Paradise Is Here

Behind The Screen (Florence Pugh IV)

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"Alright, dad! I'm off!" Lynette exclaimed as she hurriedly walked down the stairs. Her father then peeked from the kitchen.

"Sure! Uh, where are you heading again?"

Her daughter rolled her eyes at his forgetfulness. "To celebrate Flo's birthday."

"Ahh, yes, yes! Well, have fun partying!" He then turned his back to finish washing the dishes as they had just eaten their lunch.

"We're not partying, dad. That's probably the last thing I want right now!" Lynette started with a soft chuckle which made her dad tilt his head in question.

"You're not?" He turned around again to face his daughter.

"No, me and Florence are heading to West Wittering beach." As she was putting on her shoes and coat, her father started wondering if there was something going on between the two of them. Not to get anyone wrong, Lynette's father likes Florence, she was nice and funny, easy to get along with. "I'll be getting going now, it's a 2 hour drive so I'll probably be home late."

Her father snapped out of his thoughts. "Oh yes, that's no problem. Just drive safely and make sure to cover yourself up, it's gonna be very cold there. I don't want any of you getting sick." His daughter nodded.

"Yep, yep! See you later!"

"Alright! Love you!"

"Love you too!"

With that, she was off. Lynette quickly got to her car and began making her way to Florence. On her way there, she took out her phone and rang Florence's phone number then placed it on the phone holder. The phone rang a few times till it was finally answered, Lynette spoke first. "Heyyy, are you ready yet? I'm on my way to your place."

"Yeah, actually I'm at Starbucks right now so just pick me up from here."

"Okaayyy! Good thing I called then!" Lynette chuckled while making a turn to another road that would lead to the nearest Starbucks.

"Noo! I was about to text you! You beat me to it!"

"Uh huh! Sure!" Lynette's tone sounded suspicious of Florence but also teasing her.

"Oh whatever!" Sensing that Florence had probably rolled her eyes, she heard Lynette laugh at her victory through the phone. Her laughter made Florence's body feel warmer, she remained quiet that second to listen to it.

"Alright, I'll be there in a second, I won't take long."

"Yeah, drive carefully. Bye!"

"Byeee!" The line was then cut.

Slowly, Florence removed her phone from her ear and placed it on her chest. Just hearing Lynette laugh like that had caused her heart to start pounding, and the whole entire day, she was feeling warmer than usual. It wasn't a fever that was causing it—it was Lynette.

That woman was in her head knowing the fact that she was going to spend the whole day with her on Florence's birthday. Throughout her years of friendship with Lynette, never did they celebrate each other's birthday alone and together.

Could there be something else?

"Ma'am?"

She brought her attention up to the person at the cashier, completely forgetting that she was in a queue and she was next. "Oh sorry. Um, yes! I'll get a hot, tall size americano and a hot, grande size caffè latte with another shot of expresso and take it away, please." Florence preceded her payment and waited for her drinks.