Tour Bus

Halloween afternoon tea sightseeing bus tour. What a mouthful activity that I was going to do. A Halloween-themed sightseeing tour that also served afternoon tea sounded like a great time, coupled with the fact that I got to spend it with Lena, meant that it would be fun, though I wished that it would be only me and Lena...

Standing next to a red post box, I spotted Lena and who I assumed to be Kayle looking around. Lena pulled out her phone and typed something down before my phone buzzed.

“We’re here,” The message read.

Turning my phone off, I walked towards them. They couldn’t recognize me even though I was so close to them, so I called them.

“Hey.”

One word was enough to get their attention. Their expression turned from curious about who was calling them to amazement that they couldn’t recognize me.

“Rachel?! You’re wearing a disguise.”

Indeed, I was wearing a disguise. Instead of letting my hair down like usual, I tied it up into a bun and wore a white bucket hat and a pair of sunglasses. That much was already enough for a disguise, so for the rest of my outfit, I focused on making it fashionable by wearing a white jumper, grey baggy pants and brown boots while carrying a dark green tote bag. Choosing to go with a simple outfit rather than a sophisticated one.

“Oh, by the way, this is Kayle Holter. She’s my friend.” Lena pointed to her friend who was standing next to her.

As I’d guess, she was a friend from the secondary school that I often saw her hanging out with. She donned a dark green tank top covered by a brown long coat, blue jeans and black sneakers and carried a white canvas bag. Quite a great fashion sense; I finally knew who helped Lena coordinate her clothes.

“Hi I’m Kayle. How are you?” She greeted me with a friendly smile as she reached her hand out.

“I’m Rachel Glintwood. Nice to meet you.” I shook her hand.

“You know, Lena talks about you a lot even when we were in secondary school.”

“Kayle!” Lena tried to stop her friend from spilling her secret, but it didn’t work.

“What kind of stuff did you say about me?” I asked after I suppressed my chuckle.

“Stuff like your work, what she sees you’re doing, you know, all sorts. She never misses any series or shows you appear in, either! I bet that she’s the biggest fan you have.”

“I could see that.”

We both laughed as Lena rubbed the back of her ear, embarrassed that her secret got exposed.

After that, we headed to our destination. It took us around thirty minutes via metro and a little bit of walking, and we arrived at the touring agency’s building.

The agency’s building was three stories tall, painted white with a sign that read ‘Teressa’s Afternoon Tea Trip,’ written in yellow with a tea cup logo to the right of it.

We then headed inside and to the counter to check in. It didn’t take long to finish checking in, and since we had spare time before departure, we decided to look around the place to kill time.

The wall inside was painted beige with pictures of London views and landmarks scattered all over. In front of the counter was a sitting area, and next to it was a shelf that showed miniature landmarks of London.

“Having an afternoon tea while touring Westminster is an interesting concept... How did you learn about this agency anyway?” I asked without directing the question to anyone in particular. Lena turned to Kayle, and I knew the one who proposed this hangout.

“A friend of mine from college worked here, and I saw his post about this tour he’s been setting up. Thought it sounded interesting, so I decided to give it a shot.”

“It does sound like a fun idea. Thanks for inviting me.”

“No problem!”

Now that it was getting closer to the departure time, people started to gather at the bus.

The tour bus was a double-decker bus decorated with a purple wrap with decals of people drinking tea and flowers all over. It was a bit of a shame that they weren't decorated with a Halloween-themed wrap, even though it was advertised as such.

As soon as the clock hit thirteen, the staff let us inside the bus. Unlike the exterior, the interior was decorated with pumpkins, skeletons, and all sorts of creatures that screamed Halloween.

Kayle sat down first, and I followed, sitting across from her. I glanced to see who Lena chose to sit with, and she decided to sit with Kayle. It wasn't a surprise that Lena chose to sit with her; they were best friends after all, but still, I was a little disappointed.

Settling into our seats, the staff started putting plates on the table and a two-tiered tray; the lower tier was savory food like sandwiches or quiches, and the second tier was dessert like tarts and cupcakes, all of which were decorated in a Halloween theme.

To the side was a leaflet drink menu; it consisted of all kinds of tea and coffee. However, the tea selection almost doubled the coffee selection, even after adding chocolate drinks to it.

After choosing my choice of drink, I called for the staff who were putting away the empty tray.

“Can I have Earl Grey, please?”

“My~ How fancy,” Kayle teased.

“Nothing fancy about it.” I passed the drink menu to the other side. Kayle received it and shared it for Lena to see. They talked and pointed at the menu before they came to a decision.

“We’ll have two English Breakfast,” Kayle said as she put the leaflet back in its place.

Soon enough, the staff came with our drinks. They came in a surprisingly hard purple plastic cup painted with pumpkins and skeletons and spider webs. I took a sip of my Earl Grey; it tasted decent enough, not too bitter, not too flat, and didn’t leave a sharp aftertaste. I liked my Earl Grey straight, so I often got disappointed as most store-bought stuff tasted horrible without hiding behind milk and sugar.

As Kayle was adding milk to her drink, her eyes widened in surprise when she saw me drinking my tea without adding anything.

“Do you really like it like that?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen anyone drink Earl Grey straight up like that.” She paused to take a sip of her tea. “The closest I’ve ever seen is a guy who added sugar to it just because he was trying to impress his date.”

