Lime spider

Senna's POV

I know I should have my eyes on the road but I can't help but watch Harri through my peripheral vision as she sits perfectly still on the front seat of my Dad's Mustang, Ruby. Her hands folded in her lap while she diligently gives me directions towards the cafe. She hasn't bothered to put her crown back since it fell off in our little 'tumble', instead her black hair is resting in messy waves on her shoulders. Looking closely I can see that she has blonde roots and honestly I wonder why she tries to cover it up. Either way she's beautiful. She has her eyes trained on the road in front of us, which tells me that I should probably do the same.

I feel my phone buzz in my pocket. It's probably another reply from Jax who basically freaked out when I sent him a photo of my costume. He called me sausage in batter for not inviting him to the party. I explained that I couldn't have him cramping my style. He did threaten to come and crash the party since I'm only an hour away but as extra as Jax is that would be next level even for him. At least, I hope that's the case.

Chapeldown is nice town, very much like McCrae Crest which isn't surprising given the proximity. I follow her directions down the tree lined streets and we pull up at the twenty four hour café no more than ten minutes later.

Stepping out of the car I almost feel like I need sunglasses to ward off the glare from the bright neon 'diner' sign that is fixed to the top of free standing building. Squinting we make our way inside.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom and tidy up," she says walking towards the back wall.

"I might do the same," I reply following her towards what I assume is the bathroom. "Want me to order something for you?"

"A lime spider, please?" she calls out, with a slight hiss when pronouncing the s in the word please.

I smile at the purity of her request. "Anything for you my Queen," I tease as the bathroom door closes behind me.

I almost choke as I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Thank fudge that Zander or the paps aren't here to capture this. I'd never live it down.

I use a wet piece of towel to wipe off the smudges of makeup and run my hand through my curls. Satisfied that my identity is still somewhat protected I make my way back out to cafe.

I order Harri's lime spider, a Nutella milkshake for myself and piece of black forest cake to share and get us a booth by the window. While I wait for her to join me I check my text messages. As suspected the buzz I felt earlier was from Jax.

"I want to party. I can't let this epic costume go to waste."

"I love you bro, but I'm busy." I type trying to let him down softly.

"Yeah, I know with your girlfriend."

"Yes, with my gf."

"WHAT?!? Really? As in officially?"

"Yea...."

"WOW! You move quick."

"It kinda just happened."

"How does that kinda just happen?"

"Jax, I gotta go. She's coming back." I text as I see Harri walking to the table with a smile on her face. "Drop past tomorrow. Mum wants to see you."

"Sure, but tonight we party!"

"No Jax. No"

"Yes. Imma third wheel the shiitake out of you."

"No."

"It's been three days since I've seen you. I miss you- See you in an hour ;)."

"Shiitake," I mutter as I throw my phone face down on the table earning a scowl from the waitress who has brought us our drinks and cake.

"Everything okay?" Harri asks sliding into the booth on the bench seat opposite me.

I look up at her and offer her one of the two forks, pushing the plate across the table so that it is between us. She takes the fork, her fingers grazing mine ever so slightly, sending shivers up my arm.

She has washed off most of her makeup off, with only remnants of blue eyeshadow left behind. Yet somehow she pulls it's off.

"Yeah, everything is fine. Just my friend errr..." I trail off trying to remember what I had told her Jax's name was. "My friend Jackson is threatening to gatecrash our ummm our date?"

She snorts, "would he do that? Is this a date?"

"Probably. He can be a little bit extra," I mumble. "And pretty sure this is a date. I mean we do have cake," I say raising my fork to my mouth.

"To be honest he sounds like a male version of Jazz," she says with a smirk as she takes a sip of her drink., not even bothering to mix the ice cream with the soda. I mean who does that?

I laugh out loud at the suggestion. "Yeah, I guess he kind of is. They'd be pretty good together," I add without thinking of the long term ramifications.

"Well if he does gatecrash I'll call Jazz and we'll make it a double date," she offers.

I grin, "so you agree, this is a date?"

"Well, like you said, there is cake," she jokes as she discards a piece of cherry on the side of the plate.

I use the straw to scrap the Nutella from the inside wall of the glass. "What about her and Theo?"

"Ergh.. that," she scoffs. "I guess we will deal that when we get to it."

We talk for an hour. I watch her mouth move as she speaks and she watches mine. I tell her about rebuilding Ruby with my Dad and how black forest cake reminds me of Oma, my German Grandma, on my dad's side.

