The Night Train ✓

15 / slippery slope

Half past twelve was a much-needed respite in the middle of a day of filing and manning the phones, directing patients and dealing with those who seemed to think she didn't know how to do her job. There were always a handful of those each week, difficult people who thought they knew better than her, or any of the other receptionists who had worked the post for years – decades in some cases – and they all seemed to have descended on the surgery on Wednesday morning. As soon as the clock hit twelve thirty, the start of Sarah's lunch break, she grabbed her coat and her back and she was out of the building as fast as she could move.

Phoebe was waiting for her in the car park, her car running in the cold. The fumes from her exhaust were visibly in the cold air, turning them to mist the way Sarah's breath fogged up as soon as she was outside. Even her long, thick coat wasn't enough and she was shivering by the time she had crossed a few metres of the car park to reach Phoebe's car. Swinging open the door, she ducked instead and rubbed her hands together.

"It's so cold today, oh my goodness," she said, tucking her hands between her knees. "It must be nearly zero."

Phoebe glared at her. "Don't you dare go talking about the fucking weather, Sar. We both know full well you had a fucking date that you have yet to tell me about five fucking days later. Jesus. The weather can wait – I cannot."

Sarah laughed, a chuckle bubbling up to the surface as she twisted round in her seat to find her seatbelt and buckle up. "We need to get a wiggle on," she said. "I only have forty-five minutes, so chop-chop."

Phoebe shifted into first gear to leave the surgery and once she was on the open road, she moved up to third. Brunch Box was across the other end of town, only a few minutes away, but the place was riddled with one-way systems and complicated roundabouts that had made Sarah's driving test all the more difficult. "You're not wriggling your way out of my quizzing," Phoebe said as she headed into the town centre. "I hardly get to see you and I'm not waiting until the weekend to hear about your date."

"Calm down, I'm going to fill you in," Sarah said with a laugh. "Just, let's get to lunch, ok? I'm absolutely starving."

"Me too," Phoebe said, reluctance in her voice at the normalcy of the conversation. "Just tell me one thing – did the supper lead to sex?"

"No! Pheebs, I told you, I didn't want that to happen. I haven't had sex in four years – it's going to take a little more than a few dates with a virtual stranger to change that. No, we didn't have sex. You're terrible. Is that all you think about?"

"Yes," Phoebe said, indicating left and turning down a side street. "I mean, it's been seven months – it's kind of on my mind. It's never been this long before. Maybe something's wrong with me."

Sarah let out a dry chuckle and rested her head back against the seat. "Nothing's wrong with you," she said. "It's just winter. It's gross weather. Everyone's probably just hibernating."

Phoebe snorted. "Maybe I'll just borrow Floyd."

That earned her a glare, Sarah cracking her neck when she whipped around to look at Phoebe. "No you won't," she said. "I know you're kidding, and I know we're not together, but that would make me incredibly uncomfortable."

"I'm joking, Sar. Relax. No exes – I would never even dream of doing your ex. Don't worry. Sisters before misters, right? You're my sister. And, to be honest, Floyd is kind of a brother." She squeezed Sarah's knee and pulled into the car park closest to Brunch Box, just a couple of minutes' walk away. "I would never do that to you. And he's not my type."

"I didn't know you had a type," Sarah mused with a smile. They got out of the car, and she had to catch her footing to stop herself from slipping. It was as cold as it had been all year, the temperature just dipping below zero for the first time in a while. The ground was frozen over and she almost skidded on a patch of invisible ice, lunging out to grab Phoebe.