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Pepper strode into the tiny flat, letting the door close behind her with a decisive *thump*. She managed about three steps before a little table halted her progress. Neither of the young men in the room bothered to look up from their tasks to greet her. Brian stood at the counter running along one wall of the room that served as the flat's kitchen and living room. Water ran in the sink as he washed a large metal whisk. His earbuds were in, and Pepper could hear his soft, off-tune humming. Wensleydale sat in one of the two chairs that belonged to the miniscule table. His entire attention was on the open laptop in front of him. She could just make out a reflection of a spreadsheet in his glasses. Pepper slid her backpack off and dropped it to the floor. When even her exasperated sigh didn't receive a response, she resorted to speaking.
"Why did we ever leave Tadfield?"
Wensly's eyes shifted from the laptop screen to his friend's face. "Because you said that you'd never become a world famous human rights lawyer by sticking around a country village."
Brian shut off the tap and pointed at Pepper with the whisk, dripping water onto the floor between them. "And you said that London was the best place for me to become a world famous pastry chef."
Pepper let out a groan. She dragged her feet the two steps it took to join Brian at the counter. There was a gleaming stainless steel mixing bowl next to him. She peeked into it and discovered some sort of chocolate batter.
"But everything is so hard here." She dipped a finger into the batter and managed to snag a bit before Brian slid the bowl out of her reach.
"What did you think law school was actually going to be like?" Wenslydale's tone was clipped, but not unkind. The chair let out a quiet creek as he leaned back from the table. Pepper shrugged off the question.
"It's not that. School's brilliant. It's everything else." She gestured to the general space around them with the chocolate covered finger. "The expense, the grime, the weather..." She licked the batter, mumbling the rest of her lament around the sweet flavor. "I miss the sky. Sometimes I dream about running through a field under a perfect summer sky."
"I know what you mean." Brian slid an arm around her shoulders and scooped her in for a half hug. "It's like everything here's a little bit gray? Even the ice cream tasted better back home. And, I've had some *amazing* ice cream here."
"Yes," Wensly's sigh held a bit of the wistful homesickness Pepper was feeling. "I admit that I sometimes envy Adam's decision to stay."
All three jumped at the jangling sound of Wenslydale's phone. He scrambled to dig it out of his pocket. "Sorry, I thought it was on silent." His apology turned to surprise as he saw the screen. "It's Adam!" He swiped the accept button and waved a greeting at his friend. Wensly stood and sidled up to Brian, resting his head on the taller boy's shoulder so that all three of their faces could fit in the camera's field of view.
"Speak of the devil!" Brian said. "We were just talking about home."
"Oh really? It's same as always here." Adam's smile betrayed the contentment behind the simple statement. "I called to see what adventures you were having in the big city."
Pepper made a sound that was half laugh, half snort. "If you count almost stepping on a rat the size of Mr. Tyler's mangy old dog as an adventure..."
The tiny flat filled with the kind of comfortable chatter that only happens among old friends. Eventually, Brian broke away to dig a piping bag out of a drawer and set to work on his batch of biscuits. Wenslydale returned to his statistics homework. Hours later, Pepper, curled up on the loveseat the roommates generously referred to as "the sofa," set down the phone. She stretched, smiling out the window at nothing in particular. A beam of sunlight broke through the clouds, and she closed her eyes to enjoy the warmth on her upturned face.