The Timeline

14.

April 22nd, 2014:

Josh was the best boyfriend anyone could wish for.

Sat inside of Michael's photography studio, just under Michael and Katie's apartment on Fulham Road, Claire was being drilled by Katie, who demanded to know everything about her and Josh, only to butt in the retelling Claire was doing, from time to time, and give her small contribution of "I absolutely knew it", sprinkled in doses. According to Katie, she had seen everything from her short stay at the pub, the day they had taken their headshots. The way Josh was around Claire, the way he acted, the way he had stared at her headshots, the way he hadn't wanted Katie with them at their weekends museum outings - all of it had confirmed Katie's suspicions that Josh liked Claire.

And, always according to Katie, that had also been the reason she hadn't accepted Claire's offer to go to the Madame Tussaud's with them: she wanted the two of them to be alone, because had she been there, Josh would've never made a move on Claire. She had been right. Josh had made his move on Claire that very Sunday, kissing her for the first time in between some wax figures at the museum - Claire couldn't even recall which ones, because there were just so many fucking wax figures in that damn museum, she reckoned the ticket price was justified - and then some more outside after lunch. And he had been giddy as hell, after that. Had let out a proper huff and said he had been gathering the courage to do that for some time. Claire had said she knew. So did Katie, apparently.

They had started going out since that Sunday.

And Josh was the best boyfriend that could exist on the face of the Earth. Claire knew it. Katie knew it too, through Claire, because she kept on pestering her for information. And Katie approved of Claire's relationship with Josh so much, she kept on saying it, how nice he was, how nice he looked, how good he was for Claire. At one point she had also looked pointedly at Michael, who was setting up his photography utensils in the studio, giving the both of them his back, and had said loudly she could only wish for a boyfriend so good and perfect. Michael, without missing a bit, had told Katie she could take Josh. Katie had just giggled, saying that she would've never done something like that to Claire. She looked at peace, for the first time since she had known her.

And it was true, Claire was at peace: no more Fannie in her life, whom had blocked her on every social media platform known to man the both of them had, hadn't tried to contact her since their very messy breakup; an amazing boyfriend who absolutely adored her, who did everything she asked for and more; all of her friends liked Josh, they adored Josh as much as he adored her; Claire didn't have to worry about anything.

Josh was coming to pick her up once she would've been done at Michael and Katie's, later that afternoon.

Michael's study was all dark walls and dark mahogany surfaces and a dark pavement. The studio itself had a black background, a dark wood table, dark wood chair, three dark walls and on the right side of the room, a window that faced the sun, to provide natural light and one single light bulb dangling from the ceiling. It was a rather Caravaggio-esque setting, and Michael had explained his approach to photography in front of a pint one night, but Claire had been tipsy enough for his words to not stick in her mind. His pictures, however, had stuck in her memory.

She liked the portraits very much, they all held a type of depth and dramatics that Claire had liked: each person looked very real in them. Barefaced, intense eyes, they looked nude in front of the camera, not in the literal sense but the sense where you got the feeling they were ready to open up with you. Half joking, half serious, tipsy Claire had told Michael she would've very much liked it if he photographed her, for a headshot or not. Absolutely serious, absolutely drunk, Katie had squealed in delight and had started pestering Michael until he had agreed to take both their portraits. Jack's too, once he would've been back from his trip to Hampshire to visit his dad's side of the family.