, and I thought it would be a good excuse to document the trip. This was Bonnie’s first holiday as an adult, and I wanted to create some special memories so she’d never forget it.
The journey was decent, and the onboard catering team came around halfway through the trip allowing me to refill my flask of coffee, and help myself to a cheeky bacon sandwich as I skipped breakfast before leaving the house. I was too busy sorting out the last bits for Mochi, making sure Mrs Bloom was fine with his feeding routine, but I didn’t think for a second she was paying attention to me. I made a mental note to check in on the pair a little later.
Just as I’d finished my breakfast, a message flashed on my phone. Bonnie.
B: Would you mind meeting me at the station? Just somewhere easy as I’m a bit nervous.
H: Sure! There’s a stationery shop in the back corner, how about we meet there. If I arrive a little later, why not go in. It seems like it’d be your kind of thing.
B: See you soon.
I hoped that meeting up with Bonnie before I introduced her to the rest of the group would put her somewhat at ease. When I arrived at the station, I blended in with the crowd, weaving my way through until I reached the agreed upon location. At first I didn’t see Bonnie, and thought she might’ve followed my suggestion and checked out the store, so I headed inside. I walked up and down the aisles looking for her, but didn’t see anyone who vaguely resembled her.
Back outside, I checked my phone and noticed I'd received a few texts from Bonnie. Why hadn’t it occurred to me to check it sooner, I’ve no idea.
B: The store’s nice. I did get some things.
B: I’m starting to feel a little out of place with all these crowds. Will you be here soon?
B: Are you delayed? I’m going to find somewhere to sit down.
A flood of worry washed over me, the station wasn’t necessarily the biggest in London, but for someone who didn’t know where they were going it could be quite daunting. I hurried around in a desperate attempt to find her, thankfully she was sitting only a short distance away from the store and I soon stopped panicking.
‘Hey,’ I called out to her.
Bonnie looked up and smiled the second she saw me, ‘You’re finally here,’ she said, not moving from her spot and instead pulling out a small carrier. ‘Come see what I got!’
I took the seat next to her and listened while she showed me everything she bought from the stationary store, mostly art supplies as she told me she’d brought her sketchbook along with her to sketch on the trip. She said she was about to get started while she was waiting for me, but I’d arrived before that happened.
‘When are the rest of the group getting here?’ she asked, breaking me off half her wafer snack shaped like a panda.
I looked up at the arrivals board and bit into the snack, ‘They should be any minute.’ I replied, ‘By the way, I’m sorry I took so long to arrive. Was you okay waiting on your own?’
Bonnie cast her eyes to the ground, ‘I did get a little nervous, the crowds were a little too much for me, but then I went inside the shop to calm myself down and then thought it best to find somewhere to sit.’
‘I’m glad you were okay, I’m just sorry I took so long.’
‘Harley, I’m fine. It’s okay.’
The announcer called out the latest train arriving at the station, and in the distance I saw Tristan walking up with three others. I could only assume they were the rest of the group.
‘I think that’s them, are you ready for me to introduce you to them?’ I asked.
Bonnie looked a little sheepish but nodded to agree. I took her hand and together we walked over to greet the rest of the group.
Tristan was hand-in-hand with his girlfriend Poppy, who was almost a foot shorter and pixie-like in her features wearing lavender dungarees that Bonnie seemed to fall in love with. Tristan had on a printed shirt and jeans, yet his hair looked like he’d just woken up. The other two members of our group looked like models straight off an editorial shoot. They introduced themselves as Jasper, the dark-haired Asian man dressed in all black, and his girlfriend Amelia, a stunning black woman with pastel pink hair.
I turned to glance at Bonnie, she was in awe of her new friends. Poppy had already enveloped her in a hug and introduced her to Amelia. The three girls seemed to get on like a house on fire, at which point I’d realised I’d worried for no reason.
Tristan pulled me to one side and whispered, ‘Now I see why you were trying to keep her a secret.’ I pushed him away and joined the rest of the group.
‘How about we dump our stuff at the hotel and take a look at the sights?’ I suggested.
Poppy looped arms with both girls and announced very loudly, ‘I’ve got a better idea, dump the bags first, then we go shopping!’
Tristan groaned, ‘Pops, really? We haven’t come here for that.’
‘But Bonnie’s never been to London, we’ve got to show her around,’ she argued. ‘Besides, there’s some things I want to see too.’ She puffed her cheeks mimicking Bonnie when she pouted, at least I wasn’t the only one who had to deal with it.
‘It guess it couldn’t hurt,’ I said.
The girls seemed happy with my agreement to the cause, Jasper didn’t seem to mind either way, but he seemed more reserved than the guy I knew online, and Tristan was being Tristan. We made our way down to the underground line to catch the tube to our hotel, which was a couple of spots away.
I left Bonnie in Poppy’s capable hands, she seemed to be enjoying her time with the girls and I didn’t feel like pulling her away from that. I hung back with the guys and we mostly chatted about the upcoming trip and what we wanted to do while we were travelling.
We arrived at the hotel shortly afterwards, but when I asked to check-in, the clerk mentioned it was too early to do so and instead let us put our luggage in the storeroom for safe keeping. She handed us a few ticket stumps that matched the ones she attached to the bags and said we’d be welcome back anytime in the next few hours. We huddled outside the hotel in our little motley crew and discussed our next destination.
‘Alright Pops, where are you taking us first?’ Tristan asked, not seemingly the least bit excited on where we were heading.
‘There’s this great comic store in Tottenham Court Road we could try,’ she said, then turned to Bonnie. ‘It sells comics, manga, figures, all sorts.’
