Chapter Fifty-Four
Ollie
Ben wanted to know how it was going, so as I come off-shift and board the bus outside the hospital I message him: Awful. Don’t get sick on a weekend. Fight Central. No room in A that I have a girlfriend and he doesn’t need to worry.
But why do I have to keep defending myself?
I don’t. It would be different if something was happening, but it’s not.
My phone beeps again and I’m frustrated enough to make some sort of involuntary growling noise from the back of my throat.
The woman gets up and moves away. I pick up my phone, expecting it to be Ben again, doubling down on his request that I stay away from Aury, which I’ve been doing since bloody for ever. But it’s not Ben. It’s Romy.
Are you free today? she asks. I smile. Oh, thank God. A normal conversation is about to take place with a normal person.
I am. Yes, I reply and I watch her texting.
I’ll come over? In an hour? she types.
I’d love that, I say and instantly relax.
Great, she texts, uploading the same image that Ben sent me from the Daily Mail. Because we need to talk about this picture.