It Started With A Tweet(14)

‘Go away? Where? And with whom?’

‘You could go over to Vegas for Helen’s wedding.’

‘That’s not for another three weeks and I couldn’t afford to go before, let alone now I’ve just been fired.’

‘Ah,’ says Erica nodding. ‘What about going to your mum’s?’

‘Oh, she’d do that disappointed-in-me voice that she does. I can’t tell her that I’ve lost my job. I mean that would send her into overdrive: no husband and no job. Nu-uh, I can’t tell her.’ I try and take a deep breath to calm myself down, only it’s not working. ‘Why are you at home during the day anyway? You weren’t fired too, were you?’ I ask.

‘Afraid not. Chris and I have tickets to a matinee; I’m just home to change before we go off. Of course, we’ll cancel that and stay here with you,’ she says hurriedly.

‘You can’t miss it for me. I’ll be fine here on my own, I’ll be –’

I drift off as I stare at the screen in disbelief at what’s happening. My eyes are practically turning square at keeping up with the ever-changing stream. I shouldn’t be watching. It’s as if I’m rubbernecking at an accident, only the casualty is my life.

‘I don’t think this is good for you. Why don’t you take Chris’s ticket for the show? I’m sure Les Mis would cheer you right up.’

‘Oh yes, because it’s so known for its cheery theme. Thank you, but I can’t. Even if it wasn’t the most depressing musical ever, I’d have to switch off my phone and I’d never be able to concentrate as I’d be thinking about what was going on on Twitter.’

‘Well, I don’t want to leave you here. You look poised to have a meltdown.’

Before I can protest that I’ll be fine, my phone rings and I flinch.

‘You answer it,’ I say, shoving it towards Erica, too scared to even see who’s calling.

‘It’s Rosie,’ she says handing it back to me. ‘Surely you can talk to your sister.’

‘Oh crap, I’m meant to be meeting her for lunch. She said she’d phone to arrange when and where. Speak to her and fob her off, will you.’

If my mum would be disappointed, then Rosie would be plain smug about the whole thing. I don’t want my sister and her perfect life to get a whiff that I’ve monumentally fucked up mine.

‘Hello, oh hi, Rosie, it’s Erica. Yes, yes, Daisy’s here home from work. There’s been a bit of a situation. Uh-huh, uh-huh,’ she says.

I wave my arms gesturing for her to wrap the call up, but Erica waves me away and walks out of the room as if I’m distracting her. I hear the odd word – tweet, goggle eyed, worried – and I know she’s shared my shameful secret.

‘OK, I’ll text you the address,’ she says walking back into the room. She hangs up the phone and starts tapping away a text on it.

‘What’s going on? I thought I told you to fob her off.’

‘She wanted to come and check you were OK. She said she’s at Clapham Junction so she’ll catch an Uber and will be here in a bit.’

‘What, coming here?’ I screech. Could this day get any worse?

‘Hopefully, she’ll be able to stay with you until we get back,’ she says, seemingly pleased with herself that she’s solved the problem of leaving me here alone.

‘My older sister babysitting me,’ I say, almost laughing at how ridiculous my situation has become.

I sigh and think of all the people in the world who I’d want to see now, and my sister is not one of them.





Chapter Five

Time since last Internet usage: 1 millisecond

‘Blimey,’ says Rosie, as she walks into the tiny box room and spots me hunched over my laptop.

I see Erica out of the corner of my eye giving her an ‘I told you so’ look.

When Rosie arrived at the front door there were a lot of muffled whispers and I presume that Erica has brought her up to speed.

‘Quite the predicament you’ve got yourself in, then,’ she says, sitting down.

I feel myself tense up at the smug look she’s got on her face. I knew she’d react like this; she’s probably itching to get on the phone to Mum to share my misfortune.

‘I’m sure it will all blow over in a day or two,’ I say, not sounding very convincing.

‘It’s OK not to be OK,’ she says, with the most compassion I’ve ever heard in her voice. She stretches out her hands as if I’m about to shatter into a million pieces and she’s going to catch me.

It unnerves me and I almost burst into tears. I’d full on prepared myself for her scorn and self-righteousness.

‘Look, Erica told me that you’ve been staring at that screen for hours now; it’s not healthy. She said she’d suggested you go away.’

‘Yeah, but I don’t want to go anywhere on my own, and it’s too short notice for people who still have their jobs!’

She nods her head and smiles. ‘I’ll go with you.’

‘What?’ I stare at her, my tears forgotten. ‘Um, I think it might be better to stay here and sort out another job, and –’

‘Nonsense, you need a break and I’m free. Let’s go away somewhere.’