Be My Escape

For the rest of my first week in England, I didn’t do much other than work and go out with Jake a few more times. He even came over that Friday night and we ordered takeout and watched a movie; or rather, we started to watch a movie but ended up making out on the couch instead. He didn’t stay though, saying he had family things to do that weekend, but that he’d call me later on.

So for two whole days, I had planned on relaxing and bumming around my flat, because after the long week I was exhausted.

I was woken Saturday morning by an incessant knocking at the door though, totally ruining my plans of sleeping in. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered as I stumbled out of bed and made my way through the flat to the front door. “Keep your pants on!” I called out, knowing it had to be one of the guys.

I opened the door only to reveal Max and Josh, bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to annoy me and kill any chances of relaxing that day.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and yawned. “What do you want?” I grumbled, stretching my arms over my head which in turn caused the oversized crewneck sweater I was sleeping in to ride up my stomach. It didn’t even bother me that my choice of sleepwear that morning was a pair of short-shorts and a sweatshirt that was currently riding up my stomach. I guess I was still half asleep.

“You need a new cell!” Max exclaimed, brushing by me into my flat. Josh just shrugged and smiled apologetically at me, which would have caught me off guard if it wasn’t currently eight in the morning on a Saturday.

“A what?” I asked, my voice raspy from sleep. I cleared my throat and asked again as I followed them into the kitchen.

Max went straight for the fridge, digging through it for something to eat, while Josh took a seat at the counter. “He thinks you need a new mobile, a temp one while you’re here so you can get in contact with people. He’s been a proper mental case since you’ve been going on dates with that bloke in the suit,” Josh informed me with a roll of his eyes.

I mocked him and planted my hands on my hips. “His names Jake, and he’s not a bloke in a suit. He’s a nice guy, thank you very much.”

“Whatever,” Josh muttered, laying his head on his arms resting on the counter.

Finally, Max appeared from the fridge, an apple in his mouth and a water bottle in his hands. “More or less, he’s right. You need a cellular phone, Peyton. Can’t have you wandering the countryside with that mate of yours without a way to get in contact with anyone if he ends up being a serial killer.”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s not a serial killer Max. Chill out, big brother,” I winked at him. “But I could use a cell phone. I need to call my mom, and calling her through the telephone would cost way too much.”

“Exactly!” Max exclaimed, mouth full of apple. Ew I thought with a shudder. “So let’s go! Josh and I have an off day at the studio because they’re trackin’ drums, so we’re free for the day. We’ll show you around the town, yeah?”

I laughed and looked down at my frumpy appearance. “Give me a half hour to shower and change?” I asked, earning a nod from Max.

I hurried off down the hall to get ready. There goes my plans for a relaxing Saturday, I thought to myself with a laugh and a shake of my head.

***

“Max! You’re being ridiculous,” I groaned, even though I knew he couldn’t hear me. We had been in the cell phone shop for over an hour now, all because Max was determined that I get a good phone that will withstand the apocalypse, and possibly in the pants of the girl helping us. I had picked out something simple, since I would only be using it for a few months and I didn’t need anything fancy. I would be spending enough on the plan itself, especially if I got international calling which I most definitely would.

Josh, from his spot next to me, just laughed. “He just wants to protect you. He takes the big brother roll seriously, y’know?” he told me while we watched Max question the pretty brunette who worked there.

“He’s just trying to get in that girls pants, and if it takes buying a three hundred dollar phone, then so be it,” I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest. I waited a few more minutes before saying, “Screw it. I’m getting this phone and that’s that.”

I found someone who worked there and pointed out the phone I wanted before they disappeared into the backroom to get it for me. “There,” I told Josh with a triumphant look on my face. “Easy as pie.” I grabbed his wrist and dragged him over to the counter with me.

After picking out one of the simple international plans, I signed on the dotted line and waited while the girl who had gotten my phone for me started it up. Leaning my hip against the counter, I turned to smile at Josh. “What would Max do if we left and went down to the food court?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “He wouldn’t notice until that lass over there turned him down.” He jerked his thumb in the direction of the Max and the girl. I just shook my head.

“Okay, you’re all set!” The girl whose name tag read Amanda said to us. She handed over my sleek little phone with a smile. “I’ll write your number down on this piece of paper so you have it because I know how hard it is to remember your own number.” She quickly jotted down the number and handed me the paper, along with a plastic bag with the box for my phone in it. “Have a wonderful day!” she smiled at Josh and me.

“Come on,” I grinned as we turned away. “We’re leaving.”

