"Come on!" Pippa moaned, annoyed, down the phone.

"Nope. No way. Have you seen the rain? I mean, I'm expecting that weird dude from round the corner to start building an ark to rescue all the animals." Finchey replied, exasperated.

It wasn't as though she was asking him to swim through a gushing river during a storm... walk through one perhaps. She hadn't been able to see down the end of her street since early this morning when the clouds turned black and the rain came down faster and harder.

"I haven't seen anyone who isn't annoying for a whole day..." She replied. Her mum was being annoying. Her dad was being even more annoying. School had been canceled, so her mum was home from work, and that meant she was bugging dad.

A shout of warning from her dad from downstairs and the clatter of pots and pans falling from the new shelf her mum had put up moments ago was muffled by a long rumble of thunder, the sky lighting up as lightning flickered across the sky.

Pippa counted the gap between the lightning and thunder... Three. This morning it had been seven. The lightning was getting closer, and that would mean total and utter disaster. No electricity... and parents.

"Please?" She begged her friend again. "I will do anything!"

"Anything?" Finchey replied, suddenly sounding interested.

"Yes!"

"Walk round to mine instead then!" He snorted with laughter, as though the prospect of her leaving the house in the rain was the funniest thing he had ever heard.

"Fine." She replied, stubbornly. A little bit of rain had never hurt anyone... that she knew of anyway.

"What?" Finchey replied in disbelief.

"You heard me. I will be over at yours in.... ten minutes?" She couldn't quite believe what she had said herself, but now she had said it, it wasn't like she could take it back.

"You sure...?" Finchey said nervously "Because it would be nice to see you."

"Yep." Pippa replied, knowing her voice was strained.

"Great, see you in ten!" The phone clicked off and Pippa had an overwhelming desire to thrown her phone against the wall in annoyance. What a hypocrite! Finchey was quite happy to make her walk through the rain.

Shrugging on her rain coat, she wrapped her scarf tightly round her neck, throwing an extra one on just to make sure.

"Tell her she can't do this- she isn't listening to me at all." Her mother huffed, stood next to her at the front door.

"We can't tell her what to do, she is old enough to make her own decisions. It's just a bit of heavy rain, and she isn't going that far." Her father replied, handing over her gloves.

"Seriously? 'a bit of heavy rain?' there is thunder and lightning!"

"Mum, I'll be fine, it's just round the corner. Dad, stop winding mum up, it's the reason I'm leaving in the first place. I will text you when I get there, and when I set off home. Love you both!" She cracked open the front door, the wind slamming it open wide.

She ran out, the wind battering against her face. Thunder clashed above her head, the rain soaking through her water proof. She ran the shortest route she could, across gardens and side roads, the mud underneath her squelching, coming up to her ankles.

Reaching the red door of her friend's house, she hammered on the door, hoping he would be able to hear her over the storm.

The door swung open and she bundled herself into the hallway. The door slamming shut behind her.

"Hello there Pippa." Finchey's mum chuckled, handing her a towel.

"You actually came over!" Finchey said, appearing from around the living room door. "You look like a drown rat." He laughed. "Your parents must have been driving you insane!"

"You have no idea." She replied, kicking off her mud coated shoes, peeling off her coat and sodden jacket, before ringing out her hair.

"Come on, you can borrow a t shirt of some gym shorts, I'll put your clothes in the dryer." Finchey said, leading her upstairs.

An hour later and she was dry and warm, a bowl of chocolate cake and chocolate custard in her grasp while lounging on the sofa watching re runs of friends.

The thunder trembled across the sky, shaking the window pane. Pippa looked out, the signal of the TV wavering as the rain didn't cease.

Bellamy had never felt the rain before. Pippa smiled ruefully. What would he make of this storm? Would he like it? Would he fear it? The Black skies, flashes of light and roaring noise was a frightening experience. But an experience non the less, that he had never had.

"Earth to Pippa... is anyone home?" Finchey said, a hand waving in front of her eyes snapping her from her thoughts.

"Sorry" She replied, smiling sheepishly, noticing the TV was now switched off.

Seeing her looking at the TV, he chuckled.

"It switched itself off about 2 minutes ago. So what exactly has got you so preoccupied... hmm?" He asked, sitting himself down in front of her, crossing his arms, giving her 'the look'.

Finchey's 'look' was infamous, the left eyebrow raised, eyes growing serious, mouth pouting into a displeasing smile. Once he gave you 'the look' you knew you were a gonner. The only problem was that Pippa had absolutely no idea how to describe what was running through her mind.

"Well?" He pressed again.

She took a deep breath... looking him in the eye before becoming unnerved. She switched to looking around the room, watching as the lights flickered on and off around them.

"I met a guy." She started, her voice barley even a whisper.

"What?!" Finchey said, his mouth forming an 'O' shape, his eyes widening in disbelief.

"Is it really that hard to believe?" She mumbled, looking down at her hands that were now fiddling with the hem of the oversized t-shirt she was wearing.

"Oh, no, Pips I didn't mean it like that at all! I'm just really surprised that's all! Where did you meet him?! When?!" He said, putting his hands on hers to stop her from fidgeting.

She took a deep breath; this was where she was going to have to lie to her best friends face.

"That's the thing... I haven't actually met him in real life." She said. It felt good to be able to tell him just that much of the truth.

The 'look' appeared on his face again. "Online?" He questioned.

"Don't give me that look. Its fine, we video chat every night. He's from London, he's funny and handsome and different... and just a friend." She added. Because he was. Just a friend, that is.

