Twenty-One Night Stand ✓

27 / home run

As though the weather sensed their departure and was doing its best to persuade them to stay, the sun was out in full force and the perfect sky reflected itself in the still water that had a magical shimmer. As Maddie walked up the road to the station, she looked over her shoulder and gazed wistfully at the beach. With a long sigh, she bid farewell to the city after a perfect few days of gentle exploration and lazy afternoons on the beach while she and Posy had planned their worldwide adventure.

For now, though, it was back to the palette of greys that made up Farnleigh, from the pavements and the buildings to the sky and its clouds. Maddie couldn't wait to get out of that dreary town and into the real world, to explore everything the world had to offer her, and she felt her heart open up each time she imagined the adventures she and Posy were going to have.

"Ugh," Posy harrumphed from right next to her, lugging her back up the gentle slope. "Why does the weather have to be so good when we're leaving?"

"I know," Maddie said, sighing. She pulled her case along behind her, wishing she could stay just a few days longer to soak in the sun and rest her mind. Plentiful conversations with Posy over the past seventy-two hours had thrown up several realisations, the main one being that a holiday with a friend could go a long way to soothe a tumultuous mind. "I don't want to go home."

"Me neither," Posy said, casting her eyes over the sea one last time, "but we have tickets for a train that leaves in fifteen minutes so we kind of need to get a move on."

The station came into view, leaving the sea behind them as a memory that could no longer be glimpsed, and Maddie upped her pace to match Posy's. Though her friend was a good few inches shorter, she somehow moved a lot faster and Maddie found herself half jogging by the time they stepped into the cool concourse. She trotted beside Posy, ticket in hand as they headed for the barrier, while Posy harrumphed in search of her own before shoving her way onto the platform.

"It's been so nice to get away from Heather and Poppy's bickering, and from Mum constantly asking what I plan on doing with my life." She let out a short laugh at the slice of gallows humour, though at least the next year had more direction.

The train was already waiting, though they were in plenty of time, and with reserved seats this time there was no hurry. Maddie made a beeline for coach C, ready to put her feet up for an hour, though they had only walked about a mile. Squeezing her bag onto the luggage rack, she dropped down onto her seat, a window again, and glanced out of the clear glass at the other people waiting for other trains. Posy sat beside her, a comforting presence, and rested her head on Maddie's shoulder without a word. They didn't need any to know they were on the same wavelength, their minds working in tandem.

*

As the landscape grew more familiar, the sky grew darker until it was invisible past the thick blanket of cloud that almost black by the time they were just a few minutes from Farnleigh. Maddie's heart sank when she heard thunder roll overhead and at the first crack of lightning, she gripped Posy's hand. Not a lot freaked her out but despite telling herself it was irrational, she couldn't shake the fear that gripped her when thunder crashed and lightning illuminated the sky. Posy held her hand, squeezing her fingers to the beat of her own heart to slow the rate of Maddie's.

"It'll pass," she said, gazing out at the dark horizon. It was hard to believe that it was only five o'clock when outside it looked like the sun had already set. Maddie's eyebrows pulled together, scowling at the weather she hated, and she turned away from the window. Home wasn't far away now, and as much as she wished she could be back in Brighton with Posy for another week, she craved her own bed and shelter from the storm.