Love At First Text ✔️

Her

Eden was violently, unnecessarily, unacceptably, green with envy.

The principle of S approaching her for a favour related to her line of work had irked her. It felt almost like he was reaping this strange dynamic they had for benefits. That was surely not the case, and she felt like a childish fool for even taking a moment to think on it. Whenever Zoya needed flowers, for birthdays, or Mother's Day, or to lay before her father's headstone, she always came to Eden. It was supportive, going to a friend's business, especially when she knew Eden would get commission for making the sale. S didn't know that, but he had known she would get paid. She knew she was redirecting her anger.

In reality, her jealous stemmed from something even more trivial. He wanted to buy flowers from the florist where she worked for someone else. A date. She had almost blocked him there and then.

She knew she was being ridiculous. She had no right to get jealous. She even sounded insane. She had no right. He was single and free. She had denied him the opportunity to take her out. She had denied herself the opportunity to even entertain the notion. She was being a selfish, horrid woman. And she hated that she was still jealous, even after scolding herself. She hated that she was such a hopeless romantic, something deep inside her remained, and had made her hope that just from ten days' worth of texting, a name, and a few pictures of her hands, he would choose her.

She was a naïve, hopeless, stupid idiot. And she was still jealous. Even after so little time.

But she would still get his flowers. She wouldn't be petty.

At least not much.

On Thursday's, she had only one lecture during the morning. She should have probably spent her afternoon catching up with her backlogged assignments, but instead, she always agreed to work. That was why she was sat cross legged in the staff room, half a sandwich in one hand, her phone in her other.

Samantha, or Sam Bailey, was a twenty-four-year-old masters degree student. She was wildly intelligent, travelled, and breathtakingly gorgeous. She had flawless skin, that seemed to have some unspoken deal with the sun to make her glow like a shard of topaz in the sight of it. Her smile was phenomenal. Untroubled and careless. Her lips didn't thin as they stretched wide and were always glossed, plump and pink. Her teeth were brilliantly white and straight, her eyes were dark and warm and smouldering, and her hair was nothing but coils of cedar, untroubled by the weight as it bounced at her waist. She was stunning, and she was S's date. While Eden, well, she was two years deep into her Facebook profile.

It hadn't been hard to find. S had sent her a screenshot of Samantha Baily's personal profile so show Eden what she looked like, and Eden had typed her name into her own search bar. Samantha Bailey didn't have a private profile. It would have hindered her ability to be an influencer, as she called herself, and would have likely dampened the success of her sales on the herbal diet drinks she plugged to her audience. Eden had almost bought some when she had noted Samantha Bailey's figure. Slim and toned, with hips and a perky bum and pert breasts. Her arms were toned and muscular, as were her legs, likely from her brisk hobby in pole dancing beside her degree. She was gorgeous and sexy, and she absolutely knew it. It made her confident, and distracting, and she knew, without a doubt, that was how she had managed to get a date with S.

Eden took a vicious bite from her ham sandwich. The bread was not even granary. She hated herself. She hated Samantha Bailey. And S. And Snakes, which was fitting, because they too began with the same stupid letter. She hated that letter.

"I am delusional." She noted to herself. She took a momentary break from her scrolling to message Zoya, cursing her for what she had turned her into. A green, jealous, ugly cretin.