A Coincidence||Fionn Whitehead

25

"I think you've upset her, mate." Said Jack towards Fionn as they watched Barry, Tom, Cillian and Mark rehearse that afternoon. "She hasn't spoke to any of us since this morning."

Fionn's eyes widened, "I didn't mean too! She was pouting and it's really hard to lie too!" The boy began to panic, his eyes searching around for the young girl. He spotted her sorting out some props by the car park and stood up. "I'll see you later." Jack waved him off as he hurried along the golden sand, creating a trail of steps directly towards the car park.

"Where's he going?" Asked Aneurin.

"To Dotty."

Fionn slowed his pace as he neared the blonde girl. She had her earphones in and was quietly sing along to her music. She wasn't the best dancer in the world but Fionn couldn't deny that she wasn't bad vocally. He didn't know what song she was singing but either way it sounded good. "Dotty..." he started catching the girls' attention.

"Oh, uh, hey Fionn." She smiled switching off her music and placing her earphones into her pocket. "You alright?"

"Yeah, actually, no. I'm sorry if I upset you earlier when I said about your dancing."

She laughed, "you apologise a lot when you needn't do so. It's okay, I'm not that sensitive. I know I am not great, there's not much great about me, to be honest." She placed some boxes onto the ground pulling them out of the back of the van.

"I'm sure that's not true." Dotty shrugged lifting the boxes and taking them off to somewhere else, Fionn following her. "I bet there is so much about you that's great."

"I don't think so, but we are all entitled to our own opinions." It seemed as if Dotty wasn't all that okay and Fionn noticed this. She seemed like the bubbly type of girl who didn't care much about what others thought, just pure madness but so kept to herself at the same time. "I'll talk to you later, yeah? I've got work to do." She went to walk away after placing the boxes down but Fionn stopped her, his eyes searching hers.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, his voice quiet but so genuinely caring.

Her mouth had dried momentarily as she stared at the boy who was a couple of inches shorter than her. "I'm fine." She smiled at him and turned away hurrying away from him leaving him to stare in the direction she had went.

She wasn't okay.

Dotty peered down at her phone to see multiple messages from Anna.

Anna:
Dotty!

Dorothy!

Dorothy Nolan!

ANSWER ME!

FFS DOTTY ANSWER ME BITCH!

She sighed and didn't reply. Instead, she pressed call and lifted her phone to her ear. After a few rings, an annoyed Anna answered, "Finally, you fucking bitch. I don't expect to be ignored. When are you coming home?"

"I told you, I don't know." Dotty sighed. "What's wrong, Anna."

"What's wrong? What's bloody wrong is how you are being such an awful friend, heck you ain't even a friend, you're just being an awful person. You don't just piss off to another country and leave me to deal with everything." Anna spat causing Dotty to flinch and stare at her wrist which had quite often had nails dug into the skin. "Anyway, can I borrow sixty quid?"

"Why?"

Anna scoffed, "Why? That's none of your business, just lend me the money, Dorothy." The blonde girl was torn, she hated going against Anna, she knew what the girl could do. But, then again, she was saving up for her own car. She couldn't just throw sixty pounds at someone not knowing whether she would actually get it back. She still hasn't received the thirty pound back that she lent Anna about a year ago.

"No, sorry, I can't," Dotty mumbled.

"No? Do you just say no? You'll regret that Dorothy." Anna stated and the phone call ended.

Dotty breathed in heavily, her heart was pounding. Anna could get really violent. She didn't want that. It was only getting through to her that Anna was no friend to her. This wasn't how friends acted towards each other. She felt so dumb. First, she didn't realise that she was messaging Fionn, then she didn't realise how fake her friendship with Anna was. How could she be so oblivious?

She swiped away the tears that had fell from her eyes and continued with her work, not making eye contact with anyone or talking, simply nodding at whoever she was talking to.

Throughout the day, Christopher noticed how Dotty was acting and despite being busy, he made sure he created time to see if she was okay. He could tell she was lying when she claimed she was only homesick. Over the years he hadn't had to deal with any situation like this, her mother being the one there for her in situations like this whilst he was at work. It seemed him unsure what to do other than give her a small hug. "Are you sure?"

"I'm fine, dad, really." She nodded, "can I get back to work now?"

"Have a break, then go back to it."

"I'm fine."

"Dotty. Break. Now." He said to her and she nodded idly before traipsing to the refreshment tent and getting herself a bottle of water to sip on.

Her head was all over her face and she just wanted to scream or punch a wall. However, been as she couldn't do neither she pressed her head to the table letting her hair form a canopy over her, her eyes closing. She fell asleep not long after, not willingly but her body shut down on its own. One of the main reasons her father told her to have a break, so she didn't drop.

Fionn entered the tent to get a new bottle of water and noticed the girl asleep. He picked up his coat that he left in there and draped it over her back to keep her warmer and patted her shoulders gently. "Get some rest, Dotty." He said even though she couldn't hear him. "Get some rest."