5
Over the weekend, Nick braved the bus system and went exploring.
He was good at maps. He had looked at one of London the night before, then again the next morning, studying it in bed on his dusty laptop, scrolling back and forth to figure out what was realistic for the day. He considered his options. Then he planned out a route.
He felt like the most obvious of tourists, his nose practically pressed up against the front of the bus, seated on the second level of a double-decker. But he was alone, and he would never see the people around him ever again, and he was mesmerized. For years he’d been studying British history, reading books set in London, devouring every bit of culture he could from his quiet Ann Arbor bedroom. The bustle of London around him now was all-consuming.
He drank
