that it wasn’t all in my head. And I knew this could go beyond a few fake, and a few not so fake, kisses.
‘Wow!’ Bea giggles. ‘You are being well weird!’ She takes my hand. ‘Oh my God, you’re actually shaking! Who is it? Where did you meet? Was this on a dating thing, or did you just meet him? You met him! You met him when you were on your lunchbreak! Was it that sexy guy in the café? Or, I know, the one that walks his dog down—’
‘Will you stop, just for a moment?’
‘Tell me! This guy must really have something!’
‘He has,’ I say weakly. Putting off the moment when I have to tell her.
‘Hang on a sec, just let me make sure the door is locked. Right, tell!’
‘Noah.’
‘What?’ The keys hang limply in her hand. She stares at me, then laughs. ‘For a moment there I thought you said …’
‘Noah.’
‘The Noah? Oh wow, I’ve got to tell Jed! You do mean a proper date, don’t you?’ She checks, finger poised over her phone. ‘As in not a lesson, or fake stuff, or—’
‘A date. I feel sick.’
‘No you don’t! You feel excited, nervous, stuff like that.’
‘I do. Oh Bea, what the hell am I going to wear?’
‘When is it?’ I look at her blankly. ‘Your date?’
‘In approximately two and a half hours.’
‘Bloody hell, come on, we’re flagging a taxi back to your place. You are going to have the makeover to beat all makeovers, girl.’
‘No. Bea, stop, please stop.’ I put a hand on her arm, just as she flags a taxi down.
‘Stop as in no taxi?’
‘No, no get in the taxi,’ we clamber in and I shout out my address, ‘stop as in total makeover. I don’t want to seduce him, Bea.’ The taxi driver winks at her in the mirror. ‘I want to be me.’ There’s a fluttering in my stomach, but this isn’t fear, or dread. This is excitement, anticipation. I’d go straight to meet him dressed as I am, if I could.
‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ll do you, but the best you. Otherwise, you will regret this like hell when you’re explaining how it started to your grandkids.’
‘Hey, stop there …’
‘Well Grandad was smart and sexy, but me?’ She says in a funny voice. ‘Well Granny had on her old big work knickers, and her sensible on her feet all day flat shoes, oh yeah, and her jeans. Cos when she’s climbing up ladders all day she don’t want them bookish geeks getting their thrills from her pantyhose, does she?’
‘Shut up, Bea.’
She smirks. I grin back. ‘Anyhow, it’s only Noah so I don’t know why you’re in such a tizz. You’ve already dated! You don’t need to seduce him from scratch, he knows the score, babe.’
‘God, Bea, you’re more excited than me!’
‘Not poss.’
‘But this is different! And I want it to be right. I want it to be special. I want him to feel special, it’s all about him.’
She gives me a sideways odd look. ‘I think you’re not getting enough oxygen to your brain. Oh look, here we are, come on get a move on we’ve only got two hours and three minutes to get you defuzzed and looking completely au-naturel. And we all know that takes bloody ages! Can’t you just go for tarty and high-maintenance? I can achieve that in half an hour flat.’
I pay the taxi driver and follow her to my front door. I really shouldn’t have told her.
‘Hang on, Jed’s texted me back! Jed says, oh no … I can’t say that out loud. I’ll show you later. Now come on woman!’
I really, really shouldn’t have told her.
***
To be fair, Bea has been a brilliant help. Because for one my hand is trembling so much there is no way I could have applied eyeliner without poking my eye out. And for two she really does know her stuff when it comes to looking natural without actually being, er, natural. You know what I mean, right? Looking thrown together takes effort and years of practice.
And now I am standing outside the bar, ridiculously early, and feeling a bit like a kid on Christmas Eve. Excited, but prepared for disappointment. Yeah, I was one of those kids.
I stare at the door. This is where I met the wrong man, who might just be the right one. And if it turns out he’s not, you know what? I’ll cope with that. Because I have been taught that by the greatest person in