Day 101: Tales Of Insta Stalking And Paparazzi Blunders
Day 101 Of How To Move On From A Man — 1LD
If you’re new here to 1 Lovelock Drive, welcome! Let me fill you in on what you’ve missed.
I’m Andie and my ex, Douglas, dumped me. This is my break-up, so to speak. Douglas is a power player in Melbourne, worth more than I could ever comprehend.
I have no idea why we broke up.
I work and live at 1 Lovelock Drive. There, my best friend James and I are building Highway, our unisex clothing line. Our two other best friends, GG and Sophia, are investors.
GG is dating Douglas’ brother. Awkward.
My friends have been acting strange since the breakup. Since things have changed, I’ve found papers in James’ briefcase outlining plans for an expensive office space for our business.
Going to the gym near Lovelock Drive is a battle of timing.
If you go too early in the morning, you could run into all the pre-work stress heads, struggling to get their sweat in before they need to be on the train. Or in their cars on their way to their jobs.
And then you have the mid-afternoon retirees, who occupy the pool and every available machine during the reliable two o’clock slump. I kissed away the post-work time slot years ago.
After much research and perseverance, I’ve concluded eleven in the morning is my perfect time.
It’s not like I’m breaking any exercise records this morning. I’ve spent the last twenty minutes on the bike peddling slowly as I scroll through Instagram.
Annabella Anderson’s Instagram to be precise. I couldn’t help myself after the beauty launch yesterday, the face of Bubble. It’s this new recyclable face mask brand.
It was a genius idea, responsible and perfectly woke. I didn’t think Annabella had it in her.
Her most recent photos were from the event. I could spot James lurking in the back of nearly every picture.
These pictures were set beautifully next to ones from Taylor’s birthday. To my horror, she included paparazzi pictures of herself, too, leaving Gimlet. It was tacky, seeing the staged faux surprise pictures next to her overly edited portraits.
Douglas was in them, of course. The combination of their local star power was setting Melbourne’s glitterati alight.
I kept scrolling. There was an announcement about her separation from Josh, her husband, the man whose name projected her into the spotlight.
Was this permanent?
A divorce?
She would never say it on her profile, but her timely ability to move on suggested it was all over.
I looked at the little name at the bottom of the paparazzi pictures.
I didn’t know the photographer, but I followed the name to a website full of pictures from the night. One was hard to make out, but you could see Taylor holding up a woman as he flagged down a car.
The photo was tagged, “Taylor Gallo Drunk Girl”.
That was me; the drunk girl. And there was the photographic evidence to prove where my life was at, in the public forum for all to see.
Leaving the gym, and walking back towards home, the image of Taylor holding me up, saving me from my own embarrassment, wouldn’t depart my memory.
I pulled out my phone from my bag, slung across my shoulder, and found his number. Do I call him? Do I send him the photo?
Why did I need Taylor Gallo right now?
You’re reading The Andie Chronicles, the 2023 romance-fiction series from the 1 Lovelock Drive (1LD) universe.
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