𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 // 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑓𝑖𝑐

𝟶𝟶𝟷

09:25

"That'll be £2.49" was the first thing the man with tattoos said when Emily Summers told him her destination. No 'hello' or 'good morning' just straight to the point. He looked pretty tired, 'a long day at work' she guessed but, when she glanced at the clock behind him she realised it was only 9:25, and the station didn't fully open until 8.

"Miss," he impatiently repeated, his hand held out, a snake tattoo peeping from under his sleeve. "You're holding up the que. £2.49".

Only than did Emily realise the fussing people behind her, an old woman - who was practically standing on top of her - grumbling under her breath, "Oh for goodness sake, I'm going to miss my train!".

Despite it being a windy day, she felt a sudden wave of heat hit her, her stomach tightening in an almost painful manner and palms becoming sweaty. "S-Sorry, yes, sorry," she choked out, having to swallow the lump in her throat. "Erm, I have-I have it right here".

'I knew I should've done this before', she thought as she dug through her bag, her blurring vision making it difficult for her to spot her purse. "Sorry, sorry, I-".

"Hurry up! My train leaves in twenty minutes!".

Her stomach began to knot, and she could already feel vomit travel it's way to her throat, threatening to make an appearance. Now struggling to breath, tears brimmed in the corners of her eyes. "I-".

However, before she could embarrass herself anymore, a new voice was heard, this one much friendlier than the rest. "Keep the change".

Slowly looking up, Emily noticed a boy, maybe a few years older than her. He was quite tall with dark, frizzy hair, which desperately needed a good brush, and big ears. She tried to mumble a 'thank you', or literally anything now, but her voice refused to cooperate.

Knowing she was already uncomfortable, and not wanting to make her feel any worse, the boy, then, turned to face her and toothily grinned; tattoo man lazily stuffing the money into the counter. "Let's go wait over there, yeah? Everyone's getting too pushy" he tried to joke, offering out his hand.

Emily didn't exactly have much time to respond, though, well, that was if she was actually able to this time, as the old woman soon roughly pushed her way to the front, a scowl plastered on her wrinkly face as she grumbled something about 'kid's these days'.

When she didn't move, the other teenager gently took her hand, his cold in hers, and half dragged, half guided, her over to a bench, where a red-haired girl was sat, knees up, head down, and doodling in a notebook.

Beside her was another teenager -- this one with dark curls. That's all the boy really noticed anyway, her head down and full attention seemingly on her phone.  Despite being so close, neither of the two spoke, he doubted they even knew the other was there.

"Can't have you get trampled, I've just met you," he chirped, his voice bringing Emily out of her trance. "So, going anywhere exciting?".

The girl meekly bobbed her head, "East Brooke" she replied; the boy suddenly stopping in his steps, pure excitement clear in his eyes and a grin tugging at his lips.

"No way!" he cheered. "Us too! I've heard they've opened a new ice cream shop -- biggest in the world -- so Alek agreed to come with me to see! Apparently they've got all kinds of flavours, Cheesecake, Rhubarb, pumpkin, I might have to have a triple scoop to try them all!".

Emily gave a small, nervous laugh, her face heating up a little when she realised they were still holding hands, "Mhm, that sounds cool", she replied before slowly, hesitantly, pulling her hand away, it instantly feeling quite lonely. "I'm there for the animals. I'm pretty sure this is the place with the first-ever puppy café, so that's exciting".

The still nameless boy went to reply, but the redhead chose that moment to look up at them through her fringe, "Nath," she somewhat called, slightly frowning at Emily. "What took you so long? Did you get the tickets?".

He nodded, his curls bouncing at the small movement. "Sorta," the boy, Nathan, sheepishly replied, dragging his heavy boots as he strolled over. "Technically, they're her tickets, the man must've thought we were together since he gave me two copies. Good news is, we're going to the same place, haha".

The girl huffed, it taking him a good few seconds to realise the mistake. "Oh..Oh! Right, I'll.. I'll go and get your ticket now. Wait there, don't move!". With that said, he rushed off, almost tripping over his laces as he never bothered to do them up.

"Er, hi, you must be Alek, I'm -" Emily went to introduce, uncomfortably shifting her weight onto her other foot, but the girl just cut her off.

"Don't care" she mumbled, going back to her doodles.

"What are you draw --".

Rolling her eyes, she stuffed her earphones back in.

"Okay, then..".

'This is going to be a fun journey' she thought, annoyingly a little curious about the girl..