Chapter Text
“Tompkins Trikes”.
That’s what the sign said. Ellie looked up at Jamie inquisitively as he opened the door.
“Ellie, you need to blend in. Everybody in this town rides bikes, so you have to as well. Now be polite, I’ve done my research and the owner of the shop is too sick to be in store, so instead his twin children are. They are our age, Ellie, so be tactful and as pleasant as you can be. We need people on our side here.”
Ellie rolled her eyes, but smiled as best as she could when she saw the two teenagers standing in the shop. A girl, almost half the height of Ellie bounded up to her and squealed.
“Hi! I’m Lola, and this is Micky. You must be new in town, how exciting!”
Ellie looked at Jamie for reassurance, but all he gave was one eyebrow raising a fraction. She looked back at Lola, and grinned.
“I’m Ellie, this is Jamie,” Ellie motioned to Jamie who simply nodded, “we were wondering if we could buy a pair of bikes?”.
“A pair? Ooooh are you two-“
“No!” Lola looked down and Ellie felt bad.
“I mean, we’re more like siblings really. And I’m not really into guys. And I am oversharing.”
Lola looked up and her face immediately broke into another smile. She looked over at Micky, who during the conversation had wheeled a few different bikes into the room. A black one with flames caught Ellie’s eye and Micky gently smiled.
“I thought you might like that one. And here’s one you might like, Jamie.”
The bike was sleek and black, it fit Jamie’s personality perfectly. He would never admit it, but he imagined himself, for a second,cycling down a hill on the bike, with wind blowing through his hair. No, he should be wearing a helmet. It’s a good thing Ellie couldn’t hear his thoughts or she would have started to get reckless ideas about cycling.
“That’s very thoughtful of you, thank you.” Jamie nodded.
They paid for the bikes and left the shop wishing they’d asked the twins how to ride a bike.
“Well it can’t be that hard, right? It’s just pedalling.” Ellie shrugged.
Jamie squinted and looked Ellie in the eyes. “There’s much more to cycling than pedalling. We just need to find someone to teach us, subtly though.”
At that precise point, two energetic figured came round the corner on a baby pink bike, and a penny farthing? The girl on the pink bike was laughing at something the boy on the penny farthing said. Their eyes both fell onto the two newcomers, and they halted.
“Well hello there, I don’t think I’ve seen you two before,” the boy said, smirking at Jamie. “I’m pretty sure I’d remember that face. I’m Raphael and this is Lottie.”
Lottie blushed intensely and smiled. Ellie and Jamie looked at her, and she felt something fall into place in the back of her mind.
“Hello! Um, if you’d like any help with your bikes, let me know, I’m a bit of an expert.” She giggled at the sight of Jamie carrying his bike like a clutch handbag.
Jamie ignored the offer, his mind was somewhere else, but Ellie pulled her phone out of her ripped jeans pocket and handed it to Lottie to put her details in.
Lottie Pumpkin <3
Number: 078456829101
Email: [email protected]
“So, you are?” Raphael queried. He was much more impatient than Lottie.
“I’m Jamie. This is Ellie. Thank you for your kind offer, Lottie, but right now we should be getting home.”
Jamie grabbed Ellie’s arm and they walked back to their new house that Ellie’s parents had bought. They put the bikes into the garage and their neighbour ran outside. She had huge round glasses, and a look of pure delight and curiosity on her face.
“Hi there! I’m Binah. You must be my new neighbours!”
“Yes, Ellie and Jamie. We just moved here.”
“Brilliant! Well right now you must be tired from travelling, but tomorrow we should go on a bike ride together and get to know each other.”
Ellie looked at Jamie worriedly; she didn’t want to seem like an idiot for not knowing how to ride. He ignored Ellie and looked down at Binah.
“Thank you, Binah. At the moment we’re still getting to grips with cycling, but we’ll definitely take up your offer once we’ve learnt the basics.”
Binah smiled and her whole face shone. “The best place to get help with cycling is Lottie and Raph. They’re absolutely brilliant. Raphael won the Gene Flynn Penny Farthing Race last year in Hampshire. He was incredible. Penny farthings are really rather interesting. In fact the first penny farthing was designed so the wheels were the exact ratio of pennies and farthings, as they were believed to have a perfect balance, however when the first penny farthing was ridden, nobody could stay on it for longer than thirty seconds, as the weight of the large wheel made it impossible to go faster than 5mph, which meant that the balance shifted and everyone fell off. Oh dear, I’m rambling. I’ll let you rest now. It was nice meeting you.”
And with that she bounded off, back into her own house, leaving Ellie and Jamie quite speechless.