Just Pretend

Chapter 39 - Don't Scare The Fairies Away Noah

I suprised at the amount of people that have shown up. I know that sounds horrendous, I don't need to be told that but it's true. Most people are here to support my grandparents, their close friends, some family but some are unfamiliar faces that must have known my mum somehow.

"Are you okay?" Noah whispers as he takes my hand.

"Yeah, thank you for being here." I whisper back as we make our way inside the funeral home.

"I've got you, you're all good." Noah squeezes my hand as we make our way down the walkway in the chapel. I don't dare look up, keeping my head down the whole way until we reach the front where Nick, Folio and Jolly are seated. We take our seats next to them my eyes looking straight ahead at the coffin in front of us.

"Fucking hell." I mutter at the sight of the mahogany closed coffin. Noah places his hand on my thigh and that's when I notice my leg bouncing up and down. I stop the involuntary movement as my grandparents take their seats next to me.

"You're okay..." Noah whispers with a small smile as the service starts.

I'm not okay though. I'm anything but because Folio is sitting right next to my fucking dad.

                                               *

"Let's go." I whisper to Noah as the service closes.

"Okay." Noah replies simply as people start to make their leave. My grandparents already walked out behind the coffin and plan on meeting us back at the house where close friends and family are coming over for a celebration of life reception.

"Oi! That you Margo?" A males voice shouts from behind me as we make our way out the chapel. I know immediately that it's my dad wanting attention. It's funny how you can forget how someone sounds, what their voice and accent is like but as soon as you hear it you know instantly who that voice belongs to. I continue to walk out of the chapel and Noah places his hand on my lower back, guiding me, giving me the support he knows I need. "Margo!" He shouts again and I'm so thankful that Folio, Nick, Jolly and Noah are all behind me giving me somewhat of a barrier between me and my dad.

"Sorry." I huff at Noah who shakes his head at my apology as we step outside into the fresh spring air.

"Oh Margo it's so lovely to see you! Your granny was saying that you've moved all the way to L.A. It's so lovely for you to come back to say goodbye to your mum." Georgia my grandma's oldest friend stops me in the car park.

"It's nice to see you too Georgia. I'm so sorry we're in a little bit of a hurry I'll see you back at the house though and we can catch up properly." I smile at her excusing myself to get to my grandads car to take us home.

I unlock the car and hop into the drivers side, Noah gets in the passenger seat and we're left waiting for the dawdling Nick, Folio and Jolly.

"That guy your dad?" Noah asks and I nod my head. "Damn. Folio was sitting next to him." He says and I nod again.

"Yeah. Fucking hurry up guys I wanna go." I mumble as they also get stopped to chat to Georgia. "Oh my god this isn't happening." I can feel my pulse becoming faster as my dad approaches the passenger side of the car. He taps on the window indicating for me to roll it down, to which I ignore. He taps again and I finally turn to face him. He looks much older than his forty five years. His dark hair is sprinkled with grey, his face looks leathered, his eye blood shot and he looks like he could do with a good meal.

"What the fuck does he want." I grumble at Noah and he starts to tap on the window even harder, more aggressively. "Fucksake, just roll it down a little. He won't fuck off unless I talk to him." I tell Noah who looks reluctant but rolls the window down anyway.