Chapter One #2
‘Do you really think he’ll call?’ she asked, also gazing through the window towards Katy.
‘Honestly?’ I paused, biting my bottom lip, thinking of all the men Katy had recently been pumped then dumped by. ‘Not a fucking chance.’
*
Zola and I retreated to our desks and began working on our own projects.
I had been running PR for an artist’s pop-up gallery that was passing through Glasgow in a few weeks.
The artist was huge throughout Europe, famous for painting brightly coloured, luxury oil portraits of celebrities and the wealthy, but quite honestly I had been finding it difficult to glamorise the exhibition to the Scottish crowds.
Normally I was an expert on the beauty market and high street.
I’d been working this pitch for over a month now with no real breakthroughs or any idea where I’d even hold the exhibition.
I swivelled around on my chair to face Zola.
‘Help!’ I pleaded.
Zola laughed. ‘Still no luck with the gallery?’
I shook my head.
‘I can help with the social content and invites, but you need to come up with the plan, babe! And let’s face it, the clock is ticking!’
Zola was Smart Reputations’ creative IT director.
She transferred up from the London office to help boost our social media presence and support clients when revamping their websites.
She’s basically a whizz-kid for content creation and graphic design, and was an instant hit with Katy and me from the moment she showed up on her first day with her long colourful braids, a belly top and ripped jeans.
Andrea almost spat out her morning coffee at the team meeting when she spotted her office attire, but I loved how quirky, cool and loveable she was.
So much so that we welcomed her into our little friendship bubble with open arms shortly after.
‘What you working on, Zo?’ I asked my friend.
‘ Ummm .?.?.’ She swivelled in her chair. ‘Revamping the website for Luxe Lengths hair extensions. It’s a fun one to do. Have you got any further forward on the art exhibition?’
‘Oh no. I’ve sent out emails to old clients who might be interested in coming and I’ve received two replies. Two! Remind me why I asked for this campaign?’ I mumbled.
‘I don’t know. Because you like a challenge? Look, don’t stress yourself. You always pull through, Ella.’ Zola smiled brightly, giving me a little nudge.
‘No one in Glasgow seems to care about buying a ridiculously overpriced portrait, though.’
She laughed. ‘And do you blame them? It’s not fucking Bridgerton , babes. It’s the Barras! People nowadays seem to prefer the Live, laugh, love B she said she knew I’d do well. That’s why she chose me to pitch and all that stuff.’
I huffed, knowing an hour earlier she was threatening to sack my friend.
‘So, babe, what happened with Mark? I thought you had planned a nice romantic meal?’ Zola asked, keeping her voice low to spare the half-dozen in the marketing team working beside us.
I watched Katy’s eyes fill once more.
‘ Jesus , Katy, don’t cry! Come here,’ I said, shuffling my chair towards her.
‘Honestly, Ella, if you hug me right now, I’ll go full-on Notebook tears.’
I paused immediately, reminding myself that the first time we watched that movie, she could not talk or breathe appropriately for two days solid.
‘Well, I invited him over. He had been working all day out in the rain, so I ran him a lovely bath with my good Lush bath bomb set, you know, the one you got me for Christmas?’ She scowled at the thought of sharing her sweet Snowfairy scent now.
I nodded.
‘Oh yeah, well, I certainly remember it. And the two Canesten pessaries I had to buy after using mine. Those scents seriously threw my pH balance off the charts.’ Zola squirmed.
‘Well, hopefully, it’s done the same to his dick!’ Katy added with venom behind her eyes. She paused, regaining her train of thought, then continued, ‘So, we had a takeaway from LaVita. Everything was going great.’
‘Until?’ Zola questioned impatiently.
‘Until we were having sex. So, he was thrusting away on top of me when all of a sudden, his watch buzzed a notification from Tinder, and I saw it. He told me only last week he was off all dating apps because we’d connected so well.
So, he sort of ignored it and continued the shagging, but the notification was really annoying me, so I said, “Mark, why did you have a Tinder notification on your watch there? I thought you said you deleted it?”’
I leaned in, engrossed in her latest drama like I was watching an episode of MAFS on catchup.
‘And he said,’ she lowered her voice, trying her best to imitate his deep twang, ‘“ I’m a serial swiper, Katy, it’s an addiction, ” then laughed it off!’
I gasped and turned to Zola, who was shaking one finger in the air at the downright disrespect.
‘So, I said, “ Oh right, but you told me you came off Tinder and didn’t want to speak to anyone else? ”’
I nodded, fully agreeing with her line of questioning. ‘Yep, and what did he say to that?’
She teared up, slightly tilting her head.
‘He said, “ The thing is, Katy, I like you, I do, but I don’t get that pure overwhelming oomph feeling with you, and I don’t want to settle for anything other than that.
My standards are set pretty high, and I’m not .
.?. ”’ Her bottom lip trembled. ‘“ I’m not going to settle for you just because you’re a nice girl! ”’
My face fell in disbelief.
In shock, Zola slammed her hand off her lap. ‘No, no, no! Tell me he did not say that to you, Kates!’ She stood up dramatically, her chair shooting back behind her. ‘Someone pass me a gun. I swear, pass me a motherfucking gun!’
Katy nodded back, looking embarrassed. She glimpsed around the office as some of our colleagues were beginning to stare. I tugged on Zola’s jumper for her to sit back down.
‘But the worst part was he was still inside me,’ Katy whispered, on the verge of tears again, ‘so he sort of pulled out, shaking his head because I’d ruined his shag and then he got dressed without saying another word.’
‘Katy, what the actual fuck ?!’ I leaned over and held her hand, disgusted at how someone could be so cruel towards my friend.
‘I’m fed up being the nice girl, Ella. I’m always someone’s back-up just to pass the time. I want to be someone’s true love. I want to give someone that overwhelming oomph feeling. Why can’t it ever be me?’
I stood up quickly and wrapped my arms around Katy’s head; I kissed her hair, smelling the fresh coconut scent of her shampoo.
‘Hey, maybe you’re looking in the wrong places?
Why don’t you come off Tinder for a bit, meet someone normal, at the pub or something?
’ I murmured into the top of her head. ‘The guys you meet seem really nice at the start, Katy, but they always end up exactly the same – thinking they have better options out there. It’s far too easy to swipe for the next girl.
Maybe if you met someone normally, and not online, it would be different? ’
She pulled away from my grasp with something between a sob and a giggle. ‘Yeah, like we ever go anywhere apart from the office. I can’t do this anymore, honestly. I’m so angry and so fucking hurt. I hate them all. I’m never going to meet anyone who actually wants me . I’m going to die all alone.’
Zola gently shook her head at the drama. ‘Look, why don’t we head to Wunderbar tonight? Get a couple of after-work drinks? Talk about how much we hate men together?’
I smiled. ‘I’m up for it. It beats hot yoga! What do you say, Katy?’
‘I don’t know. I just don’t think I’d be much company tonight.’
I sat back on my chair. ‘Babe, you’re never much company. You only get invited to make us look pretty,’ I teased and watched as a genuine smile appeared on her face.
‘Oh fine, but only a couple of drinks. No men,’ she demanded.
I laughed a sigh of relief. ‘Absolutely no fuckin’ men.’