"So, what is it?" I ask, literally the second we walk out of the record store. Honey doesn't reply. Instead, she crosses the street to a bench facing my workplace. I pause, and then shrug and follow. her. She hands me a caramel latte with chocolate sprinkles. It is the only thing I will drink from Starbucks, mainly because the excessive sugar partially drowns out the taste of the caffeine. She sips her black coffee and sighs.

"God, I needed that."

"Are you going to tell me what's going on? Or do I have to guess?"

She shakes her head. "Ok. This may come as a shock to you, Lyds. But I only heard this last night. I swear to god, I didn't know before."

"Before what?" I'm feeling uneasy now.

Honey sighs. "All right. So, about six weeks ago now, Brett and Tommy and some of the guys went bowling. You know, it was a boy's night out. I'm sure Brett told you." I nod. "Good. Anyway, so after their game, they want to the bar at the bowling alley and got a few drinks. Tommy won the game, you see, so he bought them all a round, and it sort of escalated from there. And there was this girl working at the bar. They chatted to her a bit, because there was no one else there, and she was nice. After a while, Tommy went home, with a couple of others, but Brett and the rest of the group stayed at the bar."

"Go on."

"Obviously, neither me nor Tommy had any idea what happened until yesterday. You remember Todd, right? My ex?"

"Oh yeah."'

"Well, he came round last night, and he had news. It turns out that Brett started... flirting with the girl at the bar. She had no idea that he was with you. I think she thought he was single. Todd was the last one to leave, and offered Brett a lift home, but Brett declined. He was drunk, and Todd didn't think that it was a good idea to be driving. So the girl at the bar drove Brett home."

I put my hand to my mouth. "Do you think they...?"

"Todd was almost certain of it. Brett only told him yesterday morning that the girl had taken him home. I think they're together now." She sees the look on my face. "I'm really, really sorry, Lydia."

I don't know what to say. "Do you think she knows?"

Honey shakes her head. "No. He doesn't even respect her enough to tell her the truth."

"That son of a..." I break off and look at her. "He said that we weren't working out. Asshole."

"He really is, isn't he?" Honey sits back and sips her coffee. I try to drink my caramel latte, but it's gone cold. I toss it in the bin. I'd like to do the same to Brett.

"I'm glad I've got you," I say.

"Thanks."

"No, I'm the one who should be saying thanks. If you hadn't told me, I don't think me and Patrick would've worked. I would've just been too confused over Brett."

"Yeah, how's he doing, by the way?"

"Patrick? He's good. We've been texting all this morning, actually."

"Cute."

"He is, isn't he?" We both smile. "I was wondering, would you like to come over for dinner with Tommy sometime? I'd like you to meet him."

"You'd like me to meet Tommy? I think I already have. After all, I'm getting married to him in a few months."

"Hilarious. I meant Patrick."

"I'd love to. Except..." She breaks away.

"What?"

"Tommy's, like, super busy with work right now. He's working until at least eight every night. I'd love to come over, though."

"That's cool. To be honest, Patrick's not too good around new people."

She frowns. "What do you mean?"

I hesitate. "He... He's got agoraphobia."

"Huh?"

"The fear of open spaces. He doesn't like leaving his apartment too much, and he's got really, really bad social anxiety. Like, he has panic attacks a lot."

"Oh god. Poor guy."

"He's lovely, though, and he's really friendly and funny when you get to know him. His friends are nice, too."

"That's good. Does he work, then?"

"He had a few jobs, but he found them too stressful. So he quit."

"How does he pay his bills?"

"I don't know."

"Is he a drug dealer? Or a hit man?"

I laugh. "I once asked him if he was a murderer. He said, and I quote, no, because that would involve human interaction."

Honey laughs. "Ok, so he's not. Anyway, he sounds sweet."

"He is. Look at this." I scroll through my phone, showing her the texts that he sent me this morning. "We have a sort of joke going on that he's the cute one in the relationship. He's adorable."

She smiles. "Guys don't tend to like being called cute, you know."

"That's why I do it. It annoys him."

