3 days of soup, sex and sun salutations [H.S]

11. Close to it all

The nickname rolls off her tongue as soon as she opens her mouth. She didn't mean to be this mean, but his stupid demeanour just boils her blood a little. Although he isn't drunk off his ass anymore, and he's actually brushed his hair and washed up, he's clumsy and a little... Well, distraught? He drags a hand through his long, curly and a little damp hair and she turns away from his eyes.

Nancy watches Stevie as she throws a towel at one of the other girls in the van, a girl with long brown hair. She thanks Stevie and dries off the rain from her face before giving it to the guy next to her. Nancy isn't wet herself, so she just watches the rest of them dry off. Harry goes last, and he offers the towel to her, but she shakes her head and goes back to her thoughts. The only thing she wanted to do today was to find her friends, and now she's stuck here with a group of kids and Stevie. Stevie's nice though, all smiles and honesty which is just her type of person. It's just that she didn't plan it out to be like this, she just wanted to hang out with her friends and not think about anything else in her life that seems to go wrong. Especially the part that her stupid ex-boyfriend cheated on her and that her mum is so far away after the divorce.

"Would you like some nuts?" She then hears a low voice ask, and she turns her attention back to the present. Harry's got a big hand stretched out towards her, a bag of cashews dangling from his fingers.

"Sure", she nods, and grabs the bag. He smiles towards her, eyes lighting up when she doesn't slag him off. He better not get too used to it, she thinks to herself as she crushes a nut between her front teeth.

Stevie plops down next to her, and takes some nuts from the bag, too. She's wearing a flowy, white dress and her fringe is hanging down into her eyes. She scoots it away with the back of her hand, pouring some nuts into her open mouth.

"Sorry about your friends. I'm sure we'll find them later, okay?" She says, reassuring, and Nancy nods.

"How old are you, anyway? Wait! Let me guess!"

Nancy laughs at Stevie's excitement, and nods again.

"Hmm... So you must be older than Harry here, because he's only a baby", she sing-songs while giving Harry an amused look. He pouts a little, letting out a high pitched "heyyyy".

"But you're not old enough to buy alcohol, or drink, right?"

"Right", Nancy answers, slightly proud that Stevie doesn't see her as a baby.

"So my guess is... You're 18?" Stevie crosses her fingers, and looks like she's hoping for the best.

"Wah wah wah", Nancy sings in a gameshow-like effect.

"But you're close! 17", she then adds, to not keep Stevie waiting for too long.

"Ahhh, damnit! What would have been your guess, Harry?"

Nancy looks to Harry, who is sat opposite her, and he looks taken aback from being addressed.

"Um, oh.." He stammers, voice even lower than before.

"I guess I would've said the same, 18, maybe? You look older than 17!" He says, and Nancy blushes a little. It's always a compliment to hear that you look older than you actually are.

"Well, I have to say thank you to that", Nancy says, huffing out a tiny laugh. She sees Harry turn red, flicking his finger up on his nose a few times.

The rain smatters on the windows of the van, making Nancy feel lucky that they didn't actually get far enough to find her friends in the end. They are drinking stale coffee, eating nuts and talking about everything. She has now learnt the names of the others in the van: there's Linda and Mary and Brian, and then there's Harry and Stevie, and on the front seat, sleeping the night off, is Kane, the guitarist of Stevie's band. The rest of the bandmates are nowhere to be seen, but Stevie just laughed when she asked, saying "girls are a common interest among these boys".