Life is a Rom-Com in Three Acts

Act 2, where the boy is caught flirting with the cute photographer

Image generated using Microsoft Bing Image Designer (“teenage boy in suit talking to 30-something female photographer with her equipment in a fancy hotel lobby”) edited to remove the backpack that the fraking AI insisted all young people wear 🙄

Lou found Ashley sitting in a corner of the ballroom, sipping something dark from a glass while scrolling through her phone. “Hey, Ashley, got a minute? I got a question for you.”

Ashley closed her phone and gave Lou her full attention. “Well, I have all my pre-wedding shots done — oh, your girl Em looks awesome, by the way, be sure you tell her in whatever vernacular you kids use these days — I have checked my texts, I have replied to my partner about things he already knew but forgot, so yes, rather than doom-scroll through TikTok I will be in a better mind frame if I talk with an actual person, so hit me. Just know I need to move into my wedding position in ten minutes or so.”

“Was I flirting with you?” Seeing her blank expression, he clarified, “When we were talking before? In the lobby?”

“Yes, I figured. Okay, I am, what? Ten years older than you?”

“I’m seventeen.”

Ashley waved her hand. “Ten-ish, whatever. My point is, I’m a bit old for you, and I cannot see any scenario where you would be trying to pick up a woman my age. How did this question come up?”