***

Jen met Yema and Mike by the bus stop at 11am on the Saturday. Yema was positively beaming with energy and gusto and she had her hand interlocked tightly around that of her boyfriend. They had clearly been getting to know each other for some time as Yema’s hair was a lot messier than usual and Mike had smudges of lipstick around his face. Jen pretended not to notice these details as they said hello and got onto the bus that had just arrived.

By the time they had arrived at the cinema, bought their tickets and popcorn and settled into their seat, Jen was beginning to feel uncomfortable with her intrusion into Yema and Mike’s first day out together. It was clear that the two of them wanted nothing more than to spend a weighty proportion of the day replicating their experiences before Jen had arrived, but were holding back for Jen’s sake. This annoyed Jen. She had not wanted to ruin their day like this at all.

The romcom was hopeless and Jen soon lost interest in the dreary stabs at humour by the awful actors. By the time the protagonists first kissed, Mike and Yema were completely unaware of what was going on around them. They seemed to have connected themselves together like some human jigsaw puzzle, refusing to come apart. In order to retract her intrusion, Jen thought best to leave the theatre and let the happy couple get on with it.

“Just going to the loo,” she stated fully aware that neither of them had heard. She shuffled past a young family that were located next to them and left the cinema through the door ignoring the wink she got from the teenage attendant as she left through the double doors.

Why had she felt the need to leave? She knew that once Yema noticed her disappearance she would be guilty for alienating her friend and that would ruin her day with Mike. Why couldn’t she have just ridden it out? She knew why. She was jealous. Mike was gorgeous and Jen fancied him so much that she found it impossible to watch Yema doing everything with him that she wanted to do. She remembered Mike’s eyes at the bus stop this morning. He was completely in love with her friend and nothing Jen did could change that.

Jen was confused. Did she want to be with Mike? She did, but that would make Yema upset and she definitely didn’t want that to happen. They were in love and Jen couldn’t split that up even if she tried, something which she had no intention of doing. Bored, she wandered over to one of the teddy bear crane machines in the foyer and inserted a pound coin. As usual, she managed to pick up the small plush elephant but it was too heavy for the pincers to carry all the way to the prize box and it dropped centimetres short. Jen swore at the machine and walked away. As she turned around, she saw Yema rushing towards her with Mike only just behind.

“Sorry mate,” she muttered.