LBB.

“Come on you pussy, hit me!”, she spat, her words like venom. She had nothing left to lose, and her world as she knew it was crumbling around her. He took a step towards her. She had struck a nerve, had she? He was positively seething. His dark, narrowed eyes were fixated on hers. This was the most emotion she had witnessed from him in a long time.

And it was all because of the Little Black Book.

****** ****************************************************************

Looking back, Frankie had always felt as though she was settling for life with Mark. Not that she thought she was better than him, but she always knew, deep down, that she was settling for a situation that was considerably less than she deserved - one in which she would forever be trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Frankie had never been an overly romantic person, but one thing she had always imagined was that initial moment of meeting someone and getting a ping, a spark, a buzz - whatever you want to call it. That overwhelming feeling of undeniable chemistry. To just look at someone and know that they are here in this moment with you for a reason and they are supposed to be in your life.

She had never experienced any of that with Mark. They had known each other since high school, and had reconnected seven years after graduation, when a mutual friend hosted a party. She must have seen something in him, or at least, the tequila did. They transitioned from being acquaintances, to having a one night stand, to being in a committed relationship very quickly. So quickly in fact, that she didn’t have time to assess the continuous stream of red flags popping up left, right and centre.

Mark had established himself as the ringleader, very early on. He chose the restaurants they frequented, the movies they watched, the house they lived in, and the pets they had - which was none, by the way. Frankie longed for a dog, more than anything. He didn’t want one, so of course, that was that.

Frankie had always felt like she was a much more laid-back partner than most of her friends were in relationships. She considered herself to be low-maintenance, making sure she paid her own way in life, and she thoroughly appreciated the peace she enjoyed when having time on her own. She adored the valued quality time with a partner - date nights, snuggling up and watching a movie, and of course, sex.

In contrast, some of her friends seemed to always expect a lot from their partners. Frankie had seen friends end relationships with decent, loyal men, over silly things like not responding to a text message within fourteen minutes, when on a night out with his mates.

She once worked with a girl who would go to some extraordinary lengths to test each of her boyfriends’ loyalty. She would create a myriad of online personas and try and ‘honey trap’ them into inappropriate behaviour. Frankie found this absolutely absurd, but she would just smile and nod along as this girl described the conversations. Frankie pitied this girl and wondered how anyone could ever feel that insecure.

And then she met Mark, and it all became clear.

He had always been a private person, however, there is, she felt, a mammoth difference between being privacy and secrecy - and his secretive behaviour around his phone for the six months or so, had her on red alert. Pulling out moves that were straight out of the player’s handbook, he would always have his phone on silent, face down, and within arm’s reach at all times. Whether he was in the car, toilet, shower, bed, or anywhere else on the planet, he was practically glued to that thing.

Her dad had instilled in her, the principle of ‘trusting your gut’. If a person or situation gives you a knot in your stomach and just doesn’t feel right, no matter what, you follow your instincts. He had also taught her that people who don’t have anything to hide, don’t constantly act like they do.

One night, whilst laying in bed, wired from a million thoughts dancing around in her head, Frankie felt all of the insecurities rise to the surface. The time had come to put her dad’s wisdom into play. She just couldn’t take this bullshit anymore. She needed answers and she needed them now.

She rolled over to look at Mark. He seemed deep in sleep, but she had to be sure. She poked him hard in the ribs with her index finger. No response. She slid out of bed, and quietly crept around to his side of the bed. She unplugged his precious phone from its charger, and tiptoed carefully to the bathroom. Just in case he woke up, she locked the door behind her.

Frankie knew that this was the turning point, that there was absolutely no going back. She took a deep breath, and typed in the four digit access code she wasn’t ever supposed to know, and slowly slid her finger across the screen to unlock the phone. And just like that, she was in. “Here goes nothing”, she whispered.

After ten minutes, she had unearthed nothing of interest. She had scoured all the corners of his phone where you would expect to find the juicy stuff. When she hadn’t found anything shady in his messages, call logs, photo gallery or emails, she began second-guessing herself. Maybe she was wrong, maybe this was a huge misunderstanding and she was just the paranoid little bitch that he told her she was.

Just as she was about to call it quits and sneak Mark’s phone back to his bedside table and pretend none of this had happened, a notification popped up on his phone from an app calling itself LBB - alerting her there were 23 new notifications. “Interesting”, she thought, as she opened up an incognito browser window and typed in ‘LBB app’.

