‘She’s called Romy, and they’ve been together a couple of months.’ Ben wows me with news of Ollie’s love life.
‘What?’ I ask in total confusion. ‘He never said anything.’ Ollie hasn’t spoken to me in for ever. I don’t like to admit this, though. It hurts. More than it should, I’m sure.
‘Well, the two of us live together, so it’s kind of hard to get that sort of thing past a flatmate, but it took a while before Romy stayed over, so healmostgot it past me,’ Ben says, taking a drink of tonic water. He makes a face.
‘How is it?’ I ask, knowing the answer.
‘I can almost pretend it’s a G&T minus the G. Almost.’
‘I’m very proud of you,’ I say honestly.
‘Meh,’ Ben replies dismissively.
‘How did they meet?’ I turn the subject back.
‘At work.’
‘On his course?’ I query.
‘No, Ollie’s been doing a placement at a GP’s surgery somewhere. Romy’s a doctor’s receptionist. Although I think she described herself as a care navigator the first time I met her, and I tried so hard not to laugh out loud. I thought she was joking. You’d have been proud of me for that too.’
I laugh, because Ben is just Ben and there were so many things about him that I loved before we broke up. Sometimes he reminds me of better times.
‘A care navigator?’
‘I know, I know,’ he replies. ‘Really thought Romy was messing with me. Although she’s not up herself at all. She’s nice – you know, inoffensive.’
‘“Inoffensive”, what a weird way to describe someone,’ I say as the waiter arrives with our menus. We’re in a cool new Asian restaurant on the South Bank near where I live, and although I volunteered to meet Ben halfway between us, he loves coming over to this side of town.
‘She’s sort of – you know … there. Ollie likes her. And I don’t fancy her, which makes Ollie happy.’
‘What? Why?’
‘Why what?’
‘Why does that make Ollie happy? Surely he’dwantyou to fancy his woman, reinforce the fact he’s chosen well? Is she unattractive then?’ Is it wrong that I want Romy to be unattractive? It’s wrong, isn’t it? Really wrong.
Ben stares at me. ‘She’s attractive, but I don’t fancy her. You have no idea how men work, do you?’
‘Probably not, no,’ I sigh. It’s true. I have no idea what goes through Ollie’s mind. He’s a total mystery, made even more so by the fact that he won’t reply to my messages. ‘He’s ghosting me,’ I blurt out. ‘I didn’t know about his new girlfriend. I didn’t know he’d gone off to do a placement.’
‘I’m sure he’s not ghosting you. He’s always doing a placement somewhere, though. I can’t keep up. Maybe he’s busy?’ Ben tries to lessen the wound.
‘Hmm,’ I say doubtfully. ‘He hasn’t spoken to me for months.’
‘Months?’ Ben asks. ‘That’s not like him.’
‘The last time I saw him was at my house-warming party months ago.’
‘That’s the last time I saw you too,’ Ben says loyally.
‘But we’re meeting right now. And you reply to my texts,’ I counter.
‘Sometimes I even text you without it being a reply. Sometimes I even initiate a conversation,’ Ben confesses, like it’s a big deal. It probablyisa big deal to him.
‘You’re right. I have no idea how men work. But I’m annoyed about Ollie. Why is he ghosting me? Oh, I have an idea,’ I say and pull my phone out.
Ben makes a face. ‘Are you going to call him to see if he picks up? Right now?’
