𝐹𝒶𝓁𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊 //Friday Night Dinner\\

Nineteen

Adam and I follow Jonny into the hallway who opens the door.

We see Jim standing on the other side with a phone to his ear and suddenly it makes sense.
"Oh,"

"Hello Adam," Jim says cheerfully.

"Jonny," he corrects,
"I'm Adam."

Jim still seems to be talking into the phone even though we are stood right in front of him.

"Yes I was just passing and noticed that your doorbell wasn't working."

The three of us share glances before looking back at Jim.
"I'm not on the phone anymore," Jonny points out.

Jim looks confused before realising and putting his phone away. As he continues to speak, I glance down at Wilson who is sitting patiently. I lean closer to stoke the soft fur on his head and thankfully he seems to enjoy it.

With my attention focused on Wilson, I happen to miss Jonny smiling at me from behind.

"So did you know," Jim asks Adam
"Uh yes, there is a sign." Adam points to the note by the door.

"Oh yes, there's a sign Wilson," He says, talking to the dog. Jim quickly flinches away from it though, even if he isn't that close to Wilson in the first place.

"Is your mother in?" He asks.

"Um Jim," Adam explained, "It's Friday night, and we're just about to eat dinner."

"And it's your birthday!" I add, much to Adams despise.

We are cut of by the sound of Jackie yelling at us, asking who it was.
"Jim!" The three of us yell back.

After a long pause Adam breaks the silence, "Well okay..."

"Who's Pusface?" Jim interrupts
"Adam is," me and Jonny say in unison.

"It's a Jewish nickname," Jonny continues to explain,
"Is there anything special to get Jewish people on their birthdays?" Jim asks.

Before we can answer, Jackie calls for us again. It's clear that we need to go back to dinner. Adam quickly exits and I turn to follow him but Jonny grabs my hand before I can go.

"What?" I look at him questionably.

He turns to Jim and says "Actually, there is something we give each other on our birthdays."

"There is?" I ask and Jonny glances at me, "Right, yes there is."

"It's kind of traditional to give a big basket of fruit." Jonny continues.

"A big basket of fruit?" Jim repeats, "Any particulate fruit?" He then asks.

"Um," Jonny mumbles,

"Green coloured fruit." I add "Like apples or..."

"Grapes." Jonny continues.

"Kiwis," Jim suggests and we both agree. "Pears?"

"No pears are forbidden." Jonny says in a serious tone.

"Ah I understand your traditions, um does the basket of fruit have a name?" Jim asks

"Yes it is called a... schmoigel,"

I have to turn away so I don't burst out laughing in front of Jim. Once I regain a straight face I turn back and nod.

"Jonny! Rayne!" We hear Jackie call us again.

"Coming!" I yell back while Jonny reiterates what a schmoigel is. Jonny then closes the door on Jim and we make our way back to the dining room.

"Hey, what do you have against pears?" I ask him.

"Nothing, they're just weird." He grins at me.

"So are you ready now?" Martin asks us as we sit down at the table. Me and Jonny share glances both hoping that Jim gets his gift for Adam.

Martin makes his big reveal of the dinner however I don't think it looks entirely edible.
"Ready for my poisoning," Jonny jokes. Martin revels the off looking potatoes and burnt to a crisp meat. Everyone looks a bit disgusted.

In the end we decided on getting a chinese because that seemed better then the alternative, plus it was Adams birthday meal. I think Jackie felt a bit bad for him.

Jackie walked with the help of her crutches and I walked next to her occasionally asking if she was still okay.

"Jackie, what sort of food is Chinese?" Nelly asked
"Mum I've told you, you've had it before,"

"Oh no," we hear Adam behind us
"What?"
"The Mercedes... Bitchface."

Inside the restaurant, Jackie and 'Bitchface' gave forced greeting to one another.

"All she talked about was her stupid Mercedes!" Jackie grumbled as she sat back down.

I focus on the chopsticks that are on the table, picking them up and using them on the napkins.
"Do you even know how to use those?" Jonny asks from my side.
"Yes, can you not see me using them now?" I say while rolling my eyes.
"Well it's just because back when we were younger you almost stabbed Adam with one." He reminisces on the moment before grinning.

"I got better at it eventually, I can show you if you'd like,"
He nods and I pick up another pair and guide his hand to the position mines in to show him. I try to ignore the feeling of my hand on his.
"See, not that hard."

Jonny couldn't help but smile at her and nod, even if he did already know how to use them.

We had almost finished and Adam and I was in the middle of a conversation about fish.
"That's sushi and even if it's known in Japan I'm pretty sure it originated in China,"

Suddenly Shelia and her husband get up to leave.
"I can't believe you could do things with that woman," Jackie scoffs
"Not this again, I told you it was years ago," Martin sighs

"We're not gonna find out that we're actually her children are we?" Adam asks and I can tell there is a hint of seriousness to him voice.

"Oh here she comes, our real mum," Jonny continues.

"Hello again Adam," Bitchface says with a fake smile. He nods awkwardly.
"Oh of course you saw each other earlier," Jackie says
"Yes, him and-" she glances over at me
"Rayne," I mumble
"We had a little chat,"

It gets even more unpleasant when she turns to Martin.
"Uh fine," Martin stutters. I watch as Jackie give him side eye.

"Who is she?" Nelly loudly whispers
"Shelia Bloom," she introduces herself.
"Oh is this the one Martin got pregnant?" She asks with concern.

Jackie quickly changes the subject but it only gets worse as we find out Shelia's mum had died.
"Sorry," we all mumble our condolences.

"Eddie rushes her to the hospital in the, you know, Mercedes,"

Jonny, Adam and I lost it and all had to hide our smirks. It was even harder as she continued to talk about how fast the car went.
"That's awful," Jackie commented.

The more she repeated herself, the more the three of us started to laugh. She quickly left soon after.