The three-hour train ride always gets on George's nerves.

I love it. I could travel by train every day. I get to write and look at the endless green fields. 

Mom keeps herself busy by reading a thriller while George gets up for the fifth time in the last thirty minutes.

"That boy can't stand still for one second."

I laugh and lift my eyes from my laptop. "Glad you're coming with us. I think you will get along really well with George's dad."

"I hope he likes what I got for him..."

"He's going to love it. It's chocolate, mom. Everyone loves chocolate."

My phone buzzes. I retrieve it from my pocket. His name shows up. We've been exchanging messages for one week. Some wedding related chats, but mostly non-wedding related. 

"Daniel?" my mom asks, and I nod in response. "George told me you've been exchanging messages."

"George should mind his own business..." I respond.

"From what he tells me, it must be a hell of a party you are planning." Mom smirks.

"It is actually. We decided to do a surprise boat party. Daniel rented a boat and we are looking at catering and entertainment. We also need to see how we are going to get Emily and Gunther there in the first place, because we want to make it a surprise." I say and go back to my phone, replying to his text. I show mom my screen that shows a menu. "See, this is one menu we are looking at."

"So, your conversations are only about the party?"

I shrug. "Mostly. Some bits about the wedding too..."

"Is that all?"

George slumps in the chair and groans loudly, attracting the attention of the passengers in the carriage. "How much longer?"

"We just left..." I reply with a eye roll.

"I'm so bored!" he huffs.

"You're liked a child!" My mom admonishes him. "Here!" she hands him a magazine she got in the train station. "Keep yourself occupied."

George picks it up and scrunches up his face. "I don't read Hello..."

"It's either that or a colouring book from the child behind us. Choose."

George rolls his eyes and slumps in the chair, flickering the pages. My mom exchanges a smile with me and looks at my phone, that lights up with a message. I take the phone and continue exchanging another round of messages with Daniel.

He sends me a GIF showing his exasperation with the catering companies we have contacted so far, and I laugh loudly. Mother lifts her eyes again from the book and smirks as if she's about to make another remark about my message exchanges with Daniel, but a loud snore interrupts her intentions.

I look to my right and see George sleeping with the magazine covering his chest. Mom and I laugh and I retrieve slowly the magazine from his hand. I hand it back to mom.

The phone lights up once again, and I release a soft chortle at the message. I look back at mom that gives me a small glare, but goes back to her book.

When we reach Newcastle, George's dad, Simon, greets us at the station. Simon looks like an older, better behaved version of George.

"Hello!" he waves from the other side of the barriers. "Welcome!"

George is the first one through the barriers and waves to his dad.

"Pleasant trip?" Simon asks.

"Boring..." George responds.

I follow George through the barriers. I reach Simon and give him a tight embrace. "Hello!"

"Hey there pumpkin." He returns my embrace and calls me by my pet name.

I never expected that my flatmate would turn into my closest confident and my brother from another mother as George puts it. But, his dad has also closed a gap in my heart that I never knew I had. A longing for a paternal figure.

"Simon, this is my mom." I introduce him to mom that stands just behind me.

"It's so nice to meet you!" she says enthusiastically. Simon puts forward his hand to greet her, but mom also envelopes him in a hug. "I'm Italian. We don't do hand shakes."

Simon laughs. "Oh, your daughter has shown me that time and time again." He picks up my mom's small bag. "Please, let me..."

Mom blushes and nods.

"The car is this way." Simon says, and we follow him to the car park.

Two days in Newcastle are reinvigorating. George comes often to see his dad, especially since his mom passed away, and I love to tag along with every opportunity I have.

Simon has an infectious British sense of humour that mom at first doesn't really understand. It's quite hilarious seeing Simon making an extraordinary effort at telling a joke laced with sarcasm, followed by a lengthy explanation of the same to mom.

What I treasure the most is the opportunity for the long walks in the countryside. Simon's place is in a small village where nature surrounds us. Often Simon and I do small treks while George sleeps in. Mom joined us for the first Saturday morning trek, but on Sunday she stayed back to make lunch as a thank you for Simon's hospitality.

We walk slowly, taking in the sights, smells, and sounds of the wooden path. We walk mostly in silence with small comments about fauna or bird spotting that Simon loves.

"Your mother is a very nice lady." Simon eventually says while we stroll casually through the woods.

"She is. I knew you both would get along well." I chirp.

My phone buzzes, and I take it from my pocket. It's a message from Daniel. The first one this morning.

"Boyfriend is texting you?" Simon chuckles.

"More like ex-boyfriend..." I respond and put my phone back in my pocket.

Simon looks at me quizzically.

"My ex and I are planning a party for our friends that are getting married..." I justify myself. "So, we've been texting each other about details and stuff."

Simon nods. "Must be a hard thing to do."