Bonnie’s face lit up like a child at Christmas, ‘That sounds incredible,’ she squealed.
We headed back to the underground station, taking the first tube that came along. The trip wasn’t far but we had to change a couple of times and then walk a little way before we reached the comic store.
I looked up at the towering shop face, the windows decorated with merchandise from the newest comics and film releases. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been here, but I was glad to be back. I glanced over to Bonnie seeing her big eyes widen as she gazed up at the shop.
‘This is incredible,’ she muttered under her breath, I almost didn’t catch what was said.
‘Come on Bonnie,’ Poppy called, pulling my best friend gently by the arm. Not that she needed much convincing to go inside. I could tell she was gagging to get a look inside.
I stayed towards the back of our group, allowing the girls to charge in ahead of us, all of them squealing with excitement. I watched them run off to the back of the store, pulling out cute plushies and showing them off to each other.
‘H, look at this one,’ Bonnie called me over, holding up a calico cat. ‘Doesn’t it look like Mochi? Well, sort of, I bet he’s chunkier now.’
I laughed, ‘He’s definitely a lot fatter than that one.’
She smiled, storing the plush under her arm and following Poppy to another part of the store. I wandered with Tristan over to the sci-fi models, looking over some model kits. I’d been meaning to get into them for a while but it was finding the free time to actually work on them.
Tristan peered over my shoulder, noticing I’d picked a fighter jet model from a popular sci-fi film we both enjoyed. ‘Oh nice, I didn’t know this kit was out.’
‘Is it new?’ I asked, it’d been the first time I’d really looked at these things.
‘Think it came out about a week ago, but I’ve seen some posts online of the model built. It looks awesome,’ he said. ‘You going to get it?’
I hummed, pondering my decision. ‘I’m not too sure. I mean when do I get any free time?’
‘You work too hard. Not get me wrong, I’m glad you’re on this trip but this is the first holiday you’ve taken in years.’
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d taken holiday pay, or sick pay for that matter. I always went to work, I only took this week off because payroll was on my case and it just so happened the comic convention was on this week. Must have been a lucky coincidence I guess.
The girls must’ve moved downstairs, as I didn’t hear their laughter from where we were standing. I took the model kit with me, it might sit in a drawer for a bit but I wanted to get it nonetheless. Maybe I should listen to my friend and take time off to do things I enjoyed. But this was me we were talking about.
Jasper rejoined us, holding onto a couple of magazines featuring models dressed in a similar style to him. ‘A brand I like has a spread this month,’ he said. ‘Great inspiration for my next shoot.’
I realised at that moment I knew barely anything about this man, except from his love of video game lore. ‘What is it you do?’ I asked.
Jasper looked up from the pages, ‘I’m a stylist, and sometimes freelance model with Amelia. She usually joins the shoots as the makeup artist. We’re a great team.’
‘That’s awesome, have you ever collaborated with Tristan? He’s a hobbyist photographer.’
‘If you’re going to work with anyone, work with Harley. His stuff is incredible,’ Tristan piped in, as we walked downstairs.
‘Are you?’ Jasper turned to ask me and I shrugged. ‘Could we take some shots during the trip? I’m sure Amelia would love to join us.’
‘Sure.’ I agreed, after all what I did I have to lose by helping out a friend. I had all my photography equipment with me, it would be a shame if it went to waste.
We found the girls huddled over the towering bookshelves of manga, each of them with several books in their hands.
‘Hey,’ I said, eyeing up the books, ‘Found anything good?’
Bonnie held up a couple of her choices, ‘They’ve got the newest volume, I didn’t think this was out for a couple of weeks. It’s the only copy I've got to get it.’ She was talking so fast I could only just about understand what she was saying.
I laughed, she must’ve been excited about finding it. ‘What else?’
‘Well, they had another magical girl series I liked but I don’t own it. I’m having a debate about collecting a new series.’
Just then we heard Poppy call, ‘Hey Bonnie, I think I found those cards you were looking for. They’re over by the checkout.’
‘Are those the magical girl ones you like drawing?’ I asked.
Bonnie nodded, ‘Amelia and Poppy both play the game too, they’ve offered to teach me how to play. Poppy says she has an old deck she never uses she’s going to give me too.’
‘That’s great. I’m glad you’re all getting along.’
‘Me too, thanks again for inviting me.’
We all queued up to make our purchases, the girls with their small bundles of manga and handful of cards and us guys with our single purchases. Back outside, we decided to go to one last store, a Japanese supermarket to purchase snacks for our trip tomorrow.
‘I can’t wait to open these cards, I wonder what I’ll get,’ Bonnie said, holding one pack in her hand, admiring the illustration.
‘Why don’t we have a pack battle?’ Poppy suggested, ‘And if any of us gets doubles we can always trade.’ She was truly being a friend Bonnie needed in her life.
Tristan was leading our group to our new location, ‘Pops, what way did you say again?’
Poppy groaned, ‘Oh sweet boyfriend of mine, you really would lose your head if it wasn’t for me,’ she turned back to the rest of us. ‘It’s just up this street, right on the corner, come on.’
The shop was much smaller than the previous one, but she assured us the magic was all downstairs. Inside, was a tiny takeaway section, perfect for anyone passing by but downstairs the shop opened up, stretching like a warehouse full of all sorts. A restaurant that could either buy cold or order hot, every snack imaginable, homewares etc, and of course more manga. I’d need to keep Bonnie away from that section before she blew her entire budget. But before I could stop her, she’d disappeared from my side and I caught sight of her near the snack aisle.
‘Bon, wait up!’
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