With that, we hurried out of the store and down the mall to the food court. The both of us were laughing when we got there, out of breath and red-faced, which was a little embarrassing considering the food court wasn’t far from the phone store. “Hungry?” I asked Josh with my hands on my hip as I glanced around.

He shrugged. “Not really.”

“Me either,” I grinned at him, skipping over to the smoothie bar. “Two strawberry banana smoothies, please!” I ordered for us, not bothering to ask Josh if he wanted one.

“Five forty-three, please,” the man working said, his tone bored as he stuck out his hand to collect the money from me. I handed over the remaining euros I had in my pocket, still not used to the money change I had to make when I came over.

“I didn’t want—” Josh started, but I cut him off with my hand.

“Shush, I’m being nice to you. Suck it up and accept it,” I smirked, turning back to the guy working, now with two smoothies in his hand.

“Here ya go,” he said, handing them over. “Have a nice day.”

I smiled and nodded and handed the smoothie over to Josh before skipping by him and back to the center of the food court where I took a seat at an empty table.

I sipped on my smoothie while Josh took a seat across from me. He did the same and then quirked an eyebrow at me before saying, “Why are you bein’ nice to me?” he asked.

Shrugging, I took another sip and didn’t look him in the eye. “Even though I think you were being childish at the party the other day, you haven’t talked to me for a few days so I figured I needed to apologize or something.” I shrugged again, looking down at my smoothie as I stirred it with my straw.

“Just been busy,” he told me, probably as an excuse for why he hasn’t talked to me. I guess I could have believed him, considering I hadn’t seen much of any of the guys for a few days. I had run into Max when I was coming home from work the other day and he was heading out, and he told me they were really starting to get busy with the recording.

“You’re never too busy to irritate me, Josh,” I smirked, taking yet another sip of my smoothie.

Looking up from his drink suddenly, he asked me, “Why do you think I was bein’ childish? When?”

“At the party, when you freaked out and told me not to pity you.” I rolled my eyes, thinking back to the party. “I wasn’t pitying you Josh. Empathizing maybe, but not pitying you.”

He looked at me skeptically, but said nothing more, instead choosing to concentrate on his drink.

Suddenly, my name was being called throughout the food court. “Peyton! PEYTON!”

I turned around to look in the direction the voice was calling me and soon spotted Max, his face red with anger. I couldn’t contain my laughter any longer and burst out, tears rolling down my cheeks from laughing so hard. Josh joined in, his laughter making it hard to stop my own. I clutched my stomach when it started to ache from laughing so hard, and only continued to laugh harder when Max finally reached our table.

“Well I’m glad you thought it was funny, mate,” he said, angry with me. “I was a proper mental case when I noticed you disappeared.”

“I’m—sorry!” I gasped in between laughs, but I couldn’t stop, which was just making it worse.

Josh continued to laugh with me, but he could control himself better than I could. “She was just havin’ a little fun with you mate, no big deal,” he reasoned, but Max just glared at us.

“Well you just about gave me a proper heart attack!” he exclaimed, dropping into the seat next to me with a pout attached to his lips.

Coughing, trying to rid the laughter, I wiped the remaining tears from my cheeks. “I’m sorry,” I told him sincerely. “But you wouldn’t listen! And you were trying to get in that girls pants, and I just didn’t feel like being there any longer.” I shrugged and took the last sip of my smoothie.

Max blushed and rolled his eyes, opening his mouth to protest but nothing came. “She was pretty, wasn’t she?”

I rolled my eyes too and smacked him on the shoulder. “What about Rosie? Y’know, your girlfriend?”

“Oh, we may or may not be broken up,” he told me with a shrug.

My mouth dropped open, as did Josh’s, as we gaped at Max. “What?” we both exclaimed.

“Since when?” I asked him. “I thought she was great?”

He shrugged. “She was alright, nothin’ special. We had fun but she was clingy and so I think we may have broken up at the party the other night. No biggie.”

“You think?” Josh smirked, finishing off his own smoothie. “Mate, thinkin’ hasn’t ever really been your strong suit.”

“Oh, sod off,” Max laughed. “I dunno honestly, but she hasn’t called me so I’m just kind of assumin’ we’re not together anymore.”

I smacked my forehead gently and sighed, but chose not to respond again. Max was a big boy and he could deal with his own relationships, I just couldn’t believe he wasn’t sure if he was broken up or not.

It was funny though; as I sat there with Josh and Max, listening to them go on about the new record, I realized I had talked more in that afternoon and had more fun in the time I had been sitting there with Josh than I had in maybe over a year. It was a scary thought, but it was also a little exhilarating. Maybe England really was doing good things for me, things that were going to help me in the long run.