The Significance of Orange Juice

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

“And then Doris said what?” Olivia exclaimed.

I groaned and hid my head in my hands. “She told me that I was very lucky to snag such a nice young man and that I should be careful to keep other women away from him.”

Olivia’s laughs bounced around the car and I flushed. Introducing Jay to Doris may have been the worst decision of my entire life, and quite possibly of any lives that I’ve lived before this too. To say that Doris had been over-joyed that I had got myself such a ‘nice young man’ would be an understatement. Doris has been trying to set me up with the grandsons of her friends for several years now; my love life is something of a hobby to her and I have a scary suspicion that Doris is probably planning our wedding already.

Olivia was still laughing manically in the chair beside me and I scowled, regretting having told her about the disastrous incident. I leaned over and whacked her lightly on the arm. Olivia sent me an amused look but returned her attention to driving the car.

I slumped in the chair and crossed my arms defensively across my chest. My relationship with Jay was awkward enough as it was without other people getting involved. Despite all my determination to hate Jay, I’d really enjoyed watching the dance show with him, and I wasn’t sure what I thought of him now.

“I’m glad that my personal life is such a great source of amusement to you,” I huffed.

Livvy’s smile widened but she didn’t turn her eyes from the road. “I’m sorry, but you? And Jay? A relationship between you to would probably land at least one of you in the morgue.”

I couldn’t tell if that was an insult or a compliment so I disregarded it. We drove on in silence for a few minutes, Olivia still laughing at Doris’ reaction to Jay and I, whilst my eyes flickered from side to side as the shops rushed past the window.

The uncomfortable silence filled the car until I coughed awkwardly and asked where we were going, more out of a desperate need to break the quiet than to find out the answer.

Olivia smiled knowingly at me. “Lil’ Flo’s.”

A happy grin broke out on my face. Once again, Livvy had proven that she knows just what to do to make me feel better. Lil’ Flo’s was a small local café that sold drinks, sandwiches and cakes, but most importantly, they sold ice cream. This wasn’t just any ice cream either. This ice cream was the god of the dairy world.

I gasped and launched into an excited discussion about which flavour I would buy. I was just comparing the pros and cons of mint choc chip when I was flung violently towards the dashboard. The brakes screamed in protest and the car ground to a halt.

“What on earth was that?” I exclaimed, my heart racing.

Olivia gave me a sheepish look. “There was something on the road.”

I sat up in my seat so that I could see the road before the car more clearly. Sitting just in front of the car was a fat pigeon, one head tucked underneath its flea-ridden wing. I raised an eyebrow. “You did an emergency stop to avoid hitting a pigeon?”

Olivia’s cheeks turned pink. “Well, I didn’t want to kill it!” she defended instantly.

I rolled my eyes. “It’s a pigeon. It’s practically a rat with wings.”

Livvy glowered at me but didn’t reply, honking the horn tentatively. The pigeon twitched its head but didn’t move. Frowning slightly now, Olivia revved the engine.

“Will you look at that, it’s a suicidal pigeon.” I deadpanned. Olivia glared at me and I shrugged my shoulders. “Just drive. If it moves, great. If it doesn’t, well… its survival of the fittest.”