The time couldn't go by faster. The thought of spending my time back in Luton was so exciting, but I felt like it was too many days away. Until it wasn't. I was pushing the time so much in my mind that when I was supposed to go to Evelyn's house, I almost forgot my packed things.
Mum was again feeling like we didn't celebrate my graduation and getting into university enough. But what could she do? Nothing. Apart from still letting me live under her roof, which she was most definitely planning on doing.
"Don't forget to text me, alright?"
I glanced at her, nodding before looking out of the car window again. We were entering the town where I was supposed to spend the next couple of days while Mum was going to spend a while with Evelyn's mum, drinking some coffee before going back home.
"You reminded me at least ten times already."
"Don't be insolent."
Shrugging, I watched the buildings around as my mother drove us towards the Armstrongs' house, in front of which she parked. The place hadn't changed since my leave. At least from the outside.
Just as the engine stopped, I ran out of the vehicle just a few seconds before Ev opened the white front door with a broad smile painting her face, "Siddy!"
"The hell is with that nickname?" I asked, rolling my eyes as I made my way towards her before we hugged each other.
"It's cute," she exclaimed. "I missed you."
I sighed in contentment, keeping her close to me as her mum appeared at the door, shaking her head at us. However, she said nothing as she passed around the two of us and made her way towards my mum, where they most likely started exchanging gossip or something similar.
"Sidney, come get your things," Mum called from behind, to which I sighed, a bit annoyed, and nodded.
I did as asked with a bit of help from Evelyn, who needed to move me into her house faster, it seemed. She acted weirdly funny, but it was understandable as we hadn't seen each other since the Christmas break.
"I'll text the others so they can come over," Evelyn told me when we entered the house with our destination being her room.
"Sure."
As said, our friends were over at Evelyn's house soon enough. All of us were occupying a part of her room, which had two beds now—hers and an additional mattress for myself. Delilah was now spread up on my mattress, looking up at the ceiling as if she could see something interesting up there. I was lying there too, with my legs up on Ev's bed. It was quite a comfortable position, I should say.
"So… are we gonna watch something?" Amy asked, to which Delilah sighed.
"Nah, I'm good."
I, too, didn't feel the need to do anything. I was okay with lying there and being with my childhood friends. Just spending my time with them was enough because soon, I would be heading to another destination. Not that I wasn't excited to visit Dad.
"Oh, come on," Jonah exclaimed, to which I could hear him moving around. "We could go somewhere at least…like I dunno…eh, I really don't know."
I rolled my eyes at that. Indeed, we could go somewhere and do something. There were enough places for that. However, we just had a graduation behind us, which probably made some of us tired.
"My dear friend, you just wanna see your little boyfie," Delilah let out a laugh as she rose from the mat.
I furrowed my brows at that, tilting my head to look at her. I hadn't heard anything about that. Maybe she was just making fun of one of Jonah's teammates. Well, ex-teammates now.
"The who?"
"Miles… or was it Charlie?" Evelyn joined Delilah while I stayed just as confused. I did remember those two boys. But what did I know? I was attending a whole different school the last year.
I got up on my elbows, still confused, as I watched my friends bicker about Jonah's apparent special someone. A crush, or perhaps it was only a ship. It was a little funny, even though I felt a bit left out.
"You're just making stuff up," Jonah rolled his eyes before he stared into mine. "What 'bout you, Sidney?"
"Hm?"
We were staring at each other for a moment when I was asking myself what in the bloody hell he meant by that. Well, I could think about one or two things. But they already asked how I was. I'm fine, thank you.
"Any broken hearts you left in London?"
This time, all the eyes in the room were on me. But in a different situation than I would like. Jonah's attempt to switch the attention from himself to someone else worked rather quickly.
Blinking, I glanced at every one of them before returning my gaze to the only boy in the room. Fucker. And to think I used to help him with homework… What a betrayal. We should have left him out in the cold. Ungrateful bastard.
"Why do you assume I broke someone's heart?"
Especially when the last time it was my heart that was left broken. No, I knew why he had asked that. Only… my answer would make him look like the idiot he was. And then the topic would be left alone.
"Sid, spill."
Or not.
With a sigh, I fell back onto the mattress from where I could freely stare at the white ceiling above us before speaking up, "Well, I had a thing going on with one chick from school."
What I did was a bad decision—a horrible decision, even. Why did I answer again?
There was a moment of complete silence. I could only hear the thoughts going through my mind as my friends were processing my words. Or maybe they were waiting for me to say something more. Which I had no intention of doing.
