Be My Escape

Waking up on a Sunday morning in England shouldn't have been any different from waking up on a Sunday morning in Boston.

But for me, it was. In fact, it had never felt so different.

I rolled out of bed at around ten in the morning. For the first few minutes after I woke up, nothing felt that different. I guess it just hadn't hit me yet. I padded groggily out to the bathroom and after I relieved myself and splashed some water on my face, it hit me. I had never had a realization that hit me as hard as this had; it almost took my breath away.

I grasped onto the sink and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. But I couldn't. Because the fact was, last night I hadn't had a bad dream. For the first time in a year, I didn't have a nightmare that woke me up in a cold sweat.

"Oh my god," I mumbled to myself. Once I gained a little more composure, I walked out into the kitchen and got a glass of water.

As I was taking a sip, there was a knock at my door that had me almost pissing my pants. For some reason, my dream last night had me more shaken up than the nightmares I was used to.

"Hold on," I called out, walking over to the front door. I peered through the peephole and saw Max, Dan, and Josh all standing in front of my door. I rolled my eyes and opened the door, planting my right hand on my hip as I held onto the door with my left one.

"Can I help you three stooges?" I asked with a smirk.

Max and Dan smiled, but Josh just looked bored. Looking at Josh, my stomach churned as I thought of my dream from last night. I shook the feeling off though.

"You hungry, love?" Max asked me.

“Why?" I asked skeptically as I stepped aside to let the three of them in. "And where is Matt and Chris?"

Max walked by and went into the kitchen immediately, sticking his head into my fridge to inspect its contents. Dan laughed and took a seat at the counter while Josh sat next to him. "Having a day off with their lovely lass's."

I nodded and planted my arms on the counter as I leaned over it. "So what are you guys doing here? You're lucky I was up," I laughed with a shake of my head.

"Mum and your dad invited us all over for brunch because they're busy tonight and can't do the dinner thing," Max answered as he wandered over empty handed. "And your fridge is proper empty, Peyton."

I rolled my eyes. "It’s not empty. You're just being picky or something."

Max stuck his tongue out playfully as he walked over and leaned against the counter with me. "So what's the deal, love? Shall we go to brunch?"

I shrugged and bit my lip as I glanced at Josh quickly. I didn't feel like having breakfast with him, especially after my dream, but I guess I didn't have a choice. "Give me like a half hour to shower and change and then we can go."

At the boys' affirmation, I hurried off to shower. I stripped quickly and climbed into the steaming hot water, letting it wash over me and turn my skin red. I figured if I stood there long enough, the water would wash my dream away.

My dream. I couldn't stop thinking about it.

It had been weird, and extremely different from my usual dream. First of all, it was a dream. It wasn’t a nightmare, and it wasn’t scary, and it didn’t have me waking up in a cold sweat and panicking like my usual nightmares did.

It took place in a field of wildflowers, which was odd considering flowers weren’t my favorite thing. But there I was, sitting in this field of wildflowers. I was just sitting there, picking flowers from all around me and gathering them up in my hands. Then out of nowhere, Amanda appeared. It wasn’t the Amanda from the previous year either; for some reason, she looked older. She walked through the field towards me and took a seat across from me as she gathered up wildflowers. We just sat there picking flowers for a little while.

Then it all got weird. All of a sudden, Josh appeared in front of me. He was completely blocking Amanda from my view, and I was angered by this. I stood up and tried to push him aside, but he wouldn’t move. He smiled sweetly at me and then and leaned down, ready to kiss me. But then, I woke up.

I was thoroughly freaked out, even though I really shouldn’t have been. After the party the night before, after my talk with Josh, I went to find Jake so I could go home. I almost went straight to bed after I got back to my flat, which would explain why I was dreaming of Josh—or at least this is what I told myself. I wasn’t sure what the rest of it meant, honestly, but I wasn’t really sure I wanted to find out.

I hurried out of the shower once the water started to get cold and I got dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a black v-neck t-shirt. I finished getting ready and then after grabbing a hoodie and slipping on my Vans, I went back into the living room where the guys were sitting on the couch watching TV.

“Ready?” I asked them, snapping them all out of their television trances. The three nodded, and then we were on our way.

I tried to stay away from Josh, which unfortunately meant staying away from Max seeing as the two of them were leading our little group. I stayed back with Dan, which was actually nice. Dan didn’t talk a lot, but when he did it was just playful banter which made everything comfortable. “So how was the party last night?” he asked me with a smirk.

I groaned. “Can we not? It wasn’t exactly a barrel of fun.”

He just laughed and slung his arm over my shoulder. “Aw, come on, Peyt. It couldn’t have been that bad. Although I did hear something about you and that bloke of yours fighting or something?”

“We got in a little tiff, yeah,” I told him with a roll of my eyes. “He was just being difficult, and I was not in the mood.”

“Haven’t really been in the mood for a few days now, have you Peyton?”

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eyes. “What do you mean by that?”

