The colours from the shops and traffic lights were reflected in the street floor, still wet from the evening’s rain.
“That was fun.” Alex side-stepped someone as they hurried into the entrance of Brixton Tube.
“The encore was incredible.” Lacey clutched onto her bag as someone bumped into her.
“Yeah. It was really fun … But … I guess it’s going to be hard to keep this going long distance.”
A woman talking loudly on her phone walked straight between them.
“Long distance?”
“You live here. I live in Brighton.”
“Oh yeah, sure, of course … of course.”
“It’s been really fun though. I’ve never met a girl before who could drink as much as me.”
“You haven’t?”
“But definitely let’s keep in touch though.”
They hugged goodbye. Alex descended down the stairs with the rest of the commuters. Lacey stood motionless on the pavement for a few moments. She shoved her hands into her coat pockets and turned to make her way home.
“Excuse me? Could you buy me a cider?” A woman in a torn jacket and a stained pair of jeans was blocking Lacey’s way.
Lacey glanced at the Sainsbury’s shop front, brightly lit up next to them, full of people doing their evening shopping.
“Sorry, I don’t have any money on me.”
“Please.” Carla gripped Lacey’s elbow and looked at her with wide eyes. “It’s Saturday night.”
Lacey glanced back at the shop front again.
“OK, fine.”
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Carla kept saying these words over and over again as they headed into Sainsbury’s, Carla lightly holding onto Lacey’s sleeve. It was startlingly bright inside the shop. Lacey weaved through the crowds, steering Carla up and down each aisle in turn.
“Here. It’s here.” Carla rushed over to one of the refrigerated cabinets and picked up a four-pack of Strongbow. “Can I have this?”
“Sure.”
Lacey grabbed a Twix as they headed towards the self-service checkout machines.
“Do you want something to eat?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
Carla pushed past the queue and marched over to a free self-service machine. She tried to scan the ciders but nothing came up on the monitor.
Lacey took the ciders off her and tried to scan them again, but neither of them could work out how to get the machine to read the barcode.
A young man in a Sainsbury’s uniform walked over to them.
“Excuse me.” The man scanned the ciders and the price came up on the monitor straight away. Lacey thought he gave her a dirty look.
“Thank you.”
“No problem.” The man put the ciders down and turned to help the person at the next machine.
Lacey scanned her Twix and paid for their shopping. As soon as her card payment went through, Carla grabbed the ciders. Lacey followed her back out into the night.
The two women stood outside Sainsbury’s for a moment, both seeming unsure where to go.
Lacey grabbed the sleeve of Carla’s jacket.
“Promise me you’ll look after you after yourself. You’ll look after yourself won’t you?”
Carla waved her away and turned and walked off with the ciders. Lacey watched her move into the crowd, and down the street, and then a few moments later, she couldn’t see her anymore.
She opened her Twix, and turned and walked home.
