Mid May

He’s spent years fighting it, but one month before his twenty-fifth birthday, Lucas moves to London. He loves Le Havre and he doesn’t really want to leave, but between the early morning ferries and living in-between roommates out of his friend’s basement, the commute was really starting to get to him.

He’s been working for a construction company whose jobs are primarily either in London or villages in France, and while getting to a village in France is one thing, London days have been a bit rougher. Still, anything was better than back home in New York, even having 4 hours of commute a day.

It’s not necessary, strictly speaking. But if a good arrangement comes up, he decides not to pass it by. So when his friend John, who he’d met when they were both dating a pair of sisters - neither relationship had lasted, but he and John had solidified their friendship, mentions another friend is in need of a roommate in London, Lucas agrees to put his name out there.

To his surprise, John’s friend says yes.

The thing is: Lucas knows Sarah Dalton. He’s met her once or twice and had been left with the distinct impression that she’d not liked him at all. He gets it: he knows he’s loud and a little hyperactive; knows that he probably gives off a stupid-masculine vibe; knows that while he usually gets along with everyone, he may not be their cup of tea. He also wasn’t the best in school and university was a bit of a pain. Especially not someone like Sarah, who seems very studious and focused and not at all the kind of person who’s interested in dealing with a lot of energy being thrown at her. He remembers her as having been polite but quiet, a closed book with a very obvious perfectionist cover, and that hadn’t gotten any of his movie references.

They were clearly very different people.

But hey, he’s got an open mind. Plus - not that he’s bragging, but it is kind of true - Lucas gets along with most people just fine. He’s easygoing and doesn’t really get stressed out that easily. He’s pretty confident that as long as Sarah can stand him, he can deal with any idiosyncrasies she might have. Plus he thinks he’s funny, most of the time.

And all in all, Lucas’s opinion is that the first month goes pretty well. Sarah’s really a lot less uptight than he’d expected her to be. He feels kind of bad for making that assumption, even if he’d only thought it and never voiced it to anyone else. But hey, if it’s the thought that counts, then a bad thought has to count too, right?

Plus, it turns out that she’s into Reggae. And she makes him the most popular guy at work every day that he turns up with another batch of whatever she’s been experimenting with baking lately - even if he doesn’t love that the Lucas-brings-baking praise sometimes comes with a kind of passive toxic jealousy from a couple of rotten-apple coworkers that he’s spent his life avoiding the type of stereotype they represent. Just because he hunts, fishes, likes woodworking, fire, and fixing stuff, it doesn’t mean that he can’t enjoy a bit of baking on the side, even though he can’t cook. Or that he’s cool putting up with it from other people who give outdoorsy guys like him a bad name.

On the day before his birthday, he shows up to work with a container of Sarah’s flaky, buttery homemade croissants and one of the younger guys tells him to get Sarah to make them some doughnuts. This annoys Lucas right off the bat: clearly, the baking is a free gift, and some of these weasels were never taught to be polite. Besides, Sarah’s croissants are incredible; he’d purposely left half a dozen behind at home that morning for his own consumption. You don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

“She’ll make whatever she wants, and if you’re lucky, I get to bring some of it,” Lucas informs him.

“Oh come on, Foster. Lay some good pipe and right after, ask her for doughnuts. I bet she’d make some damn good ones.”

Lucas gives him his best ‘what the hell?’ face. “She’s just my roommate, you moron, there isn’t - ”

“Oh, y’all aren’t doing the deed? Can I have her number, then?”

“What? No! You don’t even know anything about her. Plus I don’t want you around my place!”

The younger guy shrugs. “Anyone who has the patience to make something like this probably has a lot she wants to prove in bed, you know?”

“No, I don’t know,” Lucas says sharply. “Now move off over there, shift’s starting. Keep it up and I won’t bring any more!”

While Lucas prides himself on maintaining a positive attitude, this puts a bit of a damper on his mood for the rest of the day. He doesn’t mind construction work most of the time, as unfulfilling as it is, but it is days like this and guys like whatever-his-name-is that really make him want to get the hell out of the industry. Still work is work and until he finds a more stable job, this is all he’s got.

Sarah’s not there when he gets home from work, which really isn’t much of a surprise. She’s in school and also works a part-time job at a restaurant, or bar, somewhere, and he’s been spending a lot of evenings out with friends in the city now that he’s not married to ferry schedules. He does his usual routine - a shower and a shave to wash off the dirt and sweat of his day job - and is in the middle of checking on a couple of fermentation projects when the apartment door opens and Sarah comes in.