He shrugged, removing his arm from its spot around me as he shoved his hands in his jean pockets. “You’ve just been kind of touchy these past few days, and it’s a little worrisome. Max is worried sick about you, and you won’t tell him what’s wrong. And I hear you just about tore Josh a new asshole the other day, too,” he finished with a smirk.

I sighed, crossing my arms in front of my chest as I looked down at the sidewalk. “I’ve just been in a bad mood, that’s all. I haven’t been able to sleep and that’s really kind of a shitty thing to deal with.”

Dan just nodded, not pushing the subject any further. He obviously realized he wasn’t going to get anymore out of me.

It didn’t take us long to get to my dad and Hanna’s place. When we arrived, the happy couple was just finishing up plating everything. “Peyton! Max! Oh good, good, you brought friends too. ‘Ello boys!” Hanna called out as she took some toast out of the toaster and coated it with some butter.

We all said our hello’s and took seats at the round table; me in between Max and Dan with Josh on Max’s side. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until Hanna set a plate down in front of me. I tried to eat slow, but I was starving and couldn’t contain myself.

Max chuckled from beside me. “Hungry or what Peyton?”

I rolled my eyes as I bit into a piece of toast, chewed, and swallowed. “I am actually. I didn’t get anything to eat last night, thanks to that stupid party.” I took a drink of my orange juice before sticking my tongue out at him, which just made him laugh.

“Now, now children,” my dad joked with a laugh. “Behave.”

I smiled as I looked at my dad, who just winked at me.

“So, Peyton, I haven’t really gotten the chance to talk to you about the internship. How’s it going?” my dad asked me as he drank his coffee.

I shrugged. “It’s going pretty good, actually. Everyone’s really nice, and it’s nice to be working with people who have experienced the whole internship thing before.” I gave my dad a smile so he wouldn’t think I was lying.

Max just chuckled from his spot next to me. “Don’t forget the bloke you’re with and how nice it must be to work with a guy you’re shaggin’.”

I practically choked on my sausage, which in retrospect was appropriate and Max didn’t fail to notice this either. I tried swallowing and took a drink of my juice, but it didn’t help the burn in my throat from the violent coughing I had just endured. “Max,” I hissed, kicking him under the table.

Apparently, my kick wasn’t hard enough though, seeing as it just made Max laugh. “What, Peyt? It’s perfectly normal to be datin’ someone, yeah?” he smirked, and my stomach churned. He was trying to cover up his word choice from earlier so my dad wouldn't notice, and luckily he didn't.

“What’s this that Max is goin’ on about?” Hanna smiled gently, trying to comfort me I assumed.

I shook my head and turned my direction to my breakfast. “I’ve just been hanging out with Jake a little bit, that’s all.”

“Hangin’ out? Is that what we’re callin’ it these days?” Josh smirked evilly from two seats down.

“Jake? Isn’t he the other lad who works with you?” my dad finally chimed in.

I just about froze on the spot. I tried to swallow the lump in my throat as I turned my gaze up to my dad’s. It was weird though; I was expecting him to be looking at me with that disapproving stare you always hear about, or to be mad about me dating one of my fellow interns. But as I looked up at him, he was just smiling, and he looked genuinely happy. I forced a smile and nodded, unable to speak.

“I for one think it’s wonderful,” he told me, smiling still.

I let out a sigh of relief as I smirked at Max, who was in a slight state of shock next to me. “Thanks dad,” I told him honestly.

He shook his head as he laughed lightly and turned his gaze to Max. “Max, my boy, you sure do have a way of settin’ up my interns with your friends, don’t you?”

And that, ladies and gentleman, is what it’s like for time to stop.

I glanced at Max, who had that “deer-in-the-headlights” look as he stared at my dad, slowly and subtly shaking his head from side to side; it was as if he was trying to subtly get my dad to drop the subject, but he wasn’t understanding this. From my other side, Dan was gently hitting his forehead in exasperation while muttering, “This is going to be fun.”

I looked around the table at each person, but no one was giving any information away. I saved Josh for last, almost forgetting he was even there. He had been so quiet throughout my whole inspection after my dad had said what he did that it was easy to forget him. But as I looked at him, I realized why.

He was staring at his plate, his fork halted in mid-bite. I could see his jaw clench as he shut his eyes and then slowly set down his fork. Still ever so slowly, he looked up at Max. The anger in his eyes was so intense, I could almost feel it.

I turned my gaze to Max, and then Dan, and then back to Josh. Finally, fed up, I set my fork down and sighed. “Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”

Josh was the one to break the silence and tension. “Max is a bloody idiot, that’s what,” he spat out. He quickly got up from his seat and turned to our parents. “Thanks for brunch, but I think I’m goin’ to go back to the flat. Not feelin’ so well.” He nodded his thanks and then headed out, slamming the front door in the process.

“Okay, seriously, someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?” I repeated.

Max shook his head and returned to eating his breakfast, so Dan was the one to answer me. “Later, Peyt. I’ll explain later.”

I just sighed and continued to eat, because obviously I wasn’t going to get any information out of them right now. Later it would be.