PHONE SWAP | drew starkey

29: ADDISON

Marianne Weatherby is a lot of things: kind, courageous, outspoken, determined, playful, British, French, assertive... the list goes on.

  Subtle is, unfortunately, not one of them.

  It was Monday after work that she picked up Addie from work and drove her straight to the mall, finding all the shops open after the usual hours. The only explanation she gave was changing up Addie's wardrobe and therefore changing her own perception of the self, considering she's now started her path of post-breakup self-discovery. It's only right that she literally sees herself differently.

  Addie obliged. She left the mall with a few new dresses, new trousers for work, and a few bits and pieces that Marianne thought would be ideal for Addie's new look going into the new year. Those included new earrings and some new gold jewelry, and sweaters and tops that aren't tight-because-formal-but-not-revealing-anything-because-office-environment.

  And a pair of overalls. Just in case.

  (Addie knows she'll never wear them, but Marianne likes the thought of her in them, so...)

  The shopping spree was, somehow, the most subtle of it, too.  

  Over the next few days, she could see Marianne hastily texting and dropping her phone when Addie's around. She thought it was a thing with Tom at first, but Marianne would've approached her about it even if Addie was busy (which, to be fair, she really was. Turns out there was a bit of stiffness between her and Holden and the awkwardness meant that she could hardly concentrate, making everything take twice as long.

  Note to self: don't date your colleagues.)

  There were also the phone calls she could hear coming from Marianne's bedroom, too faint for her to decipher, and mystery papers peeking out of her bags (unless it was architecture work, which Marianne handled with more care than she would a newborn baby, Marianne refused to own physical documents). Still, Addie could get behind all of this, if it wasn't for the fact that Marianne told her that on Saturday, they were going to go out for dinner, dress up and everything, to celebrate nothing less than Addie's new approach to life.

  They're not the kind of people to go out to celebrate a breakup. Not anyone in their friend group.

  Really, about ten minutes into spending time with Marianne at the mall Addie knew she was preparing her a breakup party, but it was fun watching her be incompetent at hiding it, so Addie pretended to know nothing about it. Even if she's usually the one organising the breakup parties in their friend group and has mastered the gig.

  So, when Addie and Marianne come back from their fancy dress-up trip to the only chip shop in the neighbourhood, Addie feigns surprise at seeing the entire flat done up in balloons and confetti and all her friends chanting 'SINGLE'. She can just barely make out who's there, hiding in the dark, but she notices most people have made it to the breakup party. Most people – including none other than Drew.

  Addie is pulled into a hug by Iona, whose daisy scent nearly overwhelms her, and Addie finds herself recounting the "chippy" experience to a small group, eager to find out how Marianne managed to fool her.

  (Addie spends the night keeping up the pretence that she was successfully fooled.)

  It feels like she gets passed from one friend to another, and within minutes, she's had Iona, Leanne, Kali and Owen all hug her as if she were dying. Everyone's speaking to her—at her—and Addie tries to blink herself into focus, but so much is going on even in the background.

  The group leaves and, much to Addie's surprise, her eyes land on Marea and Winnie, somehow blending in with the rest of her friends. She never thought she'd see the two groups together, let alone Marea laughing her seagull laugh at something Tom's saying.