slowly drifting ★ circa waves

XIV.

the run-in at the parlour was amusing—that is, for everyone but eleanor and emma (actually, eleanor found it funny but this was not the time). their boss got really upset, not mad, just genuinely upset to be losing two great workers, as well as his only workers. the girls promised they'd be back soon before hopping into the van. well, after getting some ice cream.

kieran had planned that they were going to travel from brighton to somewhere in bournemouth. joe was driving, and emma went in the passenger seat, clutching a map they'd picked up from a petrol station. no one else wanted to sit in the front—the back of the van was more comfortable. eleanor sits between colin and keiran on the left, and ellie and sam on the right.

ellie and sam are reminiscing over their mischievous school days, occasionally crying with laughter.

"and when we threw colin in the bin? that was actually the funniest thing ever in all the days..."

eleanor shakes her head, laughing. "emma? can you pass the chewing gum?"

after getting no response, joe murmurs that emma's asleep. eleanor nods, then realises he's too busy looking at the road and then says. "thanks. while you're being so talkative, do you mind explaining why you were wandering around brighton??"

joe sighs and lifts one arm from the steering wheel to rest it against the window. "i got tired."

"tired of what?"

"tired of waiting."

"waiting for me to wake up? well i'm sorry if i was unconscious. how rude of me to faint. trust me, as of now, i've learnt my lesson. never again will you have to suffer through the boredom of waiting to see if i'm okay."

colin giggles and joe sighs, closing the hatch between the front and back of the van.

"i don't really get him sometimes. i thought colin was supposed to be the emo one," kieran laughs, munching on some crisps. ellie and sam are still talking a mile a minute so eleanor takes the oppurtunity to get the dirt.

"wait keiran, you guys and ellie met in school? here? in brighton?" eleanor questions, confused. colin shakes his head, while kieran explains:

"even though we're all from liverpool, we lived in manchester for all of our school years. ellie did too, until she moved. and, obviously, she moved to brighton."

eleanor nods slowly, "i think i understand now." but what she didn't understand was the bitterness in kieran's voice every time he talked about ellie, or why sam kept glancing nervously across at kieran to make sure he was okay. maybe they used to go out, she thought. thinking about it, they'd make a pretty good couple.

"did you guys used to date?"

the horror on kieran's face was unbelievable. before she could react, kieran climbed through the hatch and sat in the pull-up chair between the passenger and driver's seat, closing the hatch once more.

eleanor whipped around to face colin, who wore a solemn expression like a scarf. "is that a yes?" she asks. colin almost laughed at her, as it could not be farther form the truth. (truth). he scooches further into the corner, gesturing for eleanor to follow. sam and ellie (n/a omg for some reason this made me think of salmonella.) (i can't remember what i was going to say because i was thinking of salmonella.)

eleanor's eyebrows furrow as she shakes her head at colin. she didn't want to talk about ellie when she was right there and could potentially hear everything they're saying. colin nods and moves back into the middle.

"oh, those were the days," sam sighs, now facing colin and eleanor—ellie doing the same too.

"actually, all days are 'the days'," eleanor mumbles defiantly. colin laughs quietly before turning to sam.

"glad you've joined us."

sam looked guiltily at them, "i know, but we haven't seen each other in years, okay?" ellie leans against the door of the van, stealing some crisps from sam. eleanor giggles before taking some crisps herself. now that the conversation has died down between sam and ellie (n/a salmonella oh my god i can't stop thinking about it now.) (i forgot what i was going to say again.) (sorry.)

now that the conversation has died down between sam and ellie, the atmosphere had gone slightly tense. eleanor was feeling particularly awkward, as she could tell something had happened but wasn't aware of it. (n/a i remembered!!!!!!) suddenly joe opens the hatch to the front of the van, "guys what radio station do you want?"

mumbles of 'i don't mind' and 'anything but our music—it's shit' come from the back. eleanor catches sight of emma flicking through pages of a book she rummaged out of her backpack.

"EMMA! YOU'RE AWAKE!!" eleanor shrieks, hopping through the hatch and shoving kieran into the back again and shutting the hatch. "sorry, it was getting too awkward back there. whatch'ya reading?"

-

"i think we're lost."

-

this is a short chapter but idk i just wanted to write something because there are over 600 reads!!!!!!!!!11!1!!!2!!! that's insane especially since it's so bad lmao and we went to see circa waves the other week which was...interesting...

[edit: okay i haven't uploaded in...a long while.... but now this has over 700??? wtf??? thx 🤘🏻]