Page 5 of Heavensent & Hellbent

“Right. Yeah, obviously.” I glanced down at my hands and traced a forefinger on the light bruising on my left wrist. It was not yet fully developed, but tender to the touch.

Nic must have noticed my eyes diverting away from the screen because she said, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” I spoke quickly. I told Nic most things, but there was something about her not being here that made me hesitate. Our physical distance a gulf between us.

“How’s the play going, anyway?” I asked.

“We’re doingThe Importance of Being Earnest,” she said, lips pressed together. “I’m playing Cecily, and this guy called Lewis is playing Algernon. He shakes every time he has to hold my hand. It’s made rehearsals more awkward than I thought possible.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s the effect you have on guys, Nic.”

She rolled her eyes. “Hardly.” Though it was true. “You know, they got a speech coach in to try and make us all speak in posh Southern accents.”

I couldn’t help the grin that spread over my face. I loved Nic, but the thickness of her Yorkshire accent far rivaled mine. “And how is that going?”

“I can’t bloody do it,” she said in a very bad attempt at a posh accent.

I laughed. “You sounded Irish, I hope you know.”

She huffed. “It’s fun, though. Between that and working at the pub, summer’s going to be busy.” As she spoke, there was a faraway look in her eyes. I knew what that meant.

“What hashedone now?” I asked.

He being Jack, a boy from school that Nic had an on-again, off-again thing with. There was something about him that made me suspicious. Maybe it was because he was so loud, too much of a lad. That and they broke off their situationship every week over pointless arguments. Jack could never admit when he was wrong. I didn’t know what she saw in him. Plus, he was a Scorpio. Nic was a Leo. They were never going to work, and she knew this, but threw out all her belief in the stars when it came to him.

Normally, I would remind her of this fact, but I still felt uneasy about the night before, so instead listened as she told me about their latest argument. Jack hadn’t opened any of the videos she sent him, and she felt that showed his lack of engagement. He claimed he just didn’t like watching videos or going on his phone that much.

“That’s a lie,” Nic said with vim. “He’s always online. He just doesn’t like showing an interest in what I like.”

I nodded along, comforted by her rambling, her words grounding me back in reality.

“Okay, whatever, boys suck,” she added. “Where’s the first place you want to go when we move to London?”

When, not if. We hadn’t heard back about whether we got into our top university choices yet, but we had done our vision boards, manifested our life in London. We had to believe it. I thought about her question for a moment. “The art galleries. Tate Modern, maybe?”

“Then we could go vintage shopping in Brick Lane,” Nic added, smiling. “And check out the kilo sales.” There were thrift markets all around London where clothes were weighed and you were charged per kilo. I saw a girl online managed to score a vintage plaid Burberry skirt for so cheap; it was aspirational. We had those kinds of markets in Hull, but the pieces were never as good.

“And we need to try all the amazing pastries I’ve seen on Instagram. Like that matcha macaroon cookie.”

We both sighed.

Nic said, “I can’t wait. I’ve been doing extra shifts at the pub to save up.”

Before Dad told us about the move, that had been my plan for the summer, too—to make as much money as possible so I could do all the things I wanted to with ease come September. My student loan would only stretch so far: to cover my rent and bills, possibly groceries if I was frugal enough. But I wanted to experience London to the fullest. I did have the inheritance mymum left me, but it was stored in a separate bank account, under strict instructions by my dad to save it for a house deposit one day.

My food arrived, and the sandwich was piled high with fillings: avocado, scrambled egg, a meatless patty, and melted cheddar. I had never seen anything so big, and while it looked incredible, I wasn’t sure how best to tackle it.

I said goodbye to Nic before cutting into the sandwich, using the stick placed down the middle to keep one half on the plate. While I ate, I watched videos of my favorite fashion influencers shopping and styling their purchases. I’d always been obsessed with clothes but was moving away from fast fashion. There was something special about finding secondhand treasures—and I had a somewhat unrealistic expectation that one day I would find an authentic Prada nylon bag for a fraction of the price. A girl could dream.

Halfway into eating, my phone rang. Azar. I answered the call. My sister was breathless as she asked, “How’s things?”

I could hear car horns in the background.

“Where are you? It’s noisy.”

“On my way to pre-drinks. You sound sad. It’s only the first day—it’ll get better.”

“I’m not sad,” I mumbled. “Dad was flirting with the neighbor when I left the house. I’ve gone out to get away from them.”