Chapter 3

I hadn't seen the girls all weekend; on all three nights I hadn't got away from the pub until almost midnight, and I had gone home to sleep in my old bedroom.

My four housemates were very quiet; they were clearly worried about their exam results, and they were virtually broke, so weren't going drinking at all.

On Monday, I sorted out my room and then did some washing before deciding to go and see Sian. I wanted to talk to her about her cousins, and I also owed her a shag as she had missed out on Friday, and it was her turn.

The pleasantly warm English June summer weather had become unstable over the weekend; it felt more like August as I left my house to walk to hers.

It had been a swelteringly hot day, and the dark clouds in the distance had threatened a storm since mid-afternoon. Physical activity had been almost impossible in the stifling air, and very few people had been out on the streets when I had (extremely slowly) walked round to the girls house.

The sound of thunder had rolled around the city from the direction of the Bristol Channel, but so far nothing had come our way.

Sian and I were lying naked on her mattress with her window wide open, the sultry air outside hardly moving. It wasn't yet dark, but we had gone to bed early in the hope that stripping off would make a difference. It didn't actually make us any cooler at all, but we felt that we had at least tried.

Gustav had initially got excited, but had quickly gone as limp as the leaves on the plane trees along the pavements outside.

We just lay still and chatted, waiting for the thunderstorm to come and clear the air.

"Did you write back to your aunt and suggest that the twins came to stay with you to keep you company when your folks are away on their cruise?"

"I've written the letter, but I'm going to wait a couple more days before I send it, to give the twins time to get under her feet a bit! She won't let them get a summer job, and the summer holidays are going to seem a bit long until their exam results come out. Hopefully she'll soon want another break from them, and say yes!"

"What about your parents? Have you suggested it to them?"

"I phoned Mum yesterday to see how their preparations were going, and she gave me the opening by saying that she was a little worried about how I was going to get on in the house by myself. I told her that I'm a big girl now, but that it would be nice to have some company. I also mentioned that we'd had a great time with the twins, and with a bit of luck she'll put two and two together, and speak to Aunt Pamela herself."

"I don't know if I'll be able to make it, it rather depends on the harvest and how much time I need to be at the factory. If you skive off too many shifts, the manager notices, and then doesn't pick you for the overtime when you want it."

"Let's hope you can get away! I had another letter from Sheila yesterday, saying how much they were looking forward to seeing us again."

"Did she say if they had done any more experimenting?"

"From the sound of it, they'd really like to, but it's just too risky most of the time, and they are being very sensible about it. Sheila says that we gave them an awful lot of ideas to think about, and she's working out a 'to do' list!"

"I hope she doesn't write it down! That would take a lot of explaining!"

The sound of thunder came closer. Soon, as the sky darkened, we could see flashes of lightning in the distance. We started counting the time between flash and bang.

"Just under twenty seconds; it might still miss us."

"It's definitely coming closer - let's hope it makes it a lot cooler."

"Vee doesn't like thunder, I don't know about Julie."

"At least we shan't be out in it. Last year we were camping and it thundered, and everything got soaked. We ended up trying to sleep in the car, which was really uncomfortable."

"Still fifteen seconds between flash and bang - it's not moving very fast."

The thunderclaps were getting louder. They echoed off the street and buildings, and sounded even worse than they were.

"Mum used to joke that the next door neighbour had dropped their piano down the stairs - I believed her the first time she said it."

The door opened and Vee came in.

"Can I come in with you two? I really hate thunderstorms! Bryony just laughs at me."

"No problem, plenty of room."

"God, it's even hotter in here!"

Vee stripped off her nightshirt; Gustav gave a quick twitch, but then thought better of it.

There was a particularly loud clap of thunder. Vee jumped, and then buried her head in my chest. I put my arms round her. She was trembling, not at all the confident Vee we were used to.

"Two of my brothers locked me out of the back door during a thunderstorm when I was about eight; Mum and Dad gave them hell, but I've been scared of thunder ever since. Jeff just tells me to pull myself together."

I gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"You've got us looking after you this time, you'll be fine."

The thunder was getting closer. There was now a slight breeze from the window, and I could see the leaves moving on the trees.