Honey(27)
“Please god no.” Yrsa also thinks the mushrooms taste of cheese. “I can’t be friends with you if you start vlogging.”
“I think I’d be quite good at it.”
“When I was younger I used to do makeup tutorials.” Yasmin has opted for a yogurt and granola brunch. “I hope they never surface.”
Yrsa makes a mental note to go looking for them.
Skye rearranges her tray then takes a photo of her food. “I’m getting more and more messages from people asking about the admissions process. That’s why I think YouTube would be better.”
“I could do your hair and makeup,” Yasmin offers.
“Oh my god.” Skye almost squeals.
“What?”
She goes coy. “Just got another Bumble match.”
Yasmin and Yrsa share a look.
“Have you never used a dating app before?” Yrsa asks.
“No. I haven’t. But I felt it was time.” Skye says this in a serious tone, which means she’s referring to her breakup of last year—a breakup that’s felt to go on for a year.
“Let’s see your profile.”
“No, don’t—”
Yrsa’s snatched her phone over the table, she and Yasmin scroll.
“That’s a cute photo, you look so pretty.” Yasmin says.
“This screams ‘I want a relationship, not a shag,’?” Yrsa holds up a picture of Skye smiling next to her mum.
“Maybe that is what I want—” Skye tries to take her phone back but Yrsa’s quicker.
“Go on her matches.” Yasmin takes the phone. “Ooh yes, Freddie’s cute. Okay, we like that.”
“What about him?” Yrsa’s pointing. “No you can’t date Carlos, look at that nose.”
“Please give me my phone. Guys, it’s not funny.”
You can only wind Skye up for so long.
“Well shit, he’s fit—Felix. So fit. Ooh, you two have been talking—” Yasmin starts scrolling down the messages.
“No, don’t—” Skye goes for her phone again, but Yrsa gets it from Yasmin.
She swipes through Felix’s photos. “No.” Swipes them through again. “Fuck me.”
“What?” Both her friends are looking at her.
“That’s my ex-boyfriend.”
“Shut up.” Yasmin takes the phone. “No, stop.” She’s zooming in on a photo of a boy in a Barber jacket, the sea behind him. Looking at Skye she gives the phone back.
“This Felix?” Skye stares down at her screen.
Yrsa feels whiplashed. “Yeah, from school.”
“That’s mad.” Yasmin is shook. “You haven’t gone on a date with him have you?”
“We were going to next week, go to Tate Lates.” Skye is still looking down.
“You can’t meet him.” Yrsa is staring at her.
“No, obviously I won’t, now I—”
“You should block him.”
“I will.”
“Good.” Yrsa realizes she’s gripping her fork.
“Are you all right?” Yasmin touches Yrsa’s arm.
“Yeah, fine. Felix Smith’s just not a good guy.”
“It’s okay.” Skye’s holding up her phone. “I’ll block him.” And she does.
“Fuck, that’s so weird you matched with him.” Yasmin’s shaking her head.
“Is he in Cambridge?” Yrsa asks.
“No, London.”
“Did he say where?”
Skye shakes her head.
Felix looked different, and the same. Yrsa looks at her phone so as not to look at her friends, an email comes through. “I’ve got to go.”
“Now? You haven’t finished your food.” Skye looks worried.
“I forgot I have a supervision.”
“Oh, okay.”
Yrsa stands. “Sorry I got weird about Felix.”
“No, I get it. I’d hate for you to be talking to my ex.”
“We’re seeing you at Bumps later right?” Yasmin asks.
“Yeah, see you then.”
“We’ll text you where to meet—”
Yrsa is already away from the table, dumping her tray she heads outside. The morning cold and bright. She’s slow to cross the quad. Felix Smith. Her first and last boyfriend. And that photo of him, she recognized it because she took it.
A large group is coming toward her and Yrsa has to step off the path.
“Eliot, hey.”
“Yrsa.” He almost doesn’t stop.
They haven’t spoken since the night Hugh fell from the roof.
“How have you been?” she asks, maybe too casually.
“Okay. I guess. Well, not great. Since, you know—” He’s carrying a backpack that he pulls back onto his shoulder.
“Yeah. I know. It’s so awful.”
“You don’t think he jumped, do you?”
Yrsa wants to step back from the question.
“I don’t know. I didn’t know him that well. It’s possible, I mean—”
“I hate how they’re saying he was depressed. He wasn’t depressed.” Eliot’s voice is harsh at the edge.