Build-A-Boyfriend

30

I've been mega stressed all morning.

Dad keeps trying to call me and I know it's about the £11,043 that's gone from my account in the past 6 months. Because I lied a few months ago and told him that half of it had gone on rent paid upfront, I'm having to work extra weekend shifts so that I can pay my actual rent without touching my savings.

He still wants to know where the other £5,000 has gone and I'm about a millimetre away from telling him that I've booked a round the world trip and faking photos to send him of the sights of the world. Surely it can't be that hard to recreate Machu Picchu in your living room?

The stress is seriously affecting me. I need to think of a plausible reason and I need to think fast. Part of me just wants to tell my dad that I'm an adult and he can't interfere... But I know he's just worried about me, he was always worried that I would waste the money. The inheritance that Aunt Elma left me was a life-changing amount, if used properly, and my dad would go crazy if he found out that I'd used it to buy myself a boyfriend.

I phoned Dr P's office to see if we could reduce the ridiculous outgoings a bit but his latest wife/secretary informed me that the insurance costs are incredibly high and I could always resolve the issue by taking Harry back and trialling one of the non-faulty 'products' for free.

She sounded so smug that I was about a second away from telling her that Dr P would be replacing her ass in about 5 minutes, but I restrained myself. The last thing I want is to annoy the Dream Factory.

Harry has spent the morning playing on the Xbox. He's connected with Zayn via the headset to play some boring looking army shooting game.

Zayn is getting incredibly pīssed with Harry as he refuses to shoot anyone, meaning that in the past hour they haven't managed to even get out of the building they start in and enter the game properly. I can hear Zayns shouts of anger down from where I'm stood.

"...JUST SHOOT! SHOOT!... FOR GODS SAKE HARRY-I SWEAR EVEN NIALL WAS BETTER THAN YOU AND HE KEPT PAUSING THE GAME TO SEND REIKI TO EVERY CHARACTER HE KILLED!"

"I just don't think it's very nice to just kill someone, Zayn." Harry holds his controller limply in his hands and winces as another blast from Zayn sounds in his ear.

"WELL WHY EVEN BOTHER PLAYING? WHY NOT GO AND DO SOME KNITTING OR READ SOME BLOODY POETRY WITH FARQUAAD?"

Harry's on screen character has taken to hiding in the same corner every time he comes back to life, meaning that there's now ten seconds between the screen loading and Harry getting shot.

"It's just not very nice... I mean, honestly, that man's probably very nice and you're just telling me to blow his head off... And really the graphics are-"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NICE?? ITS A GAME!..."

I giggle at the pained look on Harry's face as Zayn continues to yell at him. I don't think I have to worry about Harry getting caught up in a violent gang. As Zayns character blows someone's head off, Harry looks a bit green.

I slip into the little hallway and dial Grace's number. Of all the other dream factory couples, only Grace and Liam know that Harry is supposedly 'defective' and that I'm actually paying to keep him rather than trialling him for free. I don't know who else I can talk to but I'm not exactly overrun with options. Grace answers almost immediately.

"Hey, how's everything going?"

"Oh, great!" I force a laugh, deciding not to launch of my problems on her straight away.

"Um hmmm. I'm not falling for it, you sound stressed. What's wrong?"

I was going to mention everything casually as part of the general conversation, but it's really playing on my mind and it's such a relief to unburden that before I can stop myself I've filled her in on the whole situation.