************One week later***********
Marcus’s POV:
Cities on a Sunday can be such interesting places. They are full of people, full of cars, full of the hustle and bustle of life. But something was different last Sunday, the last day of summer in the city. Everything seemed to wash over me. I left like I was in a little bubble. Things just really didn’t feel right.
Summer in the City was amazing this year, biggest year yet and I had honestly never felt so lucky to be part of it. The event finished at around 13:00 pm and everyone was getting together to have a meal. But I felt like I needed a light lunch and I also wanted to get down to the bottom of the situation with Alfie, everything seemed to be a blur this morning. So I'd gone into town with Caspar, Alfie and a few other mates. We caught a bus from London Road. The journey was as predictable as ever. I can't even remember getting on the bus; but, I can distinctly remember getting off.
By the time we did get off we were all pretty fed up. We were as hot as the proverbial Sahara Desert and as bothered as a bumble bee trapped in a beer bottle. The usual breezy fifteen minute journey had taken us over an hour.
We hadn't noticed to start with. You know what it's like when you're chatting about this and that. And 'Summer in the City' had been pretty crazy, so chatting about that had kept us more than a little occupied. Time flies by. But you also probably know what it's like on a hot, packed bus crawling through the kind of traffic that the word 'jam' just doesn't adequately describe...thick porridge more like! Pretty awful once you realise what's happening. And what was happening? Not a lot.
I looked over to Alfie; He was red in the face while he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. No emotion, no expression. It was really starting to bug me because I knew something was wrong but he wasn’t letting me in.
Anyway to cut a long story short, we did eventually climb...well tumble...off the bus. We headed straight for McDonalds to grab a drink because that was literally torture having to sit in a humid bus for an hour.
When we did eventually leave McDonalds I noticed that it was a lot darker than usual? There was something odd about the quality of the light that made us all stop and look at each other frowning. We didn't have to ask the question, for we knew we all had the same thought in our minds. There was something odd about the sky... You know that feeling you have just before a really bad thunder storm, when the sky turns inky and the air feels oddly cool and fresh? Well the sky had certainly turned inky, but there was no freshness. It was weird.
English weather is so unpredictable and these clouds were some what slowly creeping over the sun removing the warmth from the air. Currently we were all in vest tops and thin t-shirts and I think we all agreed that we didn’t want to stand around in this freak weather. The silence was then broken by Alfie’s croaky voice, the first time he had spoken all afternoon. “Dani just texted me...” he said his face lighting up a little as he swiped away at his iphone to open the text. “There’s a formal party over at YouTube, to thank us for this weekend...” He said looking up at all of us.
“Will Malfie join me tonight?” Caspar said bowing and extending both of his hands out towards Alfie and I.
Alfie didn’t seem to acknowledge what Caspar had said he just stood there tapping away at his phone with one hand while his other hand rested on his forehead. He looked really hot and sweaty even though it was chilly outside.
“So will you join us Alfie?” I questioned him for the second time.
“Ohhh shit, sorry I can’t...” He said backing away from us and carelessly stumbling and staggering as he did so.
“Next train to Brighton is in half an hour, I need to clear my head and I just need to be out of London” Alfie said as he confirmed the tickets on his phone.
“But that won’t give you enough time to get your stuff and what about that meeting we have tomorrow...?” Caspar questioned frowning at Alfie a little.
“Its fine I still have some of my things back in Brighton and that can be cancelled, please Caspar just don’t question me...” Alfie said as his voice broke off a little as he spoke.
I looked over to Alfie for the first proper time all day, he didn’t look like himself at all, his skin was so pale, his lips looked dry and cracked, he had really large bags under his eyes and he was literally sweating buckets. “Alfie...” I pleaded shocked in his reaction...he nearly always agrees to parties.
He was a coward he didn’t even look up when I spoke. He just turned and walked in the direction of the train station, trying to balance him self as he walked. I knew he wasn’t well... He couldn’t even hold himself upright.
***********************
Dani’s POV:
Waking up in my bed, in my own house feels really amazing; I have actually really missed it. Mum really has missed me even though I’ve been gone only a little while. It’s nice to be at home living like a teenager again I feel like I’ve grown up a hell of a lot in the past week I’ve spent with the boys. Funnily enough doing my chores again actually feels great as well instead of a cleaner or room service doing everything for me. Honor and I also told the boys the truth about our age which was not too bad because everyone knew anyway because of YouTube.
The sad thing is it’s going to be hard for everyone to be together in the same place because of work, college or whatever else us youtubers get up too. I really did cherish the time we all spent together at SITC...I also feel like Honor and I have really been welcomed to the group. But Sam has made it official that we all meet up at YouTube HQ every other Sunday for some quality time together and a meal which I think is a great idea. This is the first meet up we’re all going too and I’m really nervous because Finn is coming to pick me up at my house in an hour which means he is also going to be the first boy I’m bringing home to meet my mum.
“What time is this boyfriend of yours coming?” Mum called from down stairs.
“He isn’t my boyfriend mother!” I playfully called back.
“Mum!” I called again but there was no reply.
I ran down stairs to face her but Finn was there talking to her... My heart dropped. As I approached them Finn noticed I was there and completely stopped in midsentence. My mum turned to see what he was looking at and literally just stood there looking at me.
“What?” I questioned them my cheeks flashing bright red.
“You look urmmm... special...no stunning!” Mum said looking me up and down with her mouth wide open.
“Yeah... Beautiful!” Finn added grinning like an idiot, his eyes wide.
“Thanks!” I said blushing as I stepped down from the bottom step of the stairs.
“Your a little cutie” Finn tease because I was a head smaller then him. I then punched him playfully on the arm.
“We better get going!” He exclaimed reaching his hand out towards me.
I grabbed his hand, waved to my mum and with that we were driving down the street in his little ford on our way to meet everyone.
