The Time Bubble Box Set 2, стр. 271
Kelly had engineered things successfully by sitting in sucha way that left me with no option but to go round to the other end of the sofaand squeeze in next to Rob. Thus, we were seated clockwise in a semicircle withKelly on one end, then Gary, then Rob, then me.
The boundaries were well and truly laid down and now had tobe adhered to. Kelly had well and truly staked her claim to Gary, so I was leftwith Rob. Something as simple as who sat where at a table in a pub was enoughto change my destiny. If we stop and look back we can probably all see that ourlives have been full of these seemingly inauspicious forks in the road thathave life-changing consequences.
She shagged Gary that very night, and had a brief andpassionate fling with him that soon fizzled out. By the time it did, I wasgoing out with Rob.
I hadn’t really thought about it much since then, but Gary’smessage had left me thinking about what might have been. Now maybe it could be.With that first meeting taking place at New Year, it seemed I was going to begiven a second shot at it.
Things changed between Kelly and me soon after that when shemet Mr Right. She quickly settled down, and within two years had got married. Iwas head bridesmaid but after that our friendship declined. Our nights outdwindled until she got pregnant, which spelled the beginning of the end of ourfriendship.
We still liked each other’s stuff on Facebook, and wishedeach other Happy Birthday for a while, but even that dwindled after a while. Wewere in two different camps now – the parents and the non-parents. Judging bythe constant stream of pictures on her with other mothers and babies on hertimeline, she only had time for those in the former camp now.
Then a few years later I noticed she had unfriended me. Ittook me ages to work out why, but in the end, I figured it must have beenbecause of a comment I wrote on a local Facebook group.
Someone had been complaining about some local primary schoolkids who had been plastering rude graffiti all over the local bus stops. Whensome do-gooder suggested it might not be their fault because they might haveADHD, I had written underneath:
ADHD? Isn’t that just a posh modern term for what ourparents used to call being a little shit?
In hindsight it wasn’t the most sensible thing to write, notwith all the snowflakes around who get so easily offended these days. It wasmeant as a joke and, although I got a lot of Likes, some people didn’t see thefunny side. I got slated in a lot of the comments underneath.
It was around this time that Kelly unfriended me. I didn’tmake the connection at first but later I remembered. She had a lot of problemswith her eldest son who had ADHD.
I missed her and the times we had shared. Soon I would getto live some of them again, including that fateful night with Gary and Rob. Ididn’t feel a huge amount of loyalty towards her, bearing in mind how she haddropped me after getting married. Her thing with Gary hadn’t gone anywhere inthe long term anyway, so I would make sure she wouldn’t muscle her way to thetable in front of me this time.
As for Gary, well he fell squarely into the category of unfinishedbusiness. Already I was making plans for him – and they did not just involvethe night of that first meeting.
I had derived a huge amount of pleasure out of humiliatingRob in the way I had, but why stop there? I was on a roll and wanted to play upmy winnings.
The phrase, ‘get your retaliation in first’, popped into myhead. I already had done it to great effect with the video, but there was noreason why I couldn’t go in for a second helping.
I made my way downstairs, desperate for some coffee torelieve my parched tongue and throat. Already the seeds of a new devious planwere beginning to form in my mind. Inwardly, I was chuckling uncontrollably,like some evil madman in an old B movie as I once again plotted and schemed.
Those B-movie villains and I had one thing in common andthat was power. I could use mine for good or I could use it for evil. What Iwas doing was possibly a bit of both, but whichever it was, I could see howeasily one could be consumed by the desire for revenge, especially if one hadthe means to do it.
Those baddies in those old films often had some sort ofsuper power and I certainly had mine. Using it for making mischief was becomingquite addictive.
I needed to tell myself that I wasn’t a baddie. I wasn’tplanning to take over the world or unleash a global apocalypse. I was juststitching up an unfaithful boyfriend and if this was a movie, I am pretty surethat women the world over would be cheering me on.
I could get Gary to come round right now but perhaps it wasworth waiting. If I played this right I could cause even more pain andhumiliation for Rob than I already had. Plus, with the hangover and the cold Iwasn’t feeling particularly sexy. I would wait until my next jump back. Thatwould give me ample time to plot my next diabolical plan.
As far as the rest of the day went, I was at somewhat of aloose end. I felt lousy and really just wanted to go back to bed, but I didn’thave the luxury of days to squander in that way. I’d never been much of asubscriber to the “seize the day” mentality, but in my current situation thatwas exactly what I needed to do.
My mind was made up. I definitely wasn’t sitting around thehouse all day. Besides, Rob might try and get back in and I really couldn’t bedealing with that. I’d had my fun and