Build-A-Boyfriend

20

Harry and Jenna are on a shopping trip. She's tagged him in about 15 million selfies and they have a ridiculous amount of bags surrounding them. Harry looks meltingly gorgeous and if I could erase her big smug head from the picture, it would be amazing.

To my extreme annoyance her friends have commented stuff like; "omg babez who is that????? hes lush" and "IS THIS THE GUY YOU WERE TELLIBG ME ABOUT OMG WHERE CAN I GET ONE THO ❤️😍😍"

Charlie has been talking about Laura for about 10 minutes and I'm trying to arrange my face in a sympathetic manner but my eyes keep travelling to my phone screen.

I did send Harry a causal whatsapp message and to my disbelief, the little frog has left me on read.

I would just leave it. I'm not a super possessive bitch who can't stand people talking to her man, but given that Jenna has just posted a picture of her and Harry in a pink love heart bubble, I don't think I'm out of order here.

"... But I suppose it's up to Laura. I can't do much more than that, can I?" Charlie sighs and looks at me. I realise with a stab of guilt that I haven't even been listening. I realise he's waiting for me to speak. I take a long sip at my coffee, trying to think what to say.

"Er... Right. So... Why don't you ask her to the university ball as friends and just see-"

"I can't because of Andrew-"

"Who's Andrew?"

"The guy she's left me for??... Rix, you haven't been listening have you?" Charlie grins suddenly. "What's up?"

"Nothing." I feel ultra guilty now.

"No, come on. What is it? Your fingers are twitching towards your phone like it's magnetic. What's happened?"

With a sigh, I tell him about Harry and Jenna, trying to sound as causal as possible but Charlie can see right though it. Despite the fact that he looks tired and full of his own worries, he listens attentively.

"Ouch, Jenna though." He shakes his head. "There's a poisonous snake if ever there was one. Harry needs to be careful if he's after her."

"He's not." I snap, a bit too quickly.

"Woah." He holds up his hands. "I didn't say he was. I'm just saying that she'd eat him for breakfast and spit out the bones."

"Yeah." I scowl into my coffee. Charlie changes the subject and we spend the rest of the hour talking about our essay and the ball. It's next weekend and Charlie is about as enthusiastic as I am, which isn't much at all. If possible, I'm looking forward to it even less when Charlie tells me that instead of having a band, this year it's an open mic for students to sing between the DJs tracks.

"Urgh, I can't sing-"

"Yeah, don't inflict that on us." He grins cheekily. "I reckon they've done it to save money. Why pay for a band when a load of drunk students will do the job?"

"I don't know why they need to save money, the ticket prices were ridiculous this year. I wouldn't have even bothered if Harry wasn't so keen." I grumble as we gather our things together.
We carry on chatting all the way to the bus station before parting ways.

For one horrible, stomach churning minute, I think I've lost my phone. I spend several anxious seconds groping my jeans and patting myself down like I'm at airport security, before my fingers finally close on it.

Harry still hasn't replied to my message, despite the fact that he's been online again.

Git.

I trudge home, imagining a series of increasingly mean-spirited things happening to Jenna. I'm just playing through a fantasy where she gets arrested for shoplifting on front of Harry when I suddenly realise that I'm home. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that my feet just carried me subconsciously.