"But you've never actually met him in real life?" Finchey said, crossing his arms.

"Define real life?" She asked, attempting to bring some humor into the situation.

"This is serious, Pippa. You are obviously starting to feel for this person as more than a friend. Do you really know who he is? Is he who he says he is?" Finchey replied, frowning with concern.

"I know where your coming from, but he isn't tricking me or anything. And we are just friends, that's all its ever going to be." She said, knowing he could hear the regret in her voice.

"You can't really know that though, can you?" He said. Was he patronizing her? It felt like that.

She frowned, and glared at him. "Finchey. I've been chatting to him, to his face. He is a friend. Only a friend. I'm not stupid. It's not like we could be together, what with him being so far away."

"So you do like him more than a friend then." He accused.

"Fine. Yes. I do. But it's never going to happen, it's impossible." It felt good to recognize her feelings out loud. It didn't feel good knowing it was in front of her best friend who was looking at her like she had been conned out of her pocket money.

"I'm just asking you to be careful!" He snapped back.

"Being careful about what exactly?" She retorted.

"I know you! You fall in love easily. And here is a guy, who is giving you his time, from a city far away, who you don't even know. I'm asking you to look after your best interests!"

"My best interests?" She scoffed at his little rant. "And what do you mean by 'giving me his time'." That stung. Did he really think guys weren't interested in her?

"I didn't mean it like that." He sighed, exasperated.

"Then how did you mean it?!"

He sighed, looking down to the floor.

"Wow. And here I thought you would think it was a good thing I was chatting to more people, making friends. It's not like I'm going down to London to see him. I'm not sending him money; he isn't conning me. I can't believe you would say that."

"I didn't say that! Don't put words into my mouth." He snapped, jumping up off the floor, looking down at her sourly.

"You implied it!" She snapped back, jumping up to look him in the eye.

"And when he stops talking to you, decides that chatting to you, a girl who lives hundreds of miles away isn't worth his time because there are hundreds of girls who live on his doorstep, then what?"

"That is such a guy thing to say!" She slapped his shoulder, hard. "I could just as easily decide that! If the day comes when we stop talking then I will be devastated, of course!"

"So you're going to keep talking to him then?" He said, nursing his shoulder.

"Of course I am. Why does this bother you so much!? It's stupid!" She couldn't believe they were arguing over this, it was trivial.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt. I'm sorry you think that is me just being 'stupid'." He mocked, before turning on his heel and walking out the living room door, the door slamming as another clash of thunder rippled through the air, the lights flickering before consuming the room into darkness. 

She stood in the darkness, looking out of the window, watching as raindrops rolled down the window. Telling him about Bellamy was a mistake. Obviously. But she hadn't expected him to argue so much about it.

If she didn't know for sure that he was one hundred percent gay, she would have thought he was Jealous of Bellamy and into her.

But that wasn't the case.

Her best friend had stomped his way up the stairs, mad at her, and she had absolutely no idea.

A quick rap at the living room door had her glancing around in the dark to the source of the noise.

"Come in?" She said out loud, relieved when a flashlight followed by Finchey's mum and two mugs of what looked like hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows entered the room.

"Finchey went upstairs." She said, smiling sadly as she was offered one of the mugs.

"I know, darling. The other one is for me. Perks of having a gas hob, you can still make hot chocolate, even when there is a black out." She sat on the sofa, pulling a blanket from the floor over her legs.  She patted the spot next to her.

"I called your mum about half an hour ago while the signals were still strong. It's a good job too, the phone lines went down a few minutes ago."

Pippa curled up on the sofa next to her, sipping gratefully at her hot chocolate. "Why did you call my mum?"

"To tell her I was fine with you staying here for the night." She chuckled. "I've made up the spare room for you. You can take this torch, there are spare batteries in the night side draw."

"Thanks Mrs. F." Pippa smiled through her sadness.

"I'm sorry... but I couldn't help but overhear your argument earlier."

Pippa sighed sadly. "Yeah." It was all she could say without feeling like she was about to cry.

Mrs. F. laid a comforting hand on her knee.

"I know I'm not the best at interpreting my son's feelings, he is a complicated one for sure. But I know why he was the way he was tonight, if you want to know?" She asked.

"Of course I do." Pippa set her mug down on the coffee table, turning back to listen.

"When he came out, you were the only friend who stuck by him. Everyone else left. And now, your leaving too-."

"But I'm not-." Pippa started.

"I know. You aren't leaving him in that way. But you're going off to university, you're going to make new friends, go to new places, experience new things... and he is afraid you're going to leave him all behind and not look back. Your new friend, I think it was just a reminder for him that the summer is almost over."

Pippa closed her eyes, laying back against the sofa her heart pulling painfully at her chest.

"I can't believe I didn't see that." She muttered, looking over at her best friend's mother with sorrow. "I'm so sorry."

"You don't be sorry about anything. Don't be guilty about moving on and doing what you want to do with your life. You deserve everything you want in life. But there is always room for home, and friends and family. You're his family, Pippa." She smiled softly, leaning over to kiss her forehead before standing up.

"I'll make you both some fresh hot cholate and bring it up with another torch for him. You take this one." She handed her the one that was sat, still lit on the coffee table before reaching into her sweatshirt pocket and taking out another one.

"Thank you." Pippa replied. Grabbing the torch from the coffee table, she took off out of the room and up the stairs. Ready to make some serious apologies to her best friend, and assurances that she wasn't going anywhere.