Another brilliant piece from a GUNNAS WRITING MASTERCLASS WRITER
Woot woot, 15mins left, here’s another one.
Untitled.
He likes her. She knows he likes her. Every day he finds an excuse to talk to her, to ask her how she is, how her weekend was, what she’s having for lunch. It’s not awkward because he’s married, happily so. He mentions his wife often asks her out to dinner with them, brings her along to her birthday party. And then suddenly he’s single. They’re not living together anymore, it’s over. She’s left him for a European getaway with some dude she met on Tinder and that’s it, he’s broken. She’s never seen anyone look so sad, and when he’s ready, they start hanging out. A drink here, an ice-cream there, maybe a movie after work. It’s not always just the two of them, but they’re the constant. If she’s off work for the day he’ll message her, if it’s the weekend he’ll start a conversation. They decide, independently, that teaching overseas is what they want to do. Him to Japan, her to South America. Him in March, her in May. She’s trying to date, firing up the Happn in an attempt to get validation – or gratification – from strangers on the internet. She’s coming into work tired, hungover, in yesterday’s clothes. They’re friends, so sometimes he hears about it, sometimes in detail. He asks what she’s up to on Australia Day weekend and suggests seeing a movie – or watching Black Mirror at his with a bottle of wine. Drinks happen first, with friends, and then they’re on his couch. They start off a metre apart, but by the third episode (and the end of the bottle) their arms are touching, burning a hole in each of them.