Spring Day

twenty one

chapter forty four ~ the one with no mayo
Heather's POV

Life can be so unusual sometimes, one minute you're in this fancy Italian restaurant, telling your boyfriend that you love him and the next minute, you're sat in the back of an old cab driving to help your friend possibly meet her real Father. After declaring our love for each other, Nick and I became an official couple, something that I hadn't told any of my friends because I knew that they may not be as excited as me about this whole situation. We ticked off all of our relationship milestones in one night, becoming an official couple, saying 'I love you' and sharing our first kiss. Everything just seemed so perfect and then the next thing I know, Phoebe wants me to accompany her to some random town so that she could meet her Father.

I was sat in the back with Rachel and Joey as Phoebe slammed on the breaks and we almost hit our heads on the divider, luckily Joey had told us to bring pillows for the ride. "See, didn't I tell you these pillows would be a good idea?"

"Oh God, here we go. For the first time in my life, I'm going to say, 'Hi, Birth-Father.'"

"We love you and we're here for you." Rachel said, leaning forward in her seat so that she could talk to Phoebe through the divider.

Joey leaned forward too. "Good luck."

"Thanks." Phoebe took a deep breath as she stepped out of the car, trying not to seem nervous even though we knew that she was.

This was a big moment for our friend, she hadn't seen her real father ever since he walked out of her life when she was little. Phoebe had a complicated family background, she had a twin sister called Ursula, who she hated and never spoke to unless necessary. She lived with her Grandmother, who had an unusual interest in things that no one else ever even thought about; and her Mom died when she was a teenager. For years Phoebe had been lied to, her Grandmother told her that her Father was a man with dark black hair and perfect cheekbones when in fact, the picture she had of her Father in her purse was actually a picture of some model, who she had never heard of.

"Hey girls, do you want some sandwich?"

My ears perked up at that sentence as I nodded eagerly. "Yes please, I'm starving."

"There you go."

As Joey reached over to hand me, my part of the sandwich, Rachel caught a smell of it and immediately winced. "Oh God, what is in that?"

"Olive loaf, and ham spread."

"No mayo." I added, reminding him of the most important part; neither of us liked mayo and that was why we never put it into our sandwiches.

"No, with mayo that would make it gross."

Our discussion changed when we saw that a dog had appeared on the front lawn and seemed to be barking quite aggressively at our friend. It was only a small dog but it seemed scarier than it should be, then it grabbed hold of Phoebe's leg and wouldn't let go. We gasped, leaning over to the window to try and get a better view of what was going on because we weren't getting out of the car, that would just put us in more danger. Instead, we were shouting words of encouragement to Phoebe, in the hope that it would help her get the dog off her leg.

"Run Phoebe!" Rachel screamed, knocking on the window of the car.

"No Doggy please!" Phoebe begged the dog to leave her alone but that wasn't going to do anything for this aggressive thing. "I do, so want to love all animals. No!"

"Get a bone!" Joey shouted his great idea before turning back to us. "Do you have a bone?"

My eyebrows furrowed as I resisted the urge of hitting him. "Are you kidding?"

"Let go! Get the hell off my leg you yappy piece of crap!" Phoebe somehow manages to get into the cab and slams the door behind her. We think that we're safe but then the dog appears again and starts jumping next to our window, barking at us. "Okay, we have a problem."

"Why don't you just reach out and take his trampoline?"

"I know what we can do." Rachel says, ignoring whatever Joey was talking about and snatching the sandwich out of his hand, throwing it away from the cab. "Okay Doggie, get the sandwich! Get the sandwich!" Instead of running after the food and leaving us alone, the dog just ignored the sandwich. "Joey, the dog will lick himself but he will not touch your sandwich. What does that tell you?"

"Here, I still have some of mine left." I said, handing my uneaten half back to Joey because I knew that he would be upset about not eating his half.

"Thanks Heather."

We stayed in the cab until it got dark outside, knowing that we shouldn't pressure Phoebe into going to meet her Father but we were all tired and hungry and desperate to use the bathroom. We hadn't said much because we were waiting for the dog to leave but it had been hours since we heard the barking and were sure that the coast was clear. "Phoebe, I think we're good to go."

"No, I don't think so." She replied, not turning to face us as she talked.

"What's the matter?"

"I just think that this was a really bad sign. Like 'The Beast of the Threshold.' It's just, I have like, no family left, except for my Grandmother. But let's face it, she's not going to be around forever. Despite what she says. I have a sister, who I've barely spoken to since we shared a womb. This is my real Father. And I just want things to be right."

Rachel sighed, feeling sorry for our friend. "Phoebe I completely understand."

"Yeah, whatever you need." Joey added.

I figured out what was going on and tried to say it as nicely as possible. "You want to go home?"

"Thanks, sorry again." She said, turning the engine on and pulling away from the curb but just as we started moving there was a horrible bump and something yelped. "What was that?" Phoebe asked, although we already knew the answer. We had hit the dog.

"I'm guessing the threshold is clear now." Joey mumbled, earning a slap on the arm from Rachel because this wasn't a matter to joke about; we had come to help Phoebe meet her Father and instead had aided her in hitting his dog.

a/n: i have to have another covid test today which i'm not looking forward to 🥴 -lizzie ⭐️

date published: 03/12/20