Facing Up

Right, so here's the first chapter of my novel. I'll try to upload new chapters as and when I can, and I would appreciate any feedback. The full E-book will soon be available to download on Ibooks and Kindle. Thanks, Dan.

ONE

At first I was quite enjoying being unemployed, after 10 years sat at the same desk 8 hours a day every day (Except Sundays and the occasional holiday obviously) doing the same monotonous task with the same tedious people; it takes its toll. I had no idea what I was missing. For example the sheer concept of daytime television seemed so alien. I had never seen it before, as a child I always had far more pressing matters at hand, you know computer games, toys, running away from smelly girls; and as a teenager I was always more preoccupied with the finer points of life….computer games, alcohol and running after gorgeous smelling girls so it never even appeared on my radar.

There’s something quite compelling and charming about it, after a decade of watching high quality, big budget American dramas seeing someone debate whether or not to sell an old jug for a fiver or watching Jim from Rotherham squirm in his seat as he awaited the results of his lie detector test seemed like a whole other world.

Then my money started to dwindle away and suddenly it lost a lot of its appeal. Now I was watching people cook expensive, extravagant meals I could no longer afford, and purchase and renovate houses significantly out of my price range. What initially seemed tantalising, was now just teasing me. Instead of a fantasy it was an unobtainable goal. I guess my relationship with daytime TV is a good analogy for how I was coping with unemployment. Novelty became nightmare.

Let’s go back a few months shall we. It was Valentines Day when I announced at dinner that I had been promoted and Marie announced that she had been seeing someone else.

“How long has this been going on?”

“I’m sorry, it just kind of happened. I tried to tell you so many times but I just couldn’t find the words.”

“You didn’t answer my question, how long?”

“About 7 months.”

“7 months!” I squawked like a parakeet that had just caught itself in its flies, and the neighbouring tables turned to see what the commotion was all about.

“Shhh!” You’re making a scene.”

“Oh I’m sorry I haven’t handled having my whole world fall apart with dignity. You’ll have to excuse me.

“Anyway that just goes to show how much I care about you.”

“Excuse me?”

Some of the staff had noticed that something wasn’t right now and were busying themselves around us to keep an eye on the situation, ready to step in and quiet us so we didn’t ruin the other patrons evening. I started to feel mildly embarrassed but this needed to be talked about, and besides I was far too shocked to stop now.

Marie shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “Well it shows I wanted to know if it was worth it, so I didn’t just throw away what we have for nothing; you know if it was just a fling I didn’t want to break your heart so I waited to see if we had something special before I told you.”

“Who is it? Do I know them?”

“No.”

I felt a tingle of relief in the fact that I hadn’t been betrayed by a friend as well as Marie. The thought of someone sleeping with her and laughing behind my back as I carried on our friendship oblivious was too much.

“Well how did you meet?”

“Shopping.”

“Shopping?”