"I love annoying Tommy. Just so long as you know where to stop. Men are funny like that."

I smile. "Anyway, I'd better get going. I don't want my manager throwing a drunken fit."

"She does that a lot, huh?"

"Too right. So, Friday, then?"

"Sounds good to me."

"See you then."

The rest of the day is boring and kind of pointless. I wish I could just be with Patrick, but obviously I have to work, so I have to compromise. I text him for most of the afternoon, but I decide not to tell him about Honey coming over. I'll do that in person.

Me: How's life?

Patrick: Life-y.

Me: That's not a word.

Patrick: So?

Me: Ok, I'll forgive you.

Patrick: What did Honey want to talk about?

Oh lord. Here goes.

Me: It turns out that Brett was cheating on me.

Patrick: WHAT?

Patrick: WHERE DOES THIS MAN LIVE SO I CAN SLAY HIM WHILE HE SLEEPS

Patrick: Sorry, I'm annoyed now.

Me: At least it shows that you care. He chatted up some girl up at a bowling alley and then went home with her.

Patrick: That is...

Me: ?

Patrick: Unacceptable.

Me: I'm glad you think that.

Patrick: I'm just glad you told me.

Me: Why wouldn't I?

Patrick: The only girlfriends I've ever had have ended up cheating on me. They weren't very honest, let's say.

Me: Oh god.

Me: That's horrible.

Patrick: I got over it. In their defense, I wasn't the easiest boyfriend.

Me: Poor Patrick.

Patrick: Hey! Alliteration!

Me: Well done!

Me: That wasn't sarcastic, by the way.

Patrick: I know.

Me: Cutie.

Patrick: Hey!

Me: It's affection, get over yourself.

Patrick: I have never understood that phrase. Getting over yourself sounds like a method of masturbation.

Me: Naughty Patrick. Tut tut tut.

Patrick: Naughty Patrick is fun Patrick.

Me: We'll see when I get home.

Patrick: Will we?

Me: Uh-huh.

Patrick: UGGG I can't wait that long.

I grin and then look at the clock. It's half three already. Praise the lord.

When work is finally over and I get back to my apartment, I'm about to put my key in the lock when someone grabs me from behind. I squeal and turn around. It's Patrick, who's hugging me.

"I missed you," he says.

"Christ, we've only been officially dating since this morning," I say, but then I soften. He's like a little clingy monkey.

"How was work?" he asks when he finally lets go of me.

"You know how it was; I was texting you throughout most of it."

"Yeah, that's true. It's... I just can't believe what Brett did."

"Sadly, I think that I can." I sigh and run a hand through my hair.

"What do you mean?"

"Come inside and I'll tell you about it." So we do. I sit on the kitchen counter and draw my knees up to my body. Patrick sits next to me, his legs dangling. I reach across and grab a packet of chocolate biscuits. Comfort food. I eat one, and then I'm about to put them back when Patrick does a puppy face, and I can't resist it (Patrick doing a puppy face is literally the cutest thing in the world), so I stuff one in his mouth.

"Hey!" Or, at least, that's what it sounds like. His voice is muffled by the biscuit.

"What? You got a biscuit!"

"In the face?"

"Believe me, you don't want to know where the next one's going," I say, grabbing another one out of the packet and holding it above him. He grabs it out of my hand and eats that one, too.

"Naughty Patrick! Go to your room," I say.

"Food is nice!" he argues, only it comes out as, "Fugh ish nysh!"

"Weirdo," I mutter.

"I resent that, too! You're so mean!" He does a sort of pouty baby face.

"That's not gonna get you any more, you know, cute as it is." He just rolls his eyes at me.

"So, what exactly happened with Brett?"

I shake my head. "Honey said that he got drunk and then chatted up this girl at a bowling alley. But that was, like, six weeks ago."

Patrick sighs. "That's horrible."

"I know, right? But what can you expect from a guy who doesn't even listen to you? Like, when we were together, he never let me talk. The whole time it was just about him."

"That's bad. You need to communicate for a relationship to work. I think that's why none of mine never have."

I look at him for a minute, and then I say, "Let's change that."