Coffee, tea? Or me?

Part III

III

Four days later Lucy woke up to fifteen new followers on Instagram and knew something was up.

She put on the kettle and pressed the button near the entrance that slowly changed the big window from dim to clear. James was in Ney York again, but she had decided to stay at his place so she could pamper herself in the wellness centre near the gym. Plus she loved how private his flat was.

She sat on the big sofa with the morning light starting to peek at the horizon and checked her notifications again.

All her new followers worked for her company, which was at the same time reassuring and concerning.

She wondered if Jack had spilt the bean, but she didn't want to confront him without any evidence.

She took a sip of her coffee, scrolled through her feeds and liked a picture that James had posted, a rare thing for him, with one of his colleagues in NYC.

Immediately after a new post from one of James' fan accounts made her heart skip a bit: new paparazzi pictures. These had been taken a couple of days before as they were leaving a tube station and went for a stroll in Regents Park. She was wearing a thick winter coat and a scarf around her neck, her hair was loose and curly and because of the cloudy weather, she wasn't wearing sunglasses. James was also wearing a winter coat, unbuttoned, and a pair of dark denim with boots. In one of the pictures she was looking up at him with a smile as he was talking and in another they were holding hands.

No doubt about their relationship now.

She read the quote to the post

James with his girlfriend in London. I don't know who she is, but they're so cute together!

Aw, thank you stranger on the internet. She thought.

She scrolled down and started to read some of the comments, which were mostly hearts and smiles and "And where is she coming from?" until she was hit with a

"Who the fuck is this w*re? Why the hell is he with her?" and a "Bitch is ugly, he can do much better!".

All the supportive comments suddenly disappeared from her mind and she was left with the bitter aftertaste from those mean words.

She quickly changed her Instagram settings to private and put her phone down on the coffee table where she left it as she went for a swim in the heated pool.

***

Lucy entered the briefing room with one minute to spare; there had been a technical issue in one of the Piccadilly line stations and all trains were running late. She was flustered and out of breath for the run.

"Hello, everyone! Sorry for the delay" she said, closing the door behind her.

"Don't worry, you're not late just right on time". Said Charlie, the cabin manager, a stunning Anglo-African man with a smile to die for.

She nodded and looked around for an empty spot on the long L-shaped sofa. As her eyes scanned the room, she was met by a few furtive glances and stares, she lowered her head trying to ignore the sudden attention and eventually sat on a stand-alone chair. She could hear low whispers filling the room.

"If you're all done reciting your prayers, maybe we could start with the briefing?" said Charlie, shifting the attention back on himself.

Lucy gave him a tentative grateful smile.

As the meeting went on, Lucy's mind was somewhere else. Rumours travelled so quickly in the base, cabin crew liked to gossip and now she was at the receiving hand of it. She took a deep breath trying to calm herself down.