Page 54 of Seven Exes

‘Who writes down a phone number?’ Bibi snarks, fiddling with her own row settings. We ignore her.

‘He’s not on social media,’ I explain. ‘He never was. And the only email address I have for him is an old work one. I know he doesn’t work there anymore, so I’m not sure what to do.’ I sneak a look at Lou. She’s yanking on her machine, pointedly not involved in the chat.

‘Wait, doesn’t Sven have a number or an email?’ Bibi suggests, leaning forward to look at Lou, who slows down. She doesn’t say anything so I do.

‘Um, yeah, Sven would do…’ I feel very uncomfortable.

‘Why would Sven have it?’ Alex glances up as she reties a shoelace.

‘He’s still friends with Idris,’ I explain carefully. ‘They’ve been mates for a long time – since school. Idris and I actually set Sven and Louise up on their first date, back when we were together.’

‘So?’ Bibi looks over at Louise expectantly. Louise finally looks up.

‘Ohhhhh, it’s just so awkward, OK?!’ she wails. ‘Idris was so devastated when you ended things. Sven always says it took him ages to get over you. I feel baaaaaad!’

Shame washes over me. ‘I’m sorry, Lou, I don’t want to put you in the middle of things.’

‘Honestly, Sven won’t even talk tomeabout Idris!’ She flicks her sweaty ponytail away from her shoulder. ‘We haven’t really ever discussed him since you guys split. I asked him about Iddy when you started this mission and he point-blank said he wasn’t going to get involved and I shouldn’t either. He said something about ethical firewalls.’

‘Bit self-righteous,’ Bibi sniffs.

‘What about Alistair?’ Lou clutches for something. ‘He’s still on the table, isn’t he?’

‘I’m seeing Alistair for anotherfriendsthing soon.’ I resist the urge to roll my eyes. ‘It’s been a couple of months nowand he hasn’t confessed his undying love or anything. Plus, hullo, girlfriend, remember?’

‘Apart from Idris’ – Bibi pulls hard on her machine, still not breaking a sweat – ‘you only have Carl the Work Mistake and Rich the Bastard left now, right?’ She leans forward to look pointedly at Lou. ‘Do wereallywant her to move onto Rich the Bastard already?’

‘Oh fine!’ Louise dramatically throws her rowing handle down. ‘I’ll give you Iddy’s email address. Let’s just do this.’

‘Right now?!’ My voice is panicked as I stop rowing too suddenly, almost falling off the seat.

‘Why not?’ Bibi says, picking my phone up from its dumped spot on my sweaty towel. ‘Do it now or you might lose the nerve. Plus, we can crowdsource what to say.’

‘Are you ladies actually using these rowing machines?’ The shadow of some huge, muscle-bound monster coats us in darkness and we turn en masse to look up at him.

‘Yes, we are,’ Bibi replies calmly, unmoving on her machine. Louise starts half-heartedly pulling at her rower, while Alex stares Arnie out. I hide my face in my phone until he’s gone, always the bravest.

He grunts and leaves, back to the weights corner from whence he came.

‘Maybe we should get up?’ Lou whispers and Alex poo-poos her.

‘No way! We’ve paid the same to be here as him, and his lot always make us feel unwelcome in the weights section, so fuck him.’

I sneak a glance at Bibi, knowing she would agree, but she stays silent, fiddling again on her machine. It will take a lot for her to admit she’s starting to like Alex, but I have faith it will happen. Eventually.

I open my emails and Lou reads out the address. Honestly, I could’ve guessed it annoyingly easily.

New Message

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Entente Cordiale

Hey Iddy,

Sent from my iPhone

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