Things We Wish We Knew
Part 1: Unavailable People
I will only have an introductory section in this part of a 10 part series I want to write. I’ve called it ‘Things We Wish We Knew.’ And it will be a collection of small anecdotes turned fiction, of a group of girls reflecting on life choices and essentially, things they wish they knew before making certain decisions. It follows the lives of three girls; Bree, Leila and Zara. This idea has been sitting with me for around 3 years now and I have wanted some kind of outlet for it.
It’s inspired by the women in my life whom I deeply love and it’s a reminder that we all go through the same struggles, stipulations and heartbreaks.
I hope you all enjoy this series as much as I will enjoy writing it!
- Denise x
‘I’m so sorry I’m late! I’m here I’m here!!’ Leila rushes to sit down and their usual coffee table the girls had been waiting 20 minutes at. She huffs and flips her hair back trying to catch her breath before smiling up at her best friends.
Bree holds a warm cup of flat white in her hands, probably to keep warm from the crisp autumn weather. Zara is smoking a cigarette and sipping on her coffee at the same time. As a waiter is about to pass, Leila shoots her arm out and stops him in his tracks.
‘Hey, can I have a flat white please? Thank you.’ The waiter nods enthusiastically and walks away. ‘So what did I miss?’ Ivory looks at the girls expectantly and Zara sighs.
‘We were just talking about where to go for summer, I’ve been looking around and I think we should go Greece,’ Zara was about to go on a rant and pull out her phone to show the girls basically a presentation like she always does. But Leila wasn’t concentrating and she was zoning Zara’s voice out. Bree squints her eyes at Leila realising this and clears her throat.
Zara looks up from her phone and stops talking. Looks between the girls and takes a deep breath. ‘Anyway, look at this place in Rhodes…’
Leila zones out again. Eventually she closes her eyes and loudly exclaims ‘I NEED TO TELL YOU GUYS SOMETHING.’ The table goes quiet, and Leila has her eyes still shut. When the silence extends longer than expected, she peeks an eye open to see the girls are sitting with their arms crossed and a bored expression. ‘Okay yes I know, I went to see him again last night.’
‘I mean that was pretty obvious, what isn’t obvious is WHY!?’ Zara leans forward and taps Leila’s head. Bree shakes her head and takes another sip of her coffee.
‘I don’t know, it was 2am and he messaged me asking me if I wanted to… you know,’ Leila makes an expression with her eyebrows just as the waiter appears out of thin air with her flat white. She jumps back and clears her throat, going slightly red in the face. ‘Oh thank you.’
‘You know Leila, you don’t even say it’s good so what even is the point?’ Bree says matter-of-factly. Zara throws her hands up in the air in a ‘THANK YOU’ sort of way.
‘He’s not interested, he’s just bored and you’re expecting more for no reason,’ Zara tries to explain with reason but she knows deep down Leila won’t listen to reason. It’s something she’ll figure out on her own. Eventually she will, all Zara and Bree can do is be good friends and be there to catch her when she falls.
Leila starts to take a defensive stance and crosses her arms at the girls. ‘Because neither of you have wasted time with unavailable people?’ She raises her eyebrows at them. Zara looks away and Bree chokes on a laugh she was trying to hold in.
***
1 Year Before.
Zara furiously types away on her phone whilst waiting for the girls to arrive for their Sunday coffee.
CD: There’s something I need to tell you…
Zara: Okay?
CD: But don’t get mad, I really like you
Zara: Okay…
CD: I have a girlfriend…
Zara: WHAT?
‘Okay what the hell did the phone do to you?’ Zara snaps her head up to see Bree and Leila pulling chairs out. They both take a seat and look oddly at Zara.
‘Why are men just so….’ Zara visibly gets angry, ‘MEN?!’
‘Woah okay,’ Leila moves in closer and holds Zara by her arms, looking her in the eyes, ‘What happened?’
Zara shakes her off and slams her phone down on the table. She aggressively pulls a cigarette out and lights it with shaky hands.
‘Mister, “I’ve never met anyone like you” just told me HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND!’
‘WHAT!’ Both Leila and Bree shout back at Zara, making Zara even angrier, because she realises it’s as ridiculous to them as it was to her.
‘I mean I just don’t get it. You get along with someone, have fun dates, have out of this world sex, for WHAT?’ Zara takes a long drag from her cigarette. ‘What do I do now? Block him obviously.’
‘That’s actually insane, you just have to block him and keep it moving,’ Bree shrugs and waves at the waiter. The busy nature of the cafe on a Sunday makes it harder to order some coffee.
‘HELLO! Can someone help us?’ Zara raises her voice to get someones attention and the girls look at each other a little concerned. A waitress runs to the table and Zara’s face cringes from regret. ‘Can we have three flat whites with hazelnut please?’
‘Why did he just tell you this?’ Leila asks softly, trying to tread carefully.
Zara sighs heavily, ‘I don’t know, maybe he’s lying because he doesn’t have a backbone. Maybe he’s that much of a scumbag.’ She leans forward and places her head in her hands. ‘Why would this happen to me? I just can’t catch a break from these weird ODD unavailable men!’
‘There’s no explanation for it, but there’s also nothing you can do now.’ Bree says a bit strongly. She never seems to shy away from throwing the harsh truths in someones face.
‘Yeah I guess so,’ Zara reaches for her coffee as soon as the waiter places it in front of her. ‘Shame though,’ she shrugs ‘the sex was good.’
***
Leila still sits there with her arms crossed, staring at Zara.
‘I seem to recall a very similar conversation about unavailable men last year.’
Zara rolls her eyes and grins a little. ‘Yeah so you should learn from my mistakes beloved,’ she smiles sweetly at Leila.
Bree snickers and Zara’s head snaps in her direction. ‘Don’t even get me started on you.’ She points her finger at Bree who now has an appalled expression on her face.
‘I have no idea what you’re talking about!’
‘6 months ago. The girl with the ex fixation’
Zara and Bree start to bicker over another dating escapade about another unavailable person they had encountered. And whilst Leila begins to zone out, her ears start to pick up on a conversation happening at the next table over between another group of girls. One of them was kind of crying. She heard her say, ‘but he’ll change, maybe he’ll want me more if I do this?’ She saw the expression on the friends face and it became clear; we all experience it. Everywhere in the world, thousands of groups of girls were having the same conversation at the same time.
At that very moment, Leila looked at her best friends who were still bickering, and then over at the girls on the next table. And she knew that this was one of the things they wish they knew.
To not waste their time with unavailable people. It only leads to heartbreak.