The next day we don't really have anything planned except for Devon, she is going to visit a friend of hers who lives in London for the day. Everyone else sleeps in, still recovering from the late investigation last night and the drive. When we do wake up Devon has already left. Once we've all gotten some energy back we decide we'll catch a train to Brighton, texting Devon to make sure she won't be disappointed to miss out, she doesn't sound bothered so Shane, TJ, Ryan and I buy some tickets. We've all heard great things about Brighton and want to visit the pebble beach, the pier, and the small surrounding city.
We catch a train at around noon, which hopefully means we'll be there by 1:30.
Shane and I are sitting in one booth, Ryan and TJ are across from us and there's a small table in between us. We've mostly been playing card games, Shane brought a deck so we could keep ourselves busy. But after about 45 minutes of Kemps, we get bored and put the cards away. We spend the rest of the ride talking about our plans. We talk about the last few episodes we need to get done for the season, talk about post-mortems, release schedules, the upcoming true crime season, and once we've exhausted that we talk about our non-work-related plans. I'm planning on visiting home pretty soon and Shane agrees. We actually end up talking about possibly road-tripping home together. It's a long trip but I feel like Shane and I could handle it! We've both done it alone already whenever we moved out to L.A.
When we get to Brighton we decide we'll check out the town first, considering we have to walk through it to get to the pier and the beach anyways. It's adorable, even more so than Colchester, with hip music, comic, game shops and cafes littering the brick streets. We stop into a record store and spend some time looking through everything and then making our way to a cafe for lunch. Once we've eaten and thoroughly explored around town we make our way to the pebble beach and the pier. We end up spending most of the day on the shore exploring the beach and beachfront shops.
As the sun begins to set the lights on Brighton Pier flicker on and we head over to check it out. It almost reminds me of an American boardwalk, with the bright colorful lights, the smell of fried food, and the sound of arcade games pinging in the background.
Shane's Insta
shanemadej- Brighton baby!
Tagged: @sophiemc, @tjmarchbank, @ryanbergara
user1: Adorable!! I love it!
user2: ok... so... anyone else feel like this is something only a couple would post like come on! It's literally just a pic of Sophie! Just make it official already ugh.
user3: hate this... we want pictures of you Shane come on!
ryanbergara: So. Many. Pebbles. In. My. Shoes!
sophiemc: :))
user4: OMG I LIVE IN BRIGHTON! Come visit me.
tjmarchbank: Hey man! Where's my ~aesthetic~ picture on your insta?
shanemadej: @tjmarchbank I'll add you to the list ;)
user5: @shanemadej add me to the list! I want an aesthetic picture!
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There is plenty to do on the pier, an arcade, bars, rides, food stands. Our first stop is the arcade, where we weave through the crowds and search for something fun to play.
"Oh shit they have guitar hero!" Shane excitedly makes a B-Line towards the set-up, which is tucked into one of the back rooms of the arcade and further away from the crowds. I laugh and Ryan, TJ and I follow. We all pick up one of the instrument controllers and start a song. I don't think any of us have played guitar hero in years though and it quickly devolves into an absolute mess, with Shane dramatically jamming out on the guitar, TJ banging away carelessly on the drums and Ryan at the mic singing, seeming totally unphased by the fact that we are at a public arcade.
"Oh my god this is pathetic!" I laugh when our score comes up on the screen.
"We failed!?" Ryan says,
"What the hell? We were rocking!" Shane shakes his head, our individual scores pop up and I fist bump the air when I see that I did the best.
"Suck it!" I say,
"That's because bass is the easiest!" TJ argues and I shake my head,
"That's just what losers say to make themselves feel better Teej!" I reply, Ryan rolls his eyes and laughs.
"I mean bass is the easiest," Shane speaks up, smirking at me. I laugh and put the bass back on it's stand,
"You know what I'll let the numbers speak for themselves!" I nod to the screen, "can I go kick your asses in something else now?" I say and the boys laugh and put their instruments down,
"We'll see about that!" Ryan says. We head back into the main room of the arcade where there are tons of other games to play and we end up spending almost an hour inside the arcade playing everything from pool, to Foosball, Pacman, Pong, Mortal Kombat, you name it. Unfortunately, I don't quite maintain my winning streak. In fact, I pretty much bomb in Mortal Kombat and barely scrape by in pool, but Shane and I do kick ass as a foosball team.
Once we've had enough of the arcade we wander further down the pier towards the rides,
"teacups! teacups!" Shane starts chanting when he sees a spinning teacup ride, I laugh,
"Shane those are for toddlers!" I say, he shakes he head,
"No! With arms like these, you can spin those baby's at the speed of light!" He says,
"Oh my god," Ryan laughs, "absolutely not happening!" He says. Shane looks over at me and gives me puppy dog eyes, I shake my head.
"Doesn't work on me Madej!" I say and he sighs,
"The teacups deserve better," Shane grumbles and we laugh. We pass through the rides section, most of them are made for younger kids so we don't really bother spending money on tickets. Our real destination is the bar at the end of the pier with a view of the ocean, which boasts some pretty delicious sounding craft beers.
