Dedication

There was one light left on in the building. In that room he sat, staring at the screen, his fingers moving across the keyboard deliberately. The earphones blared late 90’s nu metal that even he would admit was terrible, but it was the music he associated with late night cram sessions, it was what motivated him.

Then his mobile phone buzzed. He picked it up, and saw the message from his other motivation.

Hey Babe, you coming home soon? x

He sighed, and quickly texted back an apology, he had to get this work done by tomorrow. After a few seconds of work, the phone vibrated again.

You sure? ;)

Attached was a photo, his girlfriend in her usual selfie pose, looking up at the camera, an arm subtly but effectively pushing her cleavage up. He sighed, and reaffirmed his need to stay.

It was maybe fifteen minutes before the next one arrived.

Come on Honey, I’m so lonely…

This photo was unusual for her, in that while the pose was pretty much the same, usually she was wearing a shirt, or maybe a sports bra instead of a top. This photo had neither. Quite noticeably and obviously sans either. His resolve wavered for a moment, but he took a moment to calm himself before he tried, carefully, to explain how he’d much prefer to be with her, but he had to do this work, or else he’d get fired. He expected to have an argument over this in the morning.

Instead, after a half hour, he received another text message. He braced himself for a long, angry all caps spree.

I get that…

The photo took him a moment to work out, the lighting wasn’t great, but as soon as he worked out which body part of hers he was looking at, there was another message.

But if Mohammed…

This one was confusing, some sort of red cloth, a hint of button in a corner?

Then the momentous…

One last photo of… The back of his own head?

He spun around, and there was his girlfriend, wearing a long red cotton trench coat. And then, gloriously, not wearing it. She managed to mutter something about autocorrect before he kissed her.

He did find it amusing that he got into more trouble over the unauthorized entry into the building than he did about the work not being done on time.