slowly drifting ★ circa waves

XVII.

about three farms and two hundred acres of forest later they come across a small sign, dangling off its hinges. the group infer that it's supposed to say 'spice town—home of funk', although that doesn't make much more sense than ' ice town—ho e of fu k'. the herd scrambled out of the cramped van, slamming the doors. it looked like they were literally in the middle of nowhere, the road was a rough gravel and there were sheep everywhere. eleanor and kieran slowly snuck behind the sheep to try and make some friends, slowly joined by emma. sam shook his head, but almost burst into tears when he saw a little lamb at his feet. he cooed whilst lifting it into his arms.

"i'm going to call you shawn. like shawn the sheep. ah, that was a fine show."

when eleanor saw the lamb she freaked and then sprinted over to sam. "can we keep him? we have to keep him, we're keeping him." emma quickly follows and pets the little sheep. ellie walks over to where kieran is sitting on the tall grass.

"kieran? have you been avoiding me? you've barely spoken to me ever since i got back. i was happy to see all of you again—our school days were pretty intense. um, can you like, look at me please. can you hear me?"

kieran hesitated but nodded, not averting his stare on the green hills in front of him. the late afternoon sun casts eerie shadows across his face. it excentuates his features, which appear to be shaken into a heartbreaking form, and for a second, ellie is convinced he's going to cry.

"i'm sorry," he breathes. "for holding a grudge against you. i don't know if you noticed, but sian used to have the biggest crush on you, the instant you joined our class."

"i mean, it's hard not to."

kieran turned to face her with his eyebrows raised.

"i didn't mean it was hard not to have a crush on me. i meant hard not to notice you dumbass." ellie nudged him jokingly with her shoulder. "i did notice, ok?"

kieran nods before continuing. "ever since then i couldn't even look at you without getting jealous of what you had—sian's admiration." smiled sympathetically and apologised. "it's not your fault. it's mine. i was being stupid."

"it's okay," ellie assures, resting her head on is shoulder. and that's when she knew she was slowly falling for him.

-

joe had gone on his phone and searched for restaurants or b&b's in the area, to which there were plenty. he informed the rest and they all reluctantly climbed back into the van.

driving, joe follows the directions on his phone with precise precision so they don't get lost. again. kieran and ellie both seem a lot happier, and eleanor and emma share a knowing glance.

"did you guys hear that?" kieran questions, peering around the back of the van. a muffled 'baaah' noise is heard once more.

"uh, you're probably hallucinating. here, eat some sweets," eleanor insists. emma starts nodding violently.

ellie joins in now, too. "no, i hear it too. there's definitely something in here."

emma starts shaking her head violently. "it's uh, probably just, like, the wind. you know the wind these days always stirring trouble haha amirite?"

"is that a sheep noise?"

"no that was me. bahh bahhh bAH SEE I'M THE SHEEP."

"colin what's under your shirt? colin, take off your shirt."

colin smirks at kieran. "look if you wanted me to strip you could've just asked..."

"colin i'm serious. what the hell is under your shirt? is it, is it moving?"

though desperately trying to conceal it, the lamb breaks free from his grasp. kieran shrieks and jumps onto joe, who was still driving. ellie chases it around the van trying to pet it which distracts joe even more.

"SHAWN!" shrieks sam from the passenger seat. he pulls kieran off of joe and into his lap before taking shawn into his arms.

kieran whimpers in fear and colin is missing his shirt, which had been chewed up by shawn. rip in peace colin's shirt.

sam gets everyone to calm down and joe and emma don't stop making fun of kieran. eleanor tries to defend him and then suggests going to see dr. Z from 'my extreme animal phobia'. it turns out kieran is specifically afraid of lambs. sheep are okay, but lambs.

joe huffs when he misses a left turn. he makes a u-turn before pulling into a small restaurant and b&b that claims to have live music every night. colin nods at the sign that says this.

"you know, we're running out of cash. maybe this could be a good idea."

"yeah, we've never actually seen you guys play live before. i think it'll be fun!" emma says excitably. kieran, however, shakes his head.

"this would be our first show without sian. i still miss him...it won't be the same..."

ellie smiles sadly and walks up to him. "you'll do great," she then faces the rest of the group, "you all will. i want to see you guys live too. see if you've improved from what you played in the music rooms at school," she laughs, punching colin friendily in the shoulder. colin blatantly winces but attempts to cover it with a smile.

"okay," kieran says. "let's talk to the restaurant."

-

oh my i haven't updated since christmas. cheeky lil update ;)

ahhhh i hate myself bye.