Chapter 1 - prologue

Charlie's head bumped against the train window and he realised he had been dozing. Fields of unidentified crops and a power station flew by in the morning light. He checked and found that his smartphone was still resting precariously on his knee. He regretted that final pint the previous night.

The afternoon had started innocuously enough - a Sunday beer with his mate Rob, reminiscences of old times, a catch-up on distant developments among their extended circle of friends. Moves to new countries, weddings, the occasional baby - things that were of the utmost importance to the people involved, but only of passing interest to acquaintances who hadn't seen them for years. In stereotypically manly fashion, Charlie and Paul had left the important topics for later.

After the fifth or sixth pint, when inhibitions were lowered and the truth could be spoken, the real conversation had begun. Suddenly the floodgates were opened and they talked about Charlie's recent redundancy, the new and better job he had found, and his break-up with Suzi. They joked and bantered and somehow made facetious sense of life-changing events. Charlie was a free agent - single for the first time in seven years! And he was about to spend a full six weeks all-expenses-paid in a new city, at his new company's head office for induction training. It was the freshest of fresh starts.

"I can't believe you've never been a single man in the age of Sparkr," Rob had said. "Mate, in your situation in particular - but also in general - you need this app on your phone. It exists solely to hook you up with nearby girls."

By this point, the bar staff had helpfully started bringing rounds straight to their table and adding them to the tab. Neither Charlie nor Rob was even keeping count any more.

"You know what kind of girls I want to meet?" Charlie had slurred, in a conspiratorial whisper so loud that people at the next two tables turned around. He continued, oblivious: "Chubby girls! You know what, I've always fancied the bigger chicks. Suzi was much too skinny, if I'm honest. I s'pose I was hoping she'd put on some weight at some point. Remember Louise at uni? That girl had a belly on her. It was hot." Charlie had never before told anyone about his 'thing' for fuller-figured women, but Rob didn't bat an eyelid.

"Mate," Rob had said, "Fat chicks are not my thing, but there's something for everyone on Sparkr. Fat chicks, thin chicks, black chicks, white chicks, chicks with dicks. I'm telling you, it's the way forward. Straight-up sex with no complications. Get involved, mate." He had paused and considered for a moment before giggling drunkenly. "You know what, if any conclusions can be drawn from the number of girls I've met, who had smoking hot profile pictures but turned out to be big fatties, you'll be up to your nuts in a plumper in no time at all!"

Charlie turned from the train window and looked down at his phone again, shaking his head to clear it. "What the hell," he said quietly to himself as he tapped on 'Download app'.