“Well, I do like to add sugar and milk depending on my mood, but most of the time I like it without adding anything.”

She nodded and contemplated for a moment before she whispered something to Lena.

“C-Can I try?” Lena pointed towards me.

“You mean my drink?”

Her answer came as a nod, and I handed it to her. She took a sip and smacked her lips as she looked at the cup. The taste of Earl Grey was distinct, so I understood her reaction.

“It’s good...” She handed the drink back to me and washed her palate with her English Breakfast.

Kayle then whispered something to Lena again.

“Do you want to try mine?” Lena raised her cup towards me.

“Sure.”

I took the drink from her and tried it out. The sweet and creamy English Breakfast tea, a classic drink that’s impossible for any Brits to mess up. I would be more surprised if it tasted bad.

“Tastes nice.” I handed the drink back to Lena.

I picked the sandwich from the tray and took a bite out of it. The turkey ham, mayo, and cheese sandwich tasted very simple, nothing worth noting.

As the bus started to take off, Kayle gulped down her remaining bite and picked another tart and put it down on her plate.

“Seeing all this Halloween stuff kinda makes me want to go trick-or-treating. I wonder if it’s fun.” She took a bite of her tart.

“You’ve never gone trick-or-treating?” I asked.

“Yeah...” She gulped before she continued. “Have you?”

“Yeah, in my neighborhood.”

“They do trick-or-treat in Lestington?”

“I don’t know. I used to live in Southwark, and we did trick-or-treat.”

“I-I heard from my dad that the west side is more likely to do trick-or-treat.” Lena sensed a gap and spoke up. “Me and the kids around the neighborhood would gather, and two or three adults had to take us to another neighborhood to do the trick-or-treating.”

“What?! So you’re telling me I missed out on trick-or-treating because my parents were too lazy to drag me out?”

Kayle was complaining about how much she wanted to go trick-or-treating as a child until...

“Wait, so when did you move into Lestington?”

“After I turned nineteen. Why?” I tilted my head, surprised at the sudden shift in the topic.

“I’m just curious, why would you attend Lestington High if you live in Southwark?”

Lena stopped mid-bite and focused her attention on this topic.

“I moved in with my uncle at Lewisham. And Lestington High was close by, so... yeah.”

“...I see.”

Kayle drank her tea while Lena gulped down whatever she was eating as if pretending they didn’t ask anything bad. I thought back to what I’d said and found that the way I worded it sounded like something bad had happened between me and my parents, so I had to clear it up.

“My uncle is also my manager, so it’s easier for him to drive me to the set directly rather than making a detour to pick me up at my parents’ place.”

“Oh, I see.”

Both of them breathed a light sigh of relief that they hadn't ruined the mood by bringing up an unknown past they shouldn’t have.

The bus was moving through Royal Albert Hall. The guide was probably talking about its history and giving out fun facts, but I wasn’t listening. I was watching Lena and Kayle trying out the dessert on the top tray.

“This one’s good. I wonder what it’s called.”

“There’s a menu on the web. Let me pull it up.”

The two compared the desserts on the menu to see what each item was called. Watching them like that made me jealous. Such a light-hearted friendship was something I wanted to have, and seeing it in front of my eyes felt like fate was taunting me. I quickly swallowed that thought along with my Earl Grey tea.

“You guys really like these desserts, huh? Any favorites?”

“The pumpkin tart with a chocolate web on top is great.” Kayle glanced at Lena.

“I like this chocolate cupcake that looks like a spider. It has a berry jam inside, and it’s really good.” Lena took a bite out of the cupcake. “What about you?”

“I don’t know, by the time I decide to try, most of them are already gone.” I pointed at the almost empty tray as I let out a small chuckle.

“Sorry...”

“I-I’m sure we can ask for more. Right? Let me try asking.”

Kayle called the staff and asked if they would do a refill. Luckily, they agreed, so the staff went and came back to refill our dessert and tea.

As I was eyeing my next bite, I saw Kayle elbowed Lena and whispered to her. After that, Lena picked the spider chocolate cupcake and put it on my plate.

“I-I thought you might like it.”

“Thanks.” I took a bit of it. “It’s nice. I really like it.”

Lena smiled and nodded.

And so the tour came to an end. The bus pulled up to where we started, and the tourists got off one by one. We had fun chatting, enjoying the dessert a little far too much in my opinion. This trip was meant to be a sightseeing tour, but we ended up not paying attention to the scenery at all and instead ate everything the tour had to offer.

“Now that I think about it, we didn’t really pay attention to the tour at all, huh?”

The two’s brows raised and nodded when they realized that I was right.

“I mean, we live kinda close by, so it’s a given that we've seen all of it already,” Kayle said before she took a sip of her drink.

“I’ve actually never been here before...”

Kayle and I looked at Lena as she began fidgeting with her finger, embarrassed by the fact she’d shared.

“Since we’re here already, how about we walk around some more? To help digest what we ate,” I proposed.

“I’m down,” Lena agreed.

“Actually, I have some work waiting at home, so I have to call it a day.” Kayle took a step backward. “So sorry. But don’t let my absence ruin your fun. See you later!”

Kayle waved us goodbye as she walked away, but not before she gave me a thumbs up for some reason, so I returned the gesture before she left.