My own life seems to be crumbling a bit, as well, to be honest. Not one of my exes has confessed their undying love to me, my friends are both acting weirdly, and work is terrible. I’ve been trying to get my head back in the game, but I know it’s obvious to my colleagues that I’m not really as invested as I was before all this. I am handing more and more off to my assistant, who I can tell is getting increasingly pissed off with me.
But you have to break eggs to make an omelette or whatever, right?
And so what if I don’t like omelettes?
‘BIBI COLMER?’ A nurse appears before us.
‘Yes, that’s us!’ I leap up, waving, while Lou tries to resurrect our unconscious patient. Bibi stirs but waves us away.
‘Come with me, please, Ms Colmer,’ the nurse instructs, looking disapprovingly at his messy patient.
Bibi wakes up a little more, looking around and taking in her surroundings.
‘Where’s Sofia?’ she slurs sleepily. ‘And Nick?’
‘Waiting for us in the car.’ I try not to sound too annoyed. ‘Come on, time to see the doctor you demanded.’
‘No.’ Bibi wakes up properly at last, eyeballing the nurse. ‘Thanks for your service, Mr Medical Professional, but I don’t need to see anyone. It doesn’t hurt anymore.’ She wiggles her supposedly broken finger for us. ‘We’re going home.’
Without another word, she breaks free from our helpinghands, staggering off towards the exit and leaving Lou and I to apologize. Typical.
In my bag my phone vibrates twice in a row. Two messages at once! I feel abuzz with dopamine.
One is from Paul. He’s back in London at long last next week and wants to meet.
And the other? The other is from Will.
EX 6: WILL AKUFFOAKA The OverlapPART TWO
The flat
My bed
6.10pm
I have never really seen Idris angry before. Which is why I don’t immediately recognize it as such.
‘What is this?’ He’s standing over the bed, his eyebrows knotted together.
‘What’s what?’ I sigh, exhausted from a long day of work. Although this kind of exhaustion doesn’t even come close to the way I felt coming home from those long days in the kitchen. I throw my bag down, already wondering if the CVs in there can wait until the morning. I’m looking for an assistant, mandated by the bosses who have finally acknowledgedmy need for one. I’ve never had an assistant before – unless you count the kitchen porters who generally told me to fuck off if I asked them to do anything. I’m so excited! I cannot wait for the interview stages so I can be really stern and ask pointless power trip questions about where they see themselves in five years. I’m going to be the best boss.
Flopping onto the bed, I turn and reach for Idris. I want a hug. He moves away and it’s my turn to frown.
‘What’s wrong, baby?’ I sit back up, worried now.
He nudges the laptop I hadn’t noticed between us on the bed. ‘Who isWill?’ He turns to watch my face and I try not to react. Stay blank. I’ve done nothing wrong. Nothing wrongtechnically.
‘Will?’ I screw up my brow as if trying to identify the name. ‘What Will?’
‘@ Losing the Will!’ Idris looks impatient. ‘The guy you follow on Twitter! You’ve been messaging each other on direct message, flirting non-stop for weeks.’
‘What?’ I match his angry tone. ‘What are you talking about? And what the hell are you doing, going through my computer?’
‘The laptop was open when I came in.’ He waves this away. ‘All your messages to each other were right there on the screen.’ He starts pacing up and down the room and I feel cold. ‘What the hell is going on with this guy, Esther? You message each other constantly. And please don’t try to pretend it’s not flirtatious.’ He stops and puts a hand over his mouth before mumbling the next part. ‘Are you sleeping with him?’
I leap up off the bed, the offending laptop bouncing lightly on the covers. ‘Jesus, Idris,no. I’ve never even met him!’ I put my hand on his arm and he shakes it off, still unable to look at me. ‘I swear to you. He’s just a mate, honestly. It’s a bit of silliness online but I don’t even really know him. We’re just online friends who chat a bit. It’s nothing, really!’ I pull at Idris’s sleeve and see him take a big, shuddery breath in.
When he finally looks up, his eyes are a little red.
