Page 54 of If I Never Met You

19

You Were Tagged In A Photo By Jamie Carter.

Through her blurred senses, Laurie squinted at her handset. They’d gone live, hence the confetti of notifications. She opened Facebook and saw Jamie had captioned it:

Great night @Laurie. Though not sure if I should be thanking you or hating you for this hangover

With morning bedhead, in an old T-shirt and with a light cranial throbbing from the martinis, Laurie appreciated the staged glamour of the picture all the more. They did look like a pair of celebrities, of their own invention. Jamie’s post production tinkering had given it a sheen, an Oscars after party atmosphere. Laurie didn’t really look like that creature who was standing in for her, she wasn’t living that life. But what mattered was everyone else thought she was. One big game of bluff.

She scanned the comments, forgetting that it being Jamie’s post meant most of them were strangers to her.

Looking good, sir

Wow great shot. Like an Armani advert.

Where is this?

You look like the Stark who had his throat cut in the Red Wedding inGame of Thrones. And she looks like the Dragon woman’s handmaiden Missandei. i.e. both fit

♥She’s beautiful, who’s this Jamie?

Well played, woof

The name’s Carter, Jamie Carter

Woah! Exotic totty!

Jamie had replied to the last saying: ‘Laurie is from Hebden Bridge, surely even you’ve been to Yorkshire, Dave.’ Since his not being sure of her name, she noticed Jamie had been very attentive to any detail she offered, and it was a neat way to point up the micro-aggression without going full attack dog.

There were tons of Likes, eighty-five in total, Bharat among them, and Dan’s sister Ruth had commented:

Great to see you looking so well, Laurie!

Wowsers x

Laurie didn’t see that coming. She hit reply and typed a thank you. She’d always liked Ruth, but since Dan’s mum took Dan’s side, she’d assumed Ruth had done the same and their obligatory ‘sorry to hear’ ‘I’m fine thanks for asking’ text exchange had been friendly but fairly economical on both sides.

What did Dan think? Had he seen it?

From her busy WhatsApp to the half dozen texts, she could see the required splash had been made. And the shamelessness of these inquiries: people she never spoke to who hadn’t got in touch to saysorry to hear about you and Dan, now eagerly fishing.

Laurie only replied to two people directly: Jamie, to reassure him the wording was fine, and Bharat.

Bharat

WTAF YOU DARK HORSE WHAT THE HELL AM I SEEING?! Jamie Carter?!

Laurie

He asked me out and I thought: why the hell not

Bharat

This guy is a stealth bomber, I’ll give him that. I’m probably going to catch him with my mum next time I go home

Laurie

THANKS BHAZ I’m the second to last woman on earth you’d expect him to show an interest in

---