She tells me about moving to Capeldown, her dislike for cherries and how she struggles to make friends. But for the life of me, I cannot work out why. She is easy to talk to, she's funny, honest and from what I can gather she's loyal.

Our drinks have long since been drunk so we order a round of cokes. I use the interruption as the chance to excuse myself to go to the bathroom.

Coming back I almost trip over my own feet as I see that there is someone dressed as The Joker sitting in my seat. I've never been the jealous type but then again I don't think I've really ever liked someone the way I like Harri

"Ergh, hi," I stutter as I approach the table cautiously.

"SJ how nice of you to join us," The Joker grins baring his teeth.

I cross my brows, "Ja— Jackson! What are you doing here?" I ask while standing at the end of the table.

"We'll you know me, I'm never one to miss a party," he replies taking a sip of my coke.

I look at Harri who is sitting there smiling politely, "if you boys will excuse me I think I'm going make a quick call," she says sliding out of the booth.

I take her seat and snatch my coke out of Jax's hands. "Dude, what the fried green tomato?"

"I had to see who you were leaving me for," he teases.

"You couldn't give me one night? Just one?" I questions appalled at his lack of consideration.

He pulls the glass of coke back towards him. "Now where is the fun in that?"

I stop the silent tug-of-war over the coke and take a closer look at him. I get the sense that something isn't right. Despite the red face painted smile he isn't actually smiling. "Jax, whats wrong?"

"Nothing Sen, I just missed you and wanted to party."

I look out the window and see Harri on the phone having a fairly animated conversation. I turn back to Jax. Something is definitely off, his shoulders are slumped and he I can feel the familiar rhythm of his leg shaking under the table.

"Jax," I say sternly.

"Senna," he counters.

"Don't try and deflect. What is wrong? I mean gatecrashing my date is extra extra, even in terms of your extraness," I ask trying to come across as warmly as possible.

"Fine I'll tell you," he mutters following my eyes which have reverting to watching  Harri.

I snatch my eyes away from the window and look directly at him, "tell me what?"

He exhales deeply, "he is being released..."

"Oh...." is all I can think of to offer.

He legs starts to shake at double the speed. "And she wants to take him back."

"Oh shit!" I gasp.

"Don't you mean shiitake?" he asks sarcastically.

"No this time I mean shit. Sorry man. Why didn't you just tell me? I would have come home. You know, bro's before.... the Queen Of Hearts as they say," I joke trying to get a genuine smile out of him.

"She just told me," he groans. "FUCK! What am I going to do Senna? I can't go through that again and not with the little ones. They deserve better," he mutters angrily slamming his fist on the table.

I try to comfort him, "you deserve better too, Jax."

He absent mindlessly starts picking at the skin around his nails. "So does Mum. Why can't she see it?"

"Have you told her?"

"She doesn't listen. She thinks she can change him...." he trails off.

I look out the window and see Harri finishing up her phone call.

"Did you hear me?" Jax questions waving his hand in front of my face.

"Sorry," I mumble embarrassed that he caught me being mesmerized by her. "What did you say?"

He smiles knowingly, "I said that's a problem for another day. I came here to forget about all of this so grab your girl and let's do something."

"We can't go yet," Harri says sliding in next to me having caught the end of the conversation.

Jax looks up at her suspiciously, "and just why is that?"

"Because I haven't finished my coke yet, silly," she teases taking a sip from her coke.

"Sen— errr, I mean SJ. Your girl thinks she's funny," Jax states with the first genuine smile of the night.

"That's because she is," I reply as I tuck my arm behind her back and pull her closer to me.

He smirks, "You're both mad..."

"As a Hatter," I add, pretending to tip the hat that is now laying somewhere in the backseat of my car.

Harri snorts. Coke not so elegantly comes out of her nose. "Off with your head!" She jokes in hysterics. Gasping for air she dabs the dribbled liquid from her chin with a napkin.

———-

Author's note:

Wow I had no idea where that one was going when I started writing it. Hope it's not obvious 😅😂

What do you think? Would you be annoyed if you were Harri and Jax gatecrashed your date? What about if you were Senna?

What should Jax do about his Mum?

I'll try and have another one up before the New Year but if not, 2017 has been a really tough year for me and I'll be glad when it's all over. Having said that all the crap times have meant I am now in a better position to appreciate the good so I am thankfully for everything I have achieved and thankful that you all took the time to read this far.

May you all have a happy and safe NYE.

-Trudz