Peter Spencer’s brief, funny and acutely observed story is a runner-up in Litro’s #ThisIsNotLove flash fiction competition.

This morning, she posted a picture of a funny cat on my Facebook wall.

She knew I’d appreciate it because a few days ago I’d posted one on her wall, though that one was thematically different – that cat was asleep on a lamp whilst this one had butter all around its mouth. I formally ‘liked’ the picture precisely twenty minutes after she’d posted it. I felt as though that was a decent amount of time to wait: I didn’t want her to think of me at my computer all day; nor did I want to come across as slack or inattentive.

Six other friends ‘liked’ the picture before I did. They don’t even know her, but I suppose a picture of a cat is a sure-fire crowd-pleaser.

Five minutes later I wrote ‘love this’ in the comments section underneath.

About Peter Spencer

Peter Spencer was born in Oxford, raised in Marlow, and educated at Warwick University before moving to London where he now lives. Having worked in feature film development and production, he is currently the assistant to Bafta winning screenwriter Hossein Amini. Peter hopes for his own Bafta and assistant some day.

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