Page 66 of It Was Always You

I wish you all the very best, but I do feel love will find you. I just hope that it’s soon.

Take care,

Bella

Adam closed the lid on his laptop. Ah… head over heels in love with someone else it is then.

TRACK 27

‘FALLING’ (HARRY STYLES)

September 2024

Adam hadn’t bothered to look through any more of the profiles from the dating site, despite Lily’s insistence that someone out there could be the one. Once again, he was plagued with thoughts that he’d had his one shot.

Everything had been perfect and wonderful for a while. Eve had been the real love of his life. His other half. She had been the central star in his sky. And now, if there was a heaven, she was up there shining brightly for everyone to see.

August melded into September and work was tiring but still rewarding. Coming home was still the hardest part, especially when his best friend was overseas so much. Lily loved her job passionately. She effervesced whenever she talked about it, and she was really making a name for herself. He thought it rather surreal seeing her on his screen when she was so far away, off reporting about some location or other. But he was so proud of the fact she had succeeded in her chosen field. He just missed her. Whenever she was away, he didn’t really see anyone. He would pop over to his parents’ every so often to be the dutiful son but as for friends… well… they all had their own lives that didn’t usually involve him. Lily was the only one who made the effort.

Her latest trip had taken her to Germany. He had no clue what the piece was that she was working on, but her hours were long and she was travelling around from place to place. They were communicating via WhatsApp mostly, as he never seemed to catch her when he called and if he did she always had to end the call quickly.

Friday afternoon rolled around once again. The weekend. He sat on his sofa drumming his fingers on his thighs. Boredom had already set in, and it was only six o’clock. He had marking that needed to be done but just couldn’t be bothered.

Grabbing his laptop, he lifted the lid and logged into the dating site. God, this is the epitome of boredom and desperation. He loaded up the profiles and began to flick through.

‘Too old… too young… eugh! Too skinny… sounds boring… looks like my mum… good grief, is it my mum?’ Adam looked closer at the screen. ‘No… not my mum… phew! That was weird.’ He flicked through over a dozen profiles, but none seemed to spark his interest.

He made the decision there and then that any kind of online or app dating was simply not for him. He grabbed the local paper and thumbed through it, not really taking any notice of anything. Nothing massively newsworthy ever happened where he lived. Although he smiled at the way the local reporters made news out of the smallest things. Stories such as:

Local allotment owner, Malcolm, stripped of rosette for prize turnip!

– allegedly for using some banned fertiliser he’d bought online. And:

Cat burglar turns out to be real cat!

– a story about an old woman who’d had some steaks pinched from her kitchen only to discover a sneaky stray feline was the culprit.

He turned the page and paused. There was an ad for a singles’ night at pub in Jedburgh. Maybe meeting someone face to face would work? There would be less of the blind date about it.

Immediately he logged onto his WhatsApp and typed out a new message to Lily.

Hi, Cheesy. So, what you been up to? I’m sitting here bored shitless on a Friday night. Couldn’t think of a single thing to do so I decided to check out some more profiles seeing as you keep badgering me. Anyway, I’ve decided to abandon the Internet dating thing. But I’ve found an ad in the gazette about a singles’ night and thought that might be a good way to meet someone. You know, face to face. I’d like to know your opinion. It’s tomorrow night at the Stewart Hotel in Jed. Get me being all brave and suggesting this! I hope you’re suitably impressed. Write me back asap so I know whether it’s worth it. Adders x

Around an hour later he got his reply.

Adders… I think you will find that my name is Lily and I refuse to respond to Cheesy.

He hit reply.

Hi, Lil. Sincerely sorry… so what did you think? Adders x

P.S. You know you love me really.

He got an immediate response.

Hi again. Love you? Hmm, debatable. Anyway… yes it sounds like a good plan if you ask me… which you did! And as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Anyway got to dash as I’m very busy and you seem to keep forgetting how extremely important I am, so stop bothering me. Bye, Pee Pants.

Lily xx