Once we've found a table Ryan goes up to the bar to order drinks and TJ heads to the bathroom.
"I'm still waiting for you to get me back y'know," Shane says, I quirk my eyebrows, "For when I spooked you on the London Eye," he explains. I laugh,
"Oh right... Well I cant! You're expecting it now, I have to find the perfect time y'know," I say,
"Mhm sure," he replies, "too bad I'm un-spookable!" He says cockily. I roll my eyes,
"I think I could at least surprise you," I say, knowing that I probably wouldn't be able to scare him, but surprises are a little easier, there's no element of fear which is a reaction Shane is pretty much incapable of.
"Hmmm... alright Sophie, if you can 'surprise' me I'll call it even," He replies, I smile and stretch out my hand,
"It's a deal," I say, shaking Shane's hand.
Ryan returns with drinks and some fries and stuff, and TJ joins us as well. We spend the rest of the night drinking and eating good food, outside the huge windows of the bar the sun sets behind the ocean and the lights of the pier twinkle on the water, their reflections dancing red and yellow.
After a couple hours we decide it's probably time to catch a train back to London, the ride is long and we don't want to get home too late because we're doing another investigation tomorrow. We walk back down the length of the pier towards town.
Sophie's Insta Story
I snap a picture on our way out and then we make our way through town to the train station. We buy our tickets and we're sitting and waiting for the next train when Shane gets up, wobbling a little bit from the drinks we've had but not too badly.
"I'll be right back!" He says, Ryan raises his eyebrows,
"Shane the train is gonna come in like 10 minutes!" He says, Shane shakes his head,
"I'm gonna go buy some waters, I'm dying of dehydration, beer makes me thirsty!" He explains and Ryan groans,
"Hurry up!" He replies and Shane gives him a thumbs up before heading down the platform, there was a convenience store right next to the station so he must be headed there. He's only gone for about a minute or two when our train pulls up.
"Shit," Ryan says, "Where's the big guy!"
"Trains early, maybe it will sit at the station for a while," I say and TJ agrees. Ryan doesn't seem as relaxed about the situation,
"Here Ry, if you're stressed about it why don't you and TJ go find some seats, I'll run and get Shane, we've got plenty of time!" I offer, he sighs.
"Sophie's right, the train is gonna wait at the station for a while, especially since it showed up so early," TJ says, Ryan just nods,
"Ok... alright go get him, TJ and I will save some seats for all of us before it get's too full, " Ryan says, climbing onto the train. I shoot him a thumbs up and turn, speed walking down the platform and breaking into a run.
Sure enough, Shane is standing at the checkout counter in the nearby convenience store, he puts the water bottles he's just bought in his backpack and then looks up to see me run in through the doors.
"Trains here," I say, he furrows his eyebrows,
"It's early!" He says, sounding surprised.
"Guess public transport isn't as shitty in the UK," I say. I think we're all used to our trains and buses and subways being late because in the U.S that's pretty much standard. Shane laughs and we head back towards the platform, we walk at first, sure that the train won't be leaving any time soon, and then my phone rings and I see that Ryan is calling.
"Lets go!" He says over the phone,
"Relax Ry, we're coming!"
"Well you better run because I'm pretty sure we're leaving-" he pauses and I can hear simultaneously through my phone and traveling through the air the sound of a train's whistle.
"Fuck," I say, not even bothering with the call, I hang up and shove my phone in my pocket, grabbing Shane's arm and running towards the station, we sprint down the platform but all the doors seem to have closed.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Shane groans as we run passed row after row of shut boarding doors, and then we hear the unmistakable sound of an engine groaning to life and the train starts moving.
"Fuck!" I say again. Shane and I both stop in our tracks, leaning over and using our knees for support as we try to catch our breath. For a second I'm pissed but then I can't help myself and I break out laughing. I hear Shane do the same and beside us, the train picks up speed until it disappears out of the station.
"I can't believe-" Shane is still trying to catch his breath and stop laughing, "I can't believe we just did that!"
"You're an idiot!" I say, shoving him, "oh I'm dying of dehydration!" I say, mocking his voice, "lemme just miss this train for a bottle of fucking water!"
"The train was early!" Shane says, I laugh and finally stand up straight, Shane does the same and when we look at each other face to face we break out laughing again.
"Ryan is gonna hate me," Shane says, and almost on queue my phone starts ringing,
"Speak of the devil," i laugh, picking up.
"You guys are so unbelievably stupid," Ryan says when I answer,
"Hello to you too!" I reply,
"When's the next train?" Ryan asks, ignoring my response, I walk over to a schedule.
"There's one in 45 minutes," I groan,
"So stupid," he mutters, "alright buy some tickets, I'll pick you guys up at the station in London when, or should i say if you ever make it back!" He says,
"You got it!" I say and I can almost feel the anger radiating through the phone, I laugh, "Sorry Ry, you're right, we're stupid," I say and he laughs,
"Yeah you are," he hangs up. I laugh and then Shane and I head over to the booth to buy our tickets.