Bingo. The top search result was Little Black Book (LBB), an app developed by Cheetah Solutions. “How witty”, she thought to herself. The webpage for Little Black Book did nothing short of brag about its ability to act as a cheater's best friend - it closes off part of your phone, and puts it under lock and key away from prying eyes.

“Alright, well I’ve come this far. Let’s do this”, Frankie whispered, as she opened up the LBB app. A picture of a small black notebook appeared in the middle of the screen. In another world, in different circumstances, Frankie may have complimented their branding, if nothing else.

“What now?”, she thought, as she stared at the cute but menacing little notebook on the screen. Realising there must be some super secret squirrel hack to get in to the highlight reel, she navigated back to the incognito web browser she had earlier opened, and kept reading.

The solution was a simple sequence of number presses. Once she was over the threshold, Frankie had to fight back the overwhelming urge to throw up all over the floor.

What she saw was a constant string of pop-up notifications from every dating and messaging app she had heard of, and some she hadn’t. As the pictures and messages just kept flowing through from the missed notifications, she realised she could either sit here and punish herself further, or she could remove herself from the situation entirely.

****** ****************************************************************

As Frankie stood there in that hallway, not even fifteen minutes later, she stared at the man she loved, or had loved at least. Something had shifted now, the hold Mark had on her was fading fast. After originally being mad at her for waking him from his beauty sleep, he then had the audacity to carry on a treat about her going through his phone, describing it as a “complete betrayal”.

For what felt like forever, they had been Frankie and Mark, or as he preferred it, Mark and Frankie. He was the main attraction, and she was the supporting act. A pretty little accessory. Although, as she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, over his right shoulder, she realised she didn’t look very pretty right now.

She looked exactly how she felt - desperate, empty, and broken - and she knew that not only did she have nothing to lose, but she had nothing left to give.

He took a step back. Part of him had surely wanted to hit her, but he recoiled, just like the weak little man he was.

“Look at what you have done to me”, she cried.

He glared at her, in a way that sent a shiver down her spine. He was so cold and unfeeling. He turned to his bedside table, picked up a dollar coin and threw it at her.

“Call someone who cares”, he said spitefully. He turned, walked up to the spare bedroom and slammed the door.

****** ****************************************************************

After roaming around the house, a little lost, trying to pack her things, Frankie had spotted the shiny gold dollar coin on the bedroom floor. She stopped, picked it up and slid it into her pocket.

She knew that once she left, she didn’t ever want to come back. As Mark probably slept like a baby, as quickly as she could, Frankie spent the rest of the night pacing around the house collecting anything she couldn’t replace, and shoving it into her car. As the morning hit, she felt as though she would lose her ability to breathe if she stayed in this house any longer. She took one more look around, discarded her housekey on the dining room table, and headed out to her car. She drove out of the driveway, bound for her parents; house - somewhere she knew she would feel safe, and could stay as long as she needed, until she got back on her feet.

As she approached the main street, she saw the local newsagents, one of the very few places in Australia that still sold her favourite drink, Dr. Pepper. She pulled over and went inside. She could use the caffeine and the sugar at this point anyway. As she approached the counter and sat the can down, the old man behind the counter said "it must be your lucky day".

Puzzled, Frankie just looked at him. He pointed to her hand, where a ladybug was sitting. It made her smile, and after tapping her card to pay, the ladybug flew off onto the counter. She turned to walk out, something stopped her. She reached into her pocket, pulled out the dollar coin that Mark had thrown at her, and said “I’ll actually have a $1 scratchcard too, please”.

“Here you go, love”, the man said as he took her dollar, and handed her the ticket.

Frankie got into her car, put her favourite song on, and cracked her can of Dr. Pepper. She took a big sip and began scratching the ticket. A few seconds later, she spat her drink all over her steering wheel, as she discovered she had just scratched her way to $20,000. “What a fucking day!”, she yelled out loud to nobody in particular.

****** ****************************************************************

A few months later, Frankie was at home, ready to go and pick up her new man - Scout, a handsome Staffy with a heart of gold who loves car rides and ice cream. He may not be the man she pictured having in her life, but when she looked into his eyes, boy did she feel that ping, that buzz, that spark.

As Frankie grabbed her jacket and headed for the door, she heard someone knocking. She looked through the peephole to see Mark. Confused, she considered ignoring it, but there was no way that she would ever put her plans on hold for him again. She opened the door, and stared at him blankly.

“Listen, I messed up. I miss you”, he admitted.

“Oh mate”, she replied, “Call someone who cares”.