Eighty Days of Heartache

the fiftieth day; [1]

"DID YOU ORDER BBQ sauce?"

Humming in daze of confusion, I snap my head towards Forrest who's rifling through a McDonald's bag on his lap. My car, Fiona, currently smells like a mix of aftershave and chicken nuggets; and please trust me when I say that it is not the nicest smell to be engulfed in on a Wednesday afternoon.

Forrest looks up from the bag as he hands me my chicken nugget meal with a frown on his face. "What are you thinking about?" He asks softly, his hand stretching outwards to his strawberry milkshake.

Truthfully, I don't know. My brain closely resembles a clump of scrambled eggs right now. I feel like if my two brain cells overwork themselves, soon they'll catch fire and it'll be like that one episode of Spongebob where the office in the cavity where his brain should be is ablaze.

My mind is flicking between two things. Nero, and Theo.

Nonchalantly and not wanting to worry Forrest, I give a small shrug and a smile. "Nothing much, just how much my car stinks of fast food now," we both laugh at my answer, the corners of Forrest's eyes wrinkling into a pair of crows feet and I find myself fixating on them as I lean back into the drivers seat.

"I can't believe your car was on its last legs," shaking his head, Forrest shoves a handful of chicken nuggets into his mouth. "Also can't believe that Theo got it up and running again overnight," he adds with a grin so wide it puts the chesire cat to shame.

I scoff. "You and me both."

"And for free."

For a moment I stew in his comment with a delicately dry hum. I know Theo fixing my car for free is ridiculously good samaritan of him, and once again there is a crippling amount of guilt that is scaling my throat. I'm mortified he won't let me pay him. "Yeah, it's..."

Forrest notices I don't see the humour in Theo's overly philanthropic gesture, and his teasing fact drops ever so slightly. "I guess it isn't so funny when you're on the receiving end, huh?" He chuckles awkwardly, scratching the side of his nose with his pinky. His other fingers are busy cradling chicken nuggets, you see.

With a shrug, I give a lopsided smile. "It's just... I feel guilty for not paying, you know?" I sigh, taking a sip on my milkshake. Forrest nods his understanding, his head bobbing from side to side a little. "What if he gets in trouble with his dad? It's his dad's business, not his, oh god, what if Theo gets fired for giving away free parts?! What if I just caused a divide in the family?"

To this, Forrest laughs. It's a deep, true laugh from the pit of his stomach that works his chuckle muscle so much so I think he is starting to laugh himself sore. He grabs at his stomach, head thrown back in his storm of chuckles. Hair flowing backwards.

"You overthink too much, Fawn," he manages to say between laughs, shaking his head as he takes a sip of his milkshake. "Theo's a big boy, he can take care of himself against his dad, that I can assure you."

Beggining to giggle softly along with Forrests (somewhat overly) raucous laughter, his words push me to rememeber Theo's words from yesterday. I gaze over at Forrest for a second, as he unknowningly eats at his lunch with a soft smile still playing havoc on his lips.

"Hey, that reminds me," I begin, shuffling a little in my seat so my body faces his. Forrest too twists his body, the pair of us kneeing the gearbox between us. "When Theo called me last night, he mentioned that you and him are quite close, I never knew that."

Maybe that wasn't such a good statement to make. The banterous mood in the car dies out, as Forrest's golden smile sloppily droops off of his face. My smile also fades, an uneasy feeling returning to my gut, and as I begin to lean forward to amend my error, Forrest beats me to it with a sigh.