When Life Gives You Melons

First thing's First.

"Honestly, Els, this would only happen to you." I could hear Lyra talking through gritted teeth as she fought with the door, but it was with no avail.

"I can't argue with you there," I huffed as I dropped onto the toilet seat. The door stopped thudding against the plastic frame when Lyra stopped pushing. She sighed and I could almost hear her trademark frustrated eye roll.

"I'm to be so late," I said, my voice bouncing off the cubicle. I'd only wanted a quick nervous wee before meeting with my grandmother's lawyer. I wasn't good in formal situations and a will meeting definitely classified as a formal situation. The lock on the inside was jammed tight and I couldn't get out, which is what resulted in Lyra being dragged from her yoga class to help me out.

"I think I'm gonna need to find a cleaner or something," Lyra replied. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Hanging on the door of the cubicle was a bird flying over a field. It was advertising feeling free with your panty liner or some lark. I just felt mocked, almost like whoever put it there knew that you'd get stuck in their grubby little loos.

"Please hurry!" I shouted, but she was already gone. My meeting was meant to be in five minutes, and her lawyer made it sound like it was pretty urgent. My grandmother had died over six months ago, leaving only enough money to cover her funeral. The rest, she'd left strict instructions to be kept under wraps. That was until the lawyer gave me a call on the weekend and demanded that we meet later that week.

"Yeah, I don't know what she did, but she's stuck in there," Lyra's voice echoed through the toilets, followed by the sound of the door hitting the tiles as she walked in.

"I didn't do anything, I just locked the door! The lock is stuck in place," I said, standing up from the toilet. I heard the sound of something metal hit the floor, followed by a cough.

"Don't worry about it, love, it happens a lot. Stand back as far as you can," he instructed.

"If it happens all the time, why don't you fix it?" Lyra asked.

"Lyra!" I hissed. I looked behind me and inwardly cringed when I saw that the only gap to stand in was beside the grubby toilet, jammed between the sanitary bin. Taking a deep breath, I took a step back and tried to ignore the slodgy sound that my shoe made when I squeezed in.

"Don't have time or resources. The big man thinks it's easier for me to break girls out than it is to fix the lock." He punctuated his sentence with a heaving sigh. "You out the way, love?" He asked.

"Yeah, I think so," I said, uncertainty riddled through my voice. I closed my eyes and shrank back into the corner, unsure of what he was going to do.

I heard a loud clang, a snap and a bang. I opened one eye to see the door swinging to and fro, with Lyra and the cleaner appearing in sight between each swing.

"Thank you so much," I gushed, carefully stepping out of the puddle and the cubicle. I looked down at my shoes to see a ring of wet suede along the bottom. Fantastic.

"No problem. Just do us both a favour and use the ones in the café next time," he said before excusing himself. I turned my attention to Lyra, who had one perfectly plucked eyebrow raised. I shot her an apologetic smile. She was wearing her yoga gear and her hair was tied above her head in the 'messy but not really messy' bun that she was well practised in doing. Effortless was her mantra and it was something that I'd forever envy.

"Sorry, didn't know who else to call," I admitted. She shrugged, chuckling to herself as she leaned back on the sinks.

"I'm beginning to think that you don't want me to go yoga," she said with a small smile. "First your car breaks down on the A38, then your rabbit gets loose and now this. Can you reschedule next week's disaster for a Wednesday, please?" she asked. I laughed, gently shoving her shoulder.