BooksBarbecue
Back Fancy Meeting You Here
Chapters (52)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. DEDICATION
  3. PART ONE
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. PART TWO
  23. NINETEEN
  24. TWENTY
  25. TWENTY-ONE
  26. TWENTY-TWO
  27. TWENTY-THREE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR
  29. TWENTY-FIVE
  30. TWENTY-SIX
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. TWENTY-NINE
  34. THIRTY
  35. THIRTY-ONE
  36. THIRTY-TWO
  37. THIRTY-THREE
  38. THIRTY-FOUR
  39. THIRTY-FIVE
  40. THIRTY-SIX
  41. THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. THIRTY-NINE
  44. FORTY
  45. FORTY-ONE
  46. FORTY-TWO
  47. FORTY-THREE
  48. FORTY-FOUR
  49. FORTY-FIVE
  50. FORTY-SIX
  51. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  52. ABOUT THE AUTHORS

And as if that weren’t enough, film rights to the book were picked up by Fox, who had made a blockbuster adaptation with Hugo in the starring role. He was the original Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who—shortly after—became Evie’s other total inspiration. Evie desperately wanted to write an original screenplay with the same sort of emotional power as these stories. So tonight, instead of her regular Friday evening routine of having a few too many at her local pub in Angel, Evie was writing. Or trying to, anyway. Her eye kept being drawn to her phone, willing it to light up with a message or notification so she could procrastinate.

As if she manifested it, her phone blinked with an alert. Leaning over, she looked at it and groaned.

image Ever-Ready Freddy: Any chance I could come over tonight? X

Evie had first met Freddy while working at the Ad Lib Cinema in Camden. He was a regular movie-goer, usually accompanying different women who succeeded each other with alarming regularity. Tall and slim, with jet-black hair and a confidence that she couldn’t help but envy, Evie had initially admired him from afar.

But one Sunday evening, around the time Evie became manager of the cinema’s bar, Freddy emerged from theatre three uncharacteristically solo and ordered an espresso martini from the bar. It had been a quiet night for Evie and they’d got chatting, with Freddy raving about the film he’d just come out of, La La Land, which he confessed he’d seen five times. After a couple more martinis, he’d broken into song, re-enacting the iconic scene from the movie where Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling dance in the moonlight, flinging themselves around lampposts and over benches. Grabbing Evie from behind the bar, he twirled and sashayed her around the nearly empty lobby area. At the end, he dipped her dramatically, and Evie practically melted in his arms.

It didn’t take long for her to fall hard. Pushing aside memories of the string of women she’d seen him with, Evie was enchanted by his easy charm and his unique take on films. Unfortunately, he’d proved less than reliable and, after about six months of bliss, they’d been on again, off again, on again, off again.

image Evie: I’m busy.

No, too mean. Evie deleted the message and drummed her fingers on the back of her phone.

image Evie: It sure has been a while. How are you?

Too cool. No, no, that won’t do. Again, Evie clicked backspace, rewording and deleting a series of messages.

image Evie: Please stop texting me.

image Evie: Freddy, I can’t do this anymore. We’ve talked about the late-night messages.

image Evie: We’re not right for each other. This has to stop.

image Evie: How’s your gran? Still dominating at bridge?

image Evie: I re-watched A Star is Born the other day. Made me think of you. Have you seen it yet?