I sigh. "I guess... Actually, yeah, it's hard. We don't just talk about wedding stuff. He's been asking me about my work. I've been asking him about his life in New York... It's just as if we are back to point zero where we are friends but I'm not sure I'm ready to be friends... especially when he was the one that made that decision. He decided it, not me. I was trying to remain friends. Now, I'm just confused..."

"So, why are you talking to him?"

"Because my good friend deserves a surprise party. And the best wedding I can give her. And, because I thought this would give me closure..."

"But, it hasn't?"

I shake my head and look down.

"Well, then I think you need to stand your ground. Be direct. If he chose not to stay in touch, why now? The wedding is clearly a convenient excuse, but still an excuse nonetheless. You need to lay down the rules. Not the other way around."

I nod and ponder his words.

"Stay behind for a bit. I always think better when I have nature around me." Simon gives me a warm smile. "I will head back to the house and wake up my lazy son."

I smile, and Simon gives me a small squeeze on the shoulder before leaving me. I retrieve my phone and look at the message.

"Can't sleep. I see it's morning there already. How is Newcastle?" his message reads.

"Can I call you? Need to speak with you." I quickly text.

I hover the green arrow for a few seconds until I decide to stop over thinking and press the button. The two blue ticks appear almost immediately and before I realise it, Daniel calls me. A video call.

I pick up the call. "Hey." I say.

Daniel sits in a barely lit room with the blue light from the screen shining in his face. It's the first time I've seen him since we parted ways and yet all the feelings from before quickly resurface.

"Hey," he responds with a small smile. "How are you, Kleiner?"

I tug my hair behind my ear. "I'm doing well. What time is there?"

Daniel looks away. "3am. I really should get some sleep." He looks back at me. "But I'm glad that I'm talking to you instead."

"About that..." I sigh. "I need to know what is happening exactly. You said no more contact with me. That you didn't want the friendship if we couldn't be together. You've moved on, and I... moved on too. But, now we are talking like we were back then. But, it's not back then anymore and I'm confused..."

"I know... I'm sorry. I think I just fell in the comfort zone... I know what I told you, and I know... since we reconnected, I haven't been keeping my end of the deal..."

His confession takes me by surprise. I don't know what I expected, but I guess in all the scenarios that my head has played in a loop, this one was not one of them.

"That's okay." I end up saying.

"I promise I will stay strictly on wedding stuff from now on." Daniel tells me.

My heart breaks. Although I know he is back with her and has moved on. Part of me still hoped to hear something else. That he missed me... that he missed us.

"Okay, great. That's really all I wanted to talk about, anyway." I end up responding by putting up a tough facade.

"Oi!" George's voice echoes in the woods. "They have tasked me with search and rescue!" George waves at me and I wave back in response.

"Who's that?" Daniel asks me.

I look back at the phone, still with my facade intact. I look back at the man that has broken my heart. The man that still holds it in his hands.

"George... My boyfriend," I reply without thinking.

"Oh..." Daniel responds.

"You're a tough woman to find. Dad told me he had left you somewhere there, so either you move around quickly or he is still shit at giving directions." George says, approaching me and steals a glance at the phone. "Oh, hello there..." he mumbles at Daniel.

"Hallo." Daniel responds in a very thick German accent. "Once I hear from the caterers, I'll send you an email." He says coldly to me.

I nod in response.

"Okay, bye." and he hangs up before I can say my goodbyes.

The moment the phone closes, I turn to George and embrace him, allowing, once again, to drown my tears.

"Was that Daniel?"

I nod.

"He's a bit of an asshole... and it takes one to recognise another."

I chuckle but still sob uncontrollably.

"What did he do?"

I shake my head. "Nothing. He apologised for stringing me along. In a way... It's for the best."

"But I pissed him off or something?"

"Not you. Me. Probably because I called him out on his hypocrisies." I shrug and wipe my tears. "I called him out and I guess in my head I played a different scenario..."

"A scenario where you two make amends?" George offers me a sympathetic look. "Come. Your mother has cooked a feast." He gives me a small encouraging hug.

I clear my throat. "I need a favour."

"Sure, what you need?"

"When we go to Germany... I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend..."

George frowns. "And why is that?"

"Because I kind of told him you were..." I rub my eyes. "I know, I know... I wasn't thinking clearly."

"Tell me about it! You're getting too much inspiration from 90s romcoms."

I raise my eyebrow.

"That Julia Roberts movie you made me see the other day. Not only you put me through that suffering, but now I have to relieve it in Germany!" He puts an arm around mine. "I'm not kissing you. Or dancing with you. Maximum you'll get will be hand holding and snide remarks to all the Germans. Particularly that one."

I chuckle. "Okay, deal."

"And don't cry, please. He doesn't deserve more of your tears and honestly, my dad will think it's my fault somehow and the man is not above grounding me in my adulthood!"

I laugh and give him a tight embrace before making our way back to the house.