Our Stop - Laura Jane Williams Page 0,97

Fucking call me!’

46

Nadia

Fifteen minutes later her phone lit up with a message, and Nadia grabbed her phone quicker than she ever had before in the hope that it was DannyBoy101 again – though she supposed she could now think of him as Train Guy. She surprised herself by being just as excited to see Emma’s name, who’d sent a link to a tweet. God, she missed her friend. She hoped they could get back to normal soon. Nadia opened it.

I think I just stood behind the #OurStop couple at London Bridge station – they were talking to each other! I think they might be dating! I need somebody to be as invested in this as I am! it said. There was a fuzzy photograph of the back of DannyBoy101’s head, almost totally obscuring the back of Nadia’s. But it was them. It was them not even a half-hour ago, on the escalator, when Nadia felt her tummy lurch and pupils dilate and like she should note the date, and time, and location, because she’d never want to forget when she knew she had finally met her person.

Aside from the fact that it was weird somebody had invaded their privacy that way, Nadia’s stomach did a little flip. If she thought he was Train Guy, it this woman on the internet thought he was Train Guy, it was all looking increasingly likely that the DannyBoy101 was Train Guy.

Holy shit, she thought. She added it all up in her mind: Train Guy had stood her up, and she’d tried to put him to the back of her mind, and then she’d met DannyBoy101 at Secret Cinema, deciding she fancied him even before he had turned around, and now it turned out that they were the same person.

‘Fuck me,’ she said to Emma, deciding to hide in the company bathroom and call her. ‘I met Train Guy!!!!!’

She didn’t open her conversation with a hello, or a ‘We’ve not spoken in ages’. Nadia got straight down to business.

‘I found him!’

‘This is so cool,’ Emma said, down the phone. ‘Like, I’d given up on him! But now he’s here!’

‘I can’t believe it,’ Nadia said. ‘He’s so cute. Like, you’ll die he is that cute.’

‘Amazing,’ Emma said. ‘Totally amazing. This is just perfect. So, what now?’

Nadia was thankful there were no awkward pauses or needless explanations of why they’d both been absent from each other’s lives. She was just glad they were talking.

‘Well, I put my number in his phone, and he texted straight away. That’s how I know it was him. He basically told me as much. So now I … text back? Oh god, I just can’t believe it’s him!’

‘And we’re very sure he doesn’t seem like a psychopath?’

‘Emma, he is so normal and cute and a bit geeky and quite handsome. He’s like … fucking it. He didn’t even have coffee breath!’ As soon as she said it, she realized she probably had done. Oh well.

‘Emma,’ Nadia continued. ‘I know things have been weird between us lately, but will you meet me for lunch? I need you.’

‘Of course I will,’ Emma said. ‘Just tell me where.’

47

Daniel

You’re Train Guy! her text message back read. You’re the one who wrote to me in the paper in the summer!

Daniel fist-pumped the air. Bingo.

Oh thank god, Daniel thought to himself, before realizing, Oh shit. So it was Nadia I stood up that time. He hoped he had been forgiven. Presumably, if she was texting him back, he was. His phone beeped again.

You stood me up, you bastard!

Perhaps all had not been forgiven.

I have a totally legitimate explanation, he typed back.

And I have your bank card, she replied.

You were very good not to order the Dom Pérignon with it, Daniel said.

I almost did, she texted back.

Daniel was pacing up and down in the lobby at work, waiting for Romeo. He couldn’t wait to tell him. He’d freak!

‘Where’ve you been, man?’ Daniel said, as he saw him turn the corner in his uniform.

‘Woah, brother, relax,’ Romeo said. ‘We’ve talked about this before. 8 a.m. is when I get a little rumble in the jungle, you know what I’m saying?’

Daniel did not.

‘Poop, Daniel. About 8 a.m. is when I take my morning poop.’

Daniel wished he didn’t have to know that.

Romeo continued: ‘What’s the trouble?’

‘Nadia. I saw her. Talked to her. And then got her number. I basically told her I’m the one who’s been writing to her.’

‘Well, that’s great! Well done!’

‘No! You don’t get it! I should have … Told