Page 6 of The Summer of Us

Olivia pouted. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Paige said, stretching out the cramp in her shoulders. “How are you holding up?”

“Getting hungry,” Olivia said, flicking a glance towards the clock on the dashboard. It was almost ten, and the crisps on the dashboard had already been finished off.

“Didn’t you have any breakfast?”

“Yeah, like twenty minutes before we set off.”

Paige shook her head, a smile tugging at her lips. “Maybe wait a little longer, and then we can stop somewhere for a snack.”

Olivia whined softly. “Fine. But if I faint from hunger, remember it’s your fault.”

Paige said nothing, used to Olivia’s empty threats by now.

Forty-minutes later, Paige pointed out a sign for a service station off the M1 motorway, and Olivia took a sharp turn, cutting across two lanes.

Paige lurched to grab onto something. “Olivia, I swear, your driving is going to be the death of me,” she blurted, her heart dropping into her stomach.

“I didn’t want to miss the turning,” Olivia said calmly.

Paige rolled her eyes, settling back into her seat. “Next time, a little warning.”

The car jolted over the ramped entrance, and Olivia followed the narrow lane between two rows of shrubs and bushes into an open car park. A petrol station was on their left, a trail of cars waiting to fill up, with a large white-washed building on their right. A plastic directory listed Costa Coffee, Greggs and Subway as the main outlets inside.

“Perfect, they have a Greggs here,” Olivia said, cutting the engine. “I’ve been dying to try their new vegan chicken range.”

They climbed out of the car, and Paige groaned as the midday sun sizzled above, warming the asphalt and creating a balmy haze in the air. “God, it’s so hot,” she said, a thin layer of sweat building on her brow. She wiped it off with the back of her wrist, hoping her face wasn’t too flushed.

“You’re going to have to get used to it,” Olivia said, hooking her arm through Paige’s, car keys jangling in her other hand.

Olivia’s skin was just as clammy as Paige’s as their elbows touched, Olivia’s tanned forearm drawing Paige’s gaze for a brief second before her eyes flitted back to her feet, white trainers hitting the ground beside Olivia’s suede sandals.

“Hopefully there’s air-con inside.”

The service station did have an air conditioning unit, and Paige spent a full minute standing beneath the fan, letting the cool air skim over her face, until Olivia dragged her away towards Greggs.

“Are you going to get anything?” Olivia asked as she selected a vegan-chicken baguette and a bottle of Fanta, balancing both in the crook of her elbow as she fished out her purse.

Paige eyed the pastries behind the counter, chewing on her bottom lip. “I might just get a cookie or something. I’m not that hungry.”

“Alright.” Olivia shrugged. “But you’re welcome to try some of my chicken-free chicken,” she added with a wink.

“Thanks.”

After paying for their food, they carried it over to the plastic white chairs in the corner of the service station, beside a drab-looking arcade claw machine, and sat down. Olivia tore into her sandwich while Paige nibbled on her double-chocolate cookie, casting a look around the station. Several families and groups of holiday-goers were loitering beneath the air-con and sipping from cans of ice-cold fizzy drinks, fanning themselves with straw boaters and leaflets from the nearby tourist stand.

Paige unscrewed the cap of her water and took a long sip, relishing the coolness as it washed down her throat.

Behind them, the automatic doors slid open, letting in a gust of warm air and low, masculine voices.

Olivia turned to look, and Paige did the same, casting a cursory glance at the boys that had just walked in. There were five of them, perhaps a few years older than them, in cargo shorts and sweat-dampened shirts.

Paige immediately turned away, uninterested, but Olivia’s gaze lingered, and Paige felt a smaller shimmer of jealousy that was gone before she could fully grasp what it meant. She cleared her throat, drawing Olivia’s attention back towards her. “Guess most people had the same idea as us,” she said casually.

“It is the summer holidays. Tourist season is officially in full swing.”

Paige gave her a half-hearted smile. “Yeah.”

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