And now for Grace’s WRITE HERE, WRITE NOW entry ...

Send Nudes

‘Will you send a nude?’

Orla stared at the WhatsApp message. Blood rushed through her veins like they were waterfalls. What had begun as a fun, harmless, flirty exchange had crossed a line, and Orla was not sure if she liked it or not. How do you respond to a question like that? If she were to say no, how would they fall back into conversations of their favourite Netflix shows and cringe-worthy secondary school relationships? She could come up with a stall tactic. She could say something like ‘I look an awful state at the moment. Maybe tomorrow.’ But did she want him to know that there were moments where she looked an awful state? They were in that glorious state of grace, where one had never seen the other on an ugly day. In fact, they hadn’t really seen each other at all.

They met on Instagram. For some vague reason, Adam followed Orla and she followed him back. He would like all of her photos and she would write comments like ‘Hahaha’ when he would upload a cute video of his dog. One day, they began exchanging messages and never stopped. Orla felt giddy when she talked to him. A rosy tint would stain her cheeks when she would say ‘Night x’ and he would say ‘I hope you make an appearance in my dreams x.’ He certainly made appearances in hers. She imagined his long, tanned, sculpted arms wrapped around her little waist and she felt mini explosions in her body. Maybe she wanted him to see her naked.

‘I’d only consider sending a 6 second Snapchat.’
…
‘It will be the best six seconds of my life x.’

Funny how boys add an ‘x’ when they want something badly. She stood up and approached her full-length mirror. She had never taken a risqué photo before. She didn’t know how to pose. He would want sexy, but innocent. Orla peeled off her skinny jeans and pulled her t-shirt over her head. She would have to emphasise her slender waist, because her legs were a little too thick for her liking. Then again, Adam once told her that he liked the look of her legs. But what would he know? He had only ever seen the best, filtered version of her.

They rarely spoke about meeting in person, even though they only lived three hours from each other. Orla didn’t want to meet him in person. She was afraid she would disappoint him. In his mind, she was a faultless portrait painting, but if he were to see her in person, he would discover that she was, in reality, a cracked mosaic.

Orla stood in her black bra and underwear now. She held her phone up to the mirror and twisted her body so her ribs were slightly prominent. She arched her back to enhance the appearance of her cleavage. She looked over her shoulder innocently as though she was searching for something on the ground. She snapped, obsessed, edited, filtered, clicked Adam97, hesitated for five minutes and finally just hit ‘send.' She threw her phone across the room. She wasn’t ready for the response.

Then she remembered Adam97 was not the username of her virtual lover, but the username of her brother.


Readers’ Choice Award
There will be a special award for the Most Popular Shortlisted Entry – that is, the one that is most read by members of the public, and most shared on social media. To share, use the social media buttons at the top of the page.
To read more Write Here, Write Now entries, click here

_image2_