Pictures of You

Chapter Thirty-Two

Meeting the real Alex turned out to be much easier than it was trying to meet with the fake one.

Once I'd calmed myself down, I sat myself down in a cafe and set myself up a profile with the same online dating hook up app that Walter had seen Alex on. I found a picture from Facebook that I thought I looked cute on and uploaded it. I didn't see the point in uploading a bio, or details of what I was looking for. I was focussed solely on meeting one man. After that, I'd probably delete it.

Once I was all set up, I searched for Camden on the map and scrolled through a few profiles. And there he was, halfway down the list of faces and torsos; Alex, or Joe as he was called on his profile. Was that actually his real name, or did he use a fake moniker? Was that even him? I assumed it must be. Surely there wouldn't be two other people using his pictures in.

I scrolled through the pictures. There was a couple I hadn't seen on his Insta, that looked like they were taken more specifically for a hook up app.

I sat and contemplated what my first messaged should be. I wanted something witty, intelligent and fun. In the end, I opted for;

Hi.

He was showing as online, so I sat and watched my phone, hoping he would be into my pictures as much as I was his. It felt like a deja vu. I'd done these early messages with him once before. A least, I'd thought I had. But it hadn't been with this version of him. After a few moments, I received a reply;

Hey Ash. Long time no see.

What?!

How did he know me already? Had I imagined the whole thing with Walter? Had I actually been speaking to him all along?

But then it hit me. If Walter had been using Alex/Joe's pictures to talk to me, he had probably been using my pictures to talk to Alex. But why? He didn't want anything from him. He'd explained that it was never a sexual thing, trying to hook up. But I had received pictures from him that were too over 18 rated to post anywhere. He must have been talking to Alex too to get those pictures he sent to me. I'd never sent any pictures like that of myself, or had he ever asked me to. That was because he wasn't interested in them. He wasn't trying to groom me. He just wanted to keep me interested enough to keep talking, so must have felt I needed those pictures to do that.
How you been? I asked him, like I did know him.

He sent a second message;

Where you been the last few weeks? You deleted your old profile?

I've been busy, I said, sorry.

It's cool. Just glad you're back now.

I started typing reply, when I received another message from him.

So you still want to meet up?

Sure, I said without thinking. I wasn't sure exactly what the terms of meeting him where, as I hadn't actually been involved in any of our previous conversations. Was it a date, or just a hook up? The only way I could find out without asking was to contact Walter. But I wasn't ready to talk to him yet; certainly not about this.

Sure, what u want to do?

I figured it was a broad enough question without actually asking.

Coffee?

Sure, where?

At mine? - Yep, he clearly wanted to hook up.

How bout we meet out somewhere first? I said.

Sure

Oscar's?

I thought I would make a suggestion to meet there to find out if he did, or had really worked there.

Anywhere but Oscar's. I'll explain later. How bout Garden Room?

Sure

I had no idea where it was, but I assumed it would be somewhere local.

U Free now?

Gimme an hour?

Sure, c u there in an hour.

I finished my coffee and went to get on the tube. I would have just have enough time to get back, have a shower and find the place we would be meeting at.

Just over an hour later, I was hot and sweaty again, running late around the streets of Camden. I messaged him to tell him, and he told me it was cool. I walked into the cafe looking exhausted and out of breath; not the first impression I wanted to give. He was sitting at a table in the corner, playing with his phone. He saw me enter the room, put his phone down on the table and stood up. He raised his hand in a kind of half wave to let me know where he was.

'All right mate,' he said, holding out his hand to shake. He didn't even have the slightest tinge if a Spanish accent. It was more East London.

'Hey,' I said, taking his hand and shaking it back. His palms were slightly sweaty.

'I got you a beer,' he said. 'I didn't know what you'd want. I hope that's okay.'

'That's great,' I said. I sat down and took a swig to calm my nerves. It was so strange looking at him. This was the guy I thought I knew inside out. We'd spent so much time getting to know each other, but now we were finally meeting, we were total strangers. We both probably thought we knew something about each other, but didn't.

Did you have far to come?' he asked.

'I was just out and about in London,' I said, 'but I'm stopping just down the road from here.'

He looked confused. 'You don't live in London?' he asked.

'No,' I said. 'Well I did...' I started to make up a story. Why did I feel the need to lie. I wasn't the catfish. I thought about telling him the truth, but I didn't want him to know what had really gone on. I'd felt so tricked when I first found out, and I didn't want him to feel the same.

'I've moved back home to Sheffield recently. I'm only here for a while this time.'

'Ah okay.'

'So how long have you lived around here?' I jumped in and asked before he could ask me any more questions I didn't know how to answer.

'About a year,' he said. 'I've lived in London all my life, but this is my first place since moving out of my mum's. I'm sharing with a friend. It's not much, but he had a room going at the time I needed one, so I took it. It works well most if the time.'

'And where do you work?'

I hoped my questions didn't seem too strange. Maybe this was information he thought I already knew, but he kept on answering, so I kept on asking.

'Not at the moment,' had said. 'That's the reason I didn't want to meet you at Oscar's.'

'You used to work there?'

'Yeah, until a few days ago.'

'What happened?'

'My boss was asshole anyway. When I took the job he told me he wanted to pay me cash in hand. I thought it was strange, but I needed the job, so I took it. He was paying me less than minimum wage, but it worked out for me because didn't have tax to pay. Sorry, I don't know why I'm telling you this. I hardly know you.'

'It's okay. What happened?'

'Well he pulled me into his office a few days ago. Said these two guys had been in asking about me. He had no choice but to deny all knowledge that I worked there, and that he had to let me go in case they came back. Said he couldn't risk getting caught paying me cash in hand, and that I could get in trouble too.'

'So he sacked you? That's terrible.'

Then I had a terrible thought. The two guys he was talking about where Ben and I. We'd been there trying to find out if he'd worked there or not. It was no wonder that guy I had such an asshole with us that day; he'd thought we were trying to catch him out. All we'd really achieved that day was to get this poor guy fired.

Author's note

Hey - sorry this chapter has been a while coming. Been on holiday and concentrating on a different project. Hope you're all okay.