Once again, I tilted my head so I could see Delilah staring at me suspiciously. Like she didn't believe me. Anyway, we just exchanged a few looks before Evelyn was acting like Evelyn.
"That's all? No name, no nothing? Give us at least something, girl."
Laughing, I shook my head at that. Why would we talk about Ava when it ended and there was nothing more to talk about anymore? No more coffee. No more of her playing the piano for me. No more of our little make-out sessions. No more of her gentle touches.
"Yeah, Sidney, tell us," Amy joined in excitedly.
I stared back at my friends. They acted as if I was hiding some big secret from them—like having six fingers or being the secret child of someone famous.
"Ahh, okay," I sighed, putting my hands under my head to get more comfortable. "So, her name is Ava, and we had fun for a while. The end."
This time, the silence was too loud before my words made Amy and Evelyn burst out laughing. I wasn't sure what was so funny about what I had said, but at least the air was not so stuffy anymore.
"Oh, come on, that can't be all!" Evelyn exclaimed, making me roll my eyes. For me, that was all—perhaps even way more than I had to say.
"It kind of is," I shrugged. "What do y'all wanna know? The colour of her hair and eyes… if she's tall or if she's got freckles?"
"Yeah, she doesn't need to talk 'bout that chick. And we should do something more productive, hm?" Jonah started, and I was grateful for that. The conversation wasn't one I wanted to have after all, even though it began because of him. "So… the stadium?"
As we had agreed on, we went to the stadium. The girls seemed to like that idea very much. It was like they were hopeful for a certain someone to be there. Perhaps that Miles or whoever, so they could go on about him in front of Jonah to annoy our dear friend. Not that it wouldn't be fun to watch, because it certainly would be.
The stadium was empty since it was the beginning of the summer holidays. Or at least it seemed to be empty today. I was glad for that since it was nice to go through the place without anyone to be on our asses.
We settled down on the seats in the first row. Some of us were lying down, and some of us were sitting while Evelyn took out a ball, with which she then went down onto the grass with Jonah to play a little.
It was nice. Just like the old times when we were younger. When we were kids, exploring places, finding somewhere we could play and have fun. I missed that. When the only worries we had were the ones about nightmares, having something we didn't like for lunch, homework, mosquitoes in summer, being grounded…
"Come on, guys!" Ev called from the field where she was currently handling the ball.
Laughing, we got up—Amy, reluctantly—and went towards them so the real fun could begin. Well, fun for all five of us. Not that the two of them didn't have any until now.
"I missed this!" Ev exclaimed as she sent the ball back towards Jonah, who laughed.
"Yeah. It's a pity we're getting old, huh?"
Old as in heading into our twenties. But yeah, not kids anymore. With college and part-time jobs and careers in front of us… it sounded a little scary. At least we still had each other and could get together like this.
"I don't wanna go to college!"
Laughing, I shook my head at Amy's random words, "Who would even like to study? At least think 'bout the salary you could get with a stable job."
I knew my words sounded a bit sad. However, on the bright side… money was nice. A really nice thing to have. Even though adults usually said that no happiness could be bought with it, which I didn't believe, to tell the truth. A nice sporty car equals instant happiness, after all, right?
"Thanks, Sidney, now I feel depressed," Jonah shook his head, receiving the ball once again before sending it in Delilah's direction.
That wasn't my intention, though. Why couldn't they take it as some motivation? Yeah, maybe it did sound a bit depressing, but, come on. I didn't want to ruin the game, that was for sure.
"It's a pity we can't just live at a farm and not pay taxes," Evelyn started, running her hand through her hair. "Just, you know, no one telling us what to do and shit."
That life would be for sure incredible. Freedom, countryside, not all that bullshit around money? Count me in, please. Thank you.
"Wait, doesn't Daphné's family own a farm?" Delilah asked suddenly, making me stop just as the ball came in my direction.
"Oh, yeah, they do," I nodded at the fact I had almost forgotten about. "I think I'm gonna spend like a week there with Zoé and her grandparents."
Reminding myself about that felt quite nice. I was undoubtedly excited to see that place, apart from spending some time with my little sister. It was a pity she was just a baby, but we had many years in front of us for making memories. Although yes, that week was going to be so much fun—no city life for a while.
"You totally have to FaceTime with her and us."
I smiled at Evelyn, nodding at the obvious thing. They were all excited about meeting the little human, like it was their own sister and not just mine. It was really nice, though. To share something with them when we got separated from each other. These people were my family too, after all. Just not those with whom I shared blood.