‘Right then. Both of you, at the burrito place, at half past noon. No excuses. I need to talk to you.’
Nadia hit send on her voice note, sent to a new group she had made for her, Emma and Gaby. She got immediate responses from both of them.
Emma: Okay x
Gaby: Okay!!!!!!
Nadia carried the bouquet of flowers downstairs with her as she left for her early lunch. She didn’t want to leave them behind. She wanted them with her, evidence of the romance unfolding in front of her. They’d been delivered by the strangest man, who’d handed them over and said, ‘Oh, I see. I understand what the fuss is about now.’ And then he had disappeared. There was a card with the flowers.
Tonight? it read. I’ll send a clue about where later …
She was excited. She was over the moon. She wanted to show off – and to her best friends. She didn’t care what had happened, or what was happening with them. She missed her friends and needed them to share in this joy she was experiencing in real time.
‘Ohmygod – who are they for?’ said Emma, standing up to hug her. She’d cut her hair and was wearing more eyeliner than usual. It suited her.
‘They’re beautiful!’ said Gaby, standing up to kiss her too. They’d chosen a booth, and had both sat at the same side so that Nadia had to slide in opposite them, looking at them both – being looked at by them both.
‘They’re mine. From Train Guy.’
Gaby narrowed her eyes. ‘He knows where you work already?’
‘I must have told him this morning when we were talking,’ Nadia said. ‘And I mean, if you Google “Nadia” and “RAINFOREST” my surname must come up. I found him on bloody Instagram, for crying out loud. I don’t think finding out about people is a hard thing to do when the internet exists.’
‘Oh my god!’ said Emma.
Nadia replied, ‘I know. It’s very cute.’ The three of them paused for a moment, nobody knowing where to take the discussion next. Nadia didn’t want to talk about Train Guy until she knew everything was okay.
‘Listen – have you two got something you want to tell me?’
They looked at each other. Their stare held for a split second too long, making it obvious that there was indeed something that needed to be said – but Nadia knew that. It was just a case of who would go ahead and say it.
‘Yes,’ said Emma. She put her hand on Gaby’s. ‘Don’t freak out, but …’ She looked at Gaby. Gaby looked at her. Both of them smiled. Nadia felt like she’d witnessed something very private pass between them.
Gaby stepped in, turning to look at Nadia again. ‘Well, you know we hit it off when you introduced us last year.’ She looked back to Emma.
Emma continued, ‘And it was really cool that like, I liked your work BFF.’ Emma looked from Nadia to Gaby, and Nadia felt it again – like she was bearing witness to a really private moment between them, just in a glance.
‘And I was so happy to be your work BFF when you obviously had great taste in real-life BFFs,’ said Gaby.
‘But, almost right away it felt like …’ continued Emma.
‘More,’ Gaby supplied, stealing a look at Emma again, who smiled at her in encouragement.
‘More,’ Emma repeated.
Nadia nodded, and they dragged their gaze away from one another back to her.
‘So you’re … dating?’ said Nadia, trying to get them to say the words.
The pair beamed.
‘We should have told you,’ said Gaby. ‘It was just all so …’
Emma completed her sentence. ‘Unknown. And at first it could have been nothing, but then …’
‘It became something,’ said Gaby. ‘And by then, it was like we had to protect it. Give it a chance to grow.’
‘We didn’t want to tell you before we knew,’ said Emma, and Nadia got the measure of them in the way they finished each other’s thoughts and words – she could tell they were two halves of each other, and marvelled that she’d not seen how perfect a union that could be before. ‘I almost did – at Soho Farmhouse. You asked me so many times what was up and –’
Gaby interjected: ‘We’d had our first fight that weekend. If she was horrible to be around, it was my fault.’ She winked at Emma, playfully.
‘You could have trusted me …’ Nadia said.
‘We trust you!’ said Emma. ‘But it happened so slowly, I don’t think we kind of knew we’d crossed a line until …’
‘… Until we had really crossed a line.’
‘We wanted to tell you.’
‘Eventually.’
‘But also like, you know. What if it was a mistake?’
‘How do you know it isn’t?’ Nadia asked. And then, ‘I’m sorry – I didn’t mean that how it sounds.’ She didn’t. It was a reflex, a hangover from romantic scepticism. She was just relieved they were telling her everything now. That it was all out in the open.
Gaby said, ‘Well. To clarify. I’m gay. I think I always was and it wasn’t until Emma that I realized it.’
‘And I’m … into everyone? Bi? Pansexual? I don’t know. Whatever. I just … really fancy Gaby. Sorry.’
The three of them laughed.
Gaby said, ‘And I never want to even think about a man naked, ever again. I’ve seen the light, and baby she is female.’
Nadia put her hand over theirs across the table. ‘I’m glad I know now,’ she said. ‘I’m glad you can stop hiding from me. I saw you, in Soho one night. I knew, guys. I’ve known for a while.’
Gaby and Emma nodded. ‘We figured that you’d figured it out,’ Emma said. ‘And once we knew that you knew, but hadn’t heard it from us, we didn’t know how to bring it up. I’m sorry.’
‘I’m sorry too,’ said Gaby. ‘I’ve missed you!’
‘Me too!’
‘Me three!’ said Nadia. She felt instantly lighter. She hated that they’d had secrets, and that she’d had secrets. She liked everything being out in the open. ‘Okay, okay – come on then. What are we going to do about this mystery man?’
‘What does he look like?’ said Emma.
‘Oh, well – I can show you a photo, actually!’ said Nadia. ‘I found his Instagram profile before he spoke to me today. I feel like it was all meant to be, in a weird way.’
Nadia unlocked her phone and typed in his handle to Instagram.
‘NO. Way!’ said Gaby, pulling the phone from her hand. ‘Do you know who this is?’
‘Train Guy!’
‘Well, Train Guy is also the cute guy I tried to set you up with at the summer party! Daniel Weissman!’
‘That’s the guy you met at work?’
‘It is!’
‘The guy you met at work is Train Guy who is also Secret Cinema Waistcoat Guy? This is … wild! All the times I’ve missed him … our paths must have been almost crossing for months. Wow.’
‘Well, kid, let me just tell you: he’s lovely. Didn’t I say I knew your perfect man? Daniel Weissman! Shit the bed!’
‘Well, I’ve got a date with him tonight. I don’t know where, yet – I think he’s going to text me specifics. Finally, we’re going to have that drink.’
‘No emergency call needed, presumably?’
Nadia shook her head. ‘No emergency call needed.’