BooksBarbecue
Back Afterlove Save as PDF
Chapters (86)
  1. Title Page
  2. CONTENTS
  3. Love
  4. Before
  5. One
  6. ONE
  7. Two
  8. TWO
  9. Three
  10. THREE
  11. Four
  12. FOUR
  13. Five
  14. FIVE
  15. Six
  16. SIX
  17. Seven
  18. SEVEN
  19. Eight
  20. EIGHT
  21. Nine
  22. NINE
  23. Ten
  24. TEN
  25. Eleven
  26. ELEVEN
  27. After
  28. One
  29. ONE
  30. Two
  31. TWO
  32. Three
  33. THREE
  34. Four
  35. FOUR
  36. Five
  37. FIVE
  38. Six
  39. SIX
  40. Seven
  41. SEVEN
  42. Eight
  43. EIGHT
  44. Nine
  45. NINE
  46. Ten
  47. TEN
  48. Eleven
  49. ELEVEN
  50. Twelve
  51. TWELVE
  52. Thirteen
  53. THIRTEEN
  54. Fourteen
  55. FOURTEEN
  56. Fifteen
  57. FIFTEEN
  58. Sixteen
  59. SIXTEEN
  60. Seventeen
  61. SEVENTEEN
  62. Eighteen
  63. EIGHTEEN
  64. Nineteen
  65. NINETEEN
  66. Twenty
  67. TWENTY
  68. Twenty-One
  69. TWENTY-ONE
  70. Twenty-Two
  71. TWENTY-TWO
  72. Twenty-Three
  73. TWENTY-THREE
  74. Twenty-Four
  75. TWENTY-FOUR
  76. Twenty-Five
  77. TWENTY-FIVE
  78. Twenty-Six
  79. TWENTY-SIX
  80. Twenty-Seven
  81. TWENTY-SEVEN
  82. Twenty-Eight
  83. TWENTY-EIGHT
  84. Eleven Months Later
  85. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  86. Copyright

‘So? ’ I parrot, teasing her as I comb my fingers through my damp hair, trying not to think about how long it’s going to take to dry. I keep threatening to cut it, but then I remember the ghastly bob I insisted on when I was fourteen and bottle it. I was going for Rihanna’s iconic Mia Wallace cut, but my hair’s far too thick so I ended up looking like Cousin It.

It was a rough six months.

‘So, how did you leave it?’ Rosh asks, her book forgotten as she turns to face me.

‘She gave me her number.’

‘Have you WhatsApped her yet?’

‘I can’t.’ I sigh, my shoulders slumping. ‘Adara says that I have to wait three days.’

‘Three days? Why?’

‘She watched this documentary about the psychology of dating or something.’ I sigh again, shaking my head this time. ‘Apparently, three days is the perfect time to wait, because if you message straight away, you look desperate, but if you leave it too long they lose interest.’

‘That’s ridiculous.’ Rosh stares at me as though I’ve lost my mind. ‘I know I’m only fourteen and I’ve never been attracted to anyone who isn’t fictional, but even I know that’s ridiculous.’

‘Yeah. Well.’

‘Yeah. Well. Nothing, Ash. What does Adara know about this sort of thing? She’s been with Mark for two years and he literally lives next door to her. She didn’t exactly have to chase him, did she?’

I try not to laugh, but Rosh is right. Adara’s hardly Karamo from Queer Eye, is she?

‘Listen,’ Rosh says, crossing her legs on the bed. ‘She – this Poppy – wouldn’t have given you her number if she didn’t want you to use it, right? She’s probably waiting for you to get in touch.’

‘I can’t,’ I whine pitifully.

‘Why?’

‘It’s too soon. She’ll think I’m a loser.’

‘You are a loser. Better she know now.’

I smile sarcastically. ‘Thanks, sis.’

‘Just WhatsApp her.’ She gestures at my phone on the bedside table between us. ‘Don’t listen to Adara and this stupid documentary and its “rules”. Boys are different from girls, as you well know.’

‘Fuck it,’ I mutter, snatching the cable out of my phone and taking it off the bedside table.

Rosh claps. ‘What are you going to say?’

‘I don’t know, but I know what I want to say.’

‘What’s that?’

‘That it was really nice meeting her and we should go for a coffee.’

‘Say that, then.’

‘It’s too needy. Wait.’ I hold my finger up before Rosh can tell me that it isn’t. ‘I’ve got it. What if I WhatsApp her with the coffee cup emoji followed by a question mark?’

‘Why not send the coffee cup emoji followed by the question mark emoji?’