‘You know I picked out that notification tone, don’t you?’ she said lightly.
Duh, how could you forget that little detail, Jessy?
Grabbing another slice of the pizza that was our monthlypay-day treat, Laura took a bite before asking, ‘So, what’s his name?’
‘There is nohim– it’s not – there’s no one.’ MI5 would not be calling for my skills any time soon. The funny thing was, there really was no one. ‘You asked me to message people; I’m messaging people,’ I said firmly, grabbing the remote and hitting play myself. ‘You ask for a favour and then you interrogate me!’
‘It’s not an interrogation, it’s just a question.’ Laura rolled her eyes. ‘You know what, fine. Keep your secrets. Besides, I could just download the data from my servers.’ She waggled her eyebrows, but I knew she was just joking. She would never invade my privacy like that.
Maybe it was a consequence of being a twin and never really having things to yourself. We’d shared everything as kids – toys, clothes, even friends – and it could be stifling sometimes. We’d learnt to give each other space as we grew up. Mostly.
‘OK, now let’s see if Maddie’s finally going to tell Harry how she feels – I’ve been avoiding spoilers all day!’ Laura grinned, pushing her glasses up her nose.
I snuggled in, grateful for the chance to think about someone else’s trainwreck of a love life for the next hour.
Sunday
I stretched out my legs in Maria’s Cafe, my favourite blend in my blue coffee cup and These Exiles blaring over the speakers. I’d introduced Maria to the band last year and she’d taken to playing their songs whenever I came in, a gesture so sweet and motherly it’d brought tears to my eyes the first time I’d realized.
I sipped the peppery fermented coffee and smiled. I wasn’t lying when I’d said Maria made the best coffee. The woman was heaven-sent.
I spent the next few hours working on a presentation for Karun. It wasn’t that I was behind on work – but I hadn’t exactly been paying attention much during the week. I was only broken out of my focus when I looked down at my coffee cup and found it empty.
Rising to join the queue behind some guy in an awful tie-dye T-shirt, I glanced at my phone as I waited for him to finish ordering.
More messages on Butterflies. None of them from Paddy.
This was ridiculous. Rejection wasn’t a big deal. OK, so I’d clearly got the vibe wrong – but still, ignoring me was just rude. I wasn’t ever going to date this guy, but I had a duty to all womankind to improve this man before I dropped him back in the sea.
I steeled myself and tapped out a short message into the chat as the guy in front stepped to the left, waiting for his order to be made.
Maria’s wrinkled face broke out into a smile when she saw me, her glasses on a gold chain glittering in the afternoon sun. ‘Jessy! Same again?’
‘Thanks, Maria,’ I said gratefully as I hit send. Satisfied, I put my phone away.
Jessy
Ghosting is a really shitty move
Ping.
Weird. That sounded exactly like the Butterflies chime. Dread pooled in my stomach – what if one of my awful matches was in here? Oh, please not the golf guy …
For the first time, I looked around the cafe properly. My eyes found themselves drawn to my left, where that guy was standing –
There was something familiar about him, but I couldn’t get a good look without seeming like a weirdo. He had a cap pulled down low, hiding most of his face, attention downcast as he flicked through something on his phone.
I really hoped this wasn’t Dan … or Jason … or … shit, if it was golfing bro I was going to have to throw myself out the window.
‘Order for Paddy – grapefruit cold brew?’ Maria called.
My jaw dropped.
It couldn’t be.
I felt my heartbeat pick up. There had to be more than one Paddy in a city this big. It had to be a fairly common name, right … right?
My thoughts spiralled as I watched him look up to grab his coffee. As the shop lights revealed more of his face, my world spun again.
