Harleigh Park

3: Afterwards

Lunch had been ignored. Tea at four in the afternoon consisted of fish and chips from the local shop. Konnie seemed eager to show us around, grabbing my hand and dragging me everywhere with exclamations of “Oh, Al, you have to see this! Hurry up!” On her insistence, I had followed her everywhere she wanted to go, and after three over-excited whoops of laughter, the boys had eventually voted to stay on the beach. Only I remained to be dragged around, sandals flapping on the pavement, to see the guitar shop, the vegetarian shoe shop, the clubs and venues… I was exhausted from the running and the conspiratorial giggling after about an hour, and voted we wandered back to the beach.

“Al, I like you.” Konnie stopped, moving in front of me and halting my progress. She was a couple of inches taller than me, and I had to look up slightly to see her face.

“Thanks,” I said, feeling awkward, and smiled at Konnie.

“I like your friends.”

“Yeah, they’re nice guys. Twats, but nice.”

“Why do you hang out with them?” she asked. I blinked at her. “I mean, they’re boys, and you’re not… shouldn’t you hang out with girls?”

“Oh… I just like them,” I said stiffly.

“Have you dated all of them or something?”

“Nah. Not my type,” I said, and made to step past her.

“What is your type?” she asked, stepping into my way.

“Not them,” I said firmly. “Why, do you want me to try and fix you up?”

“No!” Konnie scoffed. “Why do you think that?”

“It’s normally why girls talk to me. They want me to hook them up with Trace or Adam. Or sometimes Mike… almost never Dave.”

Konnie looked confused, and I walked past her, face into the sea breeze.

“They really do love you though, don’t they?” Konnie said, falling into step beside me.

“Yeah… I guess. They’re like my brothers.”

“So, if Trace is the good-looking one, Mike’s the musical one, Adam is the flirty stoner one and Dave’s the smart one, that makes you…”

“Me,” I said. “Come on, hurry up, I don’t want to miss Trace making an ass of himself trying to impress girls.”

We left at six so we could get home not too late. Konnie and Aidan walked with us to the station and said goodbye to us. It felt like the evening, even though it was still light and sunny.

“Goodbye, Al,” Konnie said, hugging me. I clapped her on the back brusquely, and then she smiled. “Have you got a pen?”

“Yeah…” I passed her a sharpie. Shooting me an amused grin, she grabbed Mike’s hand and scrawled eleven digits across the back of it.

“See you around Harleigh,” she said, blowing us all a kiss and winking.

Aidan blinked. “Right… well, it was lovely to see you again. Come see me again sometime, Al. You too, guys!” He hugged me tightly, clapping my friends on the shoulder, and then waved. We laughed, and boarded the train home.

Mum and Dad were meant to be home tonight, but on the way back to Harleigh I got a text from them.

“What’s up?” Trace asked, looking at me. Mike was still awing over the fact he had Konnie’s number.

“Nothing,” I said, putting my phone away. “Just that Mum and Dad have decided to spend another two days in Norfolk. Can… I don’t know. Could I come crash at yours for a night, anyone?”

“Why would you want to do that?” Trace asked.

“Just for some company. It’s not like I have Helen to piss off or anything.”

“Yeah, come round mine,” Trace grinned, punching my on the shoulder. “It’s cool. You can have the sofa.”

I was sitting next to the window, my feet stretched across two seats. I wished I could stick my head out the window and feel the air rush through my hair, just to remind me of how exhilarating life was, and how vital. Beyond the window were fields and hills and valleys and houses. Streets of people just laughing and living. And beyond that, there were seas and other countries, mountains and cities where right now it was snowing and dark rather than sunny and light, but everywhere you look there are people, people just being people…

“Al?” came a voice from miles away, and Mike was waving his hand in front of my face. “You just spaced out…”

“Oh,” I said, and shrugged. “Hey, look at that, Harleigh. We’re home already? That was fast.”

“It only seemed fast because you’ve been daydreaming for the past ten minutes.”

We said goodbye to Adam, Mike and Dave at the station and they set off home, walking in different directions to us. Trace started walking, bumping his surfboard along awkwardly.

“It was the perfect day for the beach,” I sighed, and looked upwards at the sky. It was blue, an endless expanse above our heads.

“Nice weather, hot chicks, good waves…” Trace said. I hit him. “What? I only said that the waves were good!”

“Don’t call girls chicks. And hot it not a compliment,” I told him sternly. He rolled his eyes and muttered something about girls, so I hit him again.

I was meant to sleep on the sofa, but I ended up tossing and turning in the heat and walking up the stairs and into Trace’s room. The light was still on and he was sitting on the bed in his boxers, listening to his iPod and staring at the wall.

I sat down next to him, pushing him sideways and taking at earphone from him.

“I’ll put on something you like,” Trace said, fiddling with his iPod.

“Your iPod, your house. Listen to what you like.”

“Couldn’t sleep?”

“Isn’t that kind of obvious? Twat.”

“You’re my guest!”

“You’re still a twat, Trace.”