Freja sat on her bed in her attic room, her heart thumping as she stared down at the open letter in her hand. Inside the envelope was a bus pass and a set of too-detailed instructions. Her heart thumped as she read them carefully. She couldn’t believe what she was about to do.
Thirty minutes later, Freja stood in front of the Athenry bus stop closest, albeit still a ways walk, to her house. She checked her watch. The bus should be arriving any minute. She fiddled with the straps of her backpack anxiously. Finally, the bus arrived. The driver was a tired looking, sort of old man, and to Freja’s paranoid mind he looked irate. She walked shakily up the steps and handed the driver the pass. He glanced at it only briefly before handing it back to her. Freja tried not to audibly sigh. The bus was mostly empty, just a few muggles on their way to work, probably. She chose a seat by the window. Freja watched the Irish countryside fly by in wonder. What a different perspective muggles get.
By a combination of some miracle and the instructions, Freja managed to get off at the right stop. But- Aine wasn’t there. Her heartbeat quickened, but just before her anxiety blew up into a full on panic attack, she spotted a piece of paper stuck to the bus stop bench. It had her name written on it. Scrawled across it in Aine’s messy writing it read,
Freja,
Had to go pick up Georgette from the vet. Meet me at the restaurant right across the street. I promise I’ll be quick!!
-Aine
Freja breathed out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding in. She hadn’t seen her friend in a few weeks, her parents had been busy with work and hadn’t had time to drive Aine to Athenry so the girls could see each other. So they had taken matters into their own hands. Freja had been wanting to see Aine’s house anyway, so she bravely volunteered to take the muggle bus. Freja had just had a feeling she needed to come to Galway today. And as a seer, she had learned to trust her intuition.
Inside the pub, there seemed to be something exciting going on. There was a woman playing the violin, and a man playing accordion. A little stage was set up near the back of the room, and a boy was dancing. He had blond hair and an infectious grin. He couldn’t have been much older than Freja. He was quite good, Freja thought. She watched him for a bit. The waiter brought water and still the boy danced. Once Freja thought he smiled at her, but she wasn’t sure. The boy finished his dance, and had walked off the stage now, and disappeared through the door to a back room.
Freja sipped her water. She figured she’d wait for Aine to order, so she decided to read while she was waiting. She reached her arm into her bag, up to the elbow. It was the enchanted kind, with seemingly no bottom. Feeling she might as well be productive, she pulled out a book she was required to read over the summer for her history of magic class.
“What can I get you miss?”
Freja jumped. It was the blond boy, the one who was dancing earlier. Except now he was wearing a waiter’s apron, and had a notebook and pen in his hand. “Sorry,” he said, and looked it. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” Was it her imagination, or was he looking at her funny?
“Oh it’s okay,” Freja said, flustered. “I’m waiting for my friend…”
The dancing boy nodded understandingly. “Would you like anything to drink, at least?”
Freja though quickly. What kind of drinks would they have here? She was pretty sure muggles didn’t drink butterbeer. “Um, what would you suggest?”
The boy thought for a minute. “Our red lemonade is not bad.”
“Sounds great!” Freja said hurriedly. She’d never heard of such a thing, but figured nothing lemon flavored could be too bad. The boy went away, and came back not too long after. Freja took a sip, and her eyes widened with joy. “Wow,” she exclaimed. The boy was still standing there, watching her.
“Have you never had red lemonade before?” He asked curiously.
“No,” Freja admitted, realizing too late that this definitely wasn’t normal for muggles. He was definitely looking at her weird now. She decided to change the subject as quickly as possible. “I saw you dance,” she blurted out. “You’re really good.” Freja blushed. She hadn’t said it just to change the subject- he really was good. Breathtaking, in fact.
“Thanks,” he said, smiling at her. He glanced at her book, which was still laying on the table. “What are you reading?” He asked, craning his neck to see the title. Freja’s heart almost leaped out of her throat. “Oh it’s n-nothing. F-fantasy novel.” Just then, the door to the restaurant flung open, saving her from having to do any more explaining. Aine walked in, her curly blond hair flowing behind her in it’s ever-present mess. “I’m so, so sorry Freja. I swear my sister said she’d take him.” She sat down at the table, and looking up at the boy, grinned. “Hey there!”
“Aine!” He said, grinning at her. “How is…boarding school?” He said, as if not too sure whether he was asking the right question. So they didn’t know each other that well, Freja couldn’t help but think.
“Good!” Aine said cheerfully. As she started her usual chatter, Rian smiled at Freja. She smiled back.
“So annnnyway, I see you two have met!”
“Yes,” said the boy. Rian. “But I didn’t catch your name,” he said, to Freja.
“Oh. It’s Freja.” She said, cheeks burning.
“I’m Rian,” he said, and took her hand. His face suddenly turned red too.
Aine looked from the girl to the boy, and back again. She grinned mischievously. As soon as Rian had left to get the menus, Aine whispered to Freja, “You two are going to be sooo cute together!”
Freja rolled her eyes at her friend’s optimism. Little did she know.
