HAPPIEST ( SIMON MINTER )

THIRTEEN

REAL LIFE

SIMON SMILED GINGERLY AT THE BEAMING GIRL ACROSS FROM HIM, HIS SHAKY FINGERS OCCUPIED BY THE CUTLERY AND NAPKIN ON THE TABLE IN FRONT OF HIM. Talia smiled back, her hair cascading around her tanned face as she sipped on her fizzy drink.

"I heard this place is really nice, I've never been, have you?" Talia asked, her eyes bright as she watched the boy.

"Nah, I've heard good things though" Simon couldn't look at her, so instead he stared at a point behind her head.

He had never been to this place, but him and Cleo had spoke numerous times about going, she had really wanted to check out the desserts and he just wanted to take her there. They'd finally decided to go on their anniversary, but they broke up before that ever happened.

"What do you fancy?" Talia asked, her bright eyes scanning the menu held between her two manicured hands. Cleo never manicured her nails, she said she would and when she finally would the next day she would have either broken the acrylic or scraped most of the varnish off by accident. Simon subconsciously smiled slightly at the memory of him laying across her, his head propped in her lap as she used his sturdy chest as a surface to rest her drying nails and varnish bottle.

"What you smiling at?" Talia giggled, leaning forward on her elbows to try and peer at whatever on the menu had made Simon's dimples to show.

"Hmm? Oh nothing" Simon replied, shaking his head and inhaling as he to focused on the foods on the menu.

After a few minutes of pondering over the laminated sheet the pair ordered their food and Taila leaned on the table again with her head rested on her hand and the glint in her eye again.

"So how's youtube going?" She asked, the look on her face showed she was genuinely interested but Simon didn't want to talk about himself.

"It's good. I have some good ideas that I want to try so watch out for the videos" He smiled, it felt like talking with a friend, like they'd gone out to catch up. But it was a date. "How about you?"

"Really good, I've been working on music" That was something Simon actually knew, he kept up with it, she was actually really good. He however couldn't sing to save his life, neither could Cleo.

"I can't wait to hear it" He smiled, he was genuine and Talia could tell.

"Thanks, me too!"

The two immersed themselves in idyll conversation; one side obviously more involved as she smiled and rattled off her favourite movies. Simon however couldn't stop thinking about another girl, and her favourite films, and her scrunched nose, and the texture of her hair as Talia played with her own, and how she was allergic to seafood.

But once the food had arrived and the pair had succumbed to a comfortable quiet, the restaurant life still buzzing around them, as they ate; Simon's phone pinged on the table. He apologised to the girl before licking some sauce from the corner of his mouth and then after missing it a couple of times, relied on the white napkin to wipe it away. He turned the phone over to see the notification on the screen.

It was a tweet and when Simon opened it his face fell at the image. A smiling picture of both Cleo and Will, sat on the couch at his flat, Will's arm gently thrown over Cleo's shoulders in the way he always did when he took a picture. Why had Simon left his notifications on for her? It was his own fault. Simon didn't even read the caption, his eyes too absorbed by her face; more importantly her genuine scrunched nose.

Quickly with burning eyes he placed his phone back on the table, more harsh that necessary and Talia gave him a quizzical look. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath, before pressing on a smile and asking Talia about her life; throwing himself fully into the conversation now.

If it was so easy for Cleo to move on, it would be for him too.