Junk Metal's Oneshot book.

Groundhog Day

TW: Implied mention of death.

~

The sun was about to set, and Cleo was just about to head off to bed. She and Joe were discussing what they planned to do over the month of February, and putting in good hopes for an early spring. Cleo never really understood the whole Groundhog Day thing, but to each their own.

She bid Joe farewell, leaving his back garden to her car. She turned on the ignition, and drove to her house.

They didn't live that far from each other, but they didn't live close enough to walk.

Putting the car in park, she exited to turn the key in her door. She turned the knob and pushed. The door creaked open with a loud release, as the bottom of the door scraped the foyer floor.

She prepared to sleep, and sleep she did, making sure to set an alarm for the morning.

Wouldn't it be funny if I...

She remembered about the movie Joe told her about, not really remembering many details about it. She does remember the song, however. "I got you babe," by Sonny and Cher.

It would be pretty funny.

She pulled it up on YouTube to give it a quick listen. She doesn't really like romance songs, but she could see the appeal.

She set the song as her alarm as a joke, and fell asleep.

~

The song Cleo set for herself last night played, and she reached for her phone to turn it off instinctively.

She looked at the date and time displayed on the screen.

6:00am. Thursday, February 2nd.

She got out of bed, and went about her morning routine, before hopping in her car to wish Joe a happy Groundhog Day.

If you even do that.

She drove up to his house, and knocked on his door. He opened the door and greeted her.

"Howdy, Cleo!" He smiled and beckoned her inside. "Happy Groundhog Day!"

"Happy Groundhog Day," She replied, entering his abode.

"The stream is about to start, do you want to stay and watch?" He asked. "I understand if not."

"I would," She smiled vaguely. "I've never celebrated Groundhog Day before, I wonder what it's like."

"It's pretty neat," Joe said as he turned on the small telly that sat on the cabinet across from them. "After Punxsutawney Phil does his thing, we can partake in some festivities."

"Punxsutawney?" She questioned. "How do you spell that?"

"I'm..." Joe hesitated. "...not entirely sure."

Joe pressed a couple buttons on the remote, which pulled up a livestream of a box, surrounded by a group of very well dressed people.

After a whole lot of formalities, the little woodchuck was lifted out of his box into the air, and through the blurry livestream, she could see his shadow, and he retracted back into his box.

There were more speeches, and Cleo noticed they read the speech as if the groundhog had written it.

"Well, still six more weeks of winter." Joe said, sounding almost disappointed.

"Is that a bad thing?" Cleo asked. "With spring comes higher temperatures, and late winter isn't that cold,"

"Well, yeah, I guess."