to be useful after all. Maybe I should just forget this. Go home, get into bed and bury my head in the pillow. Or fill my romantic well from Netflix.
Except I came here for a reason, a purpose.
I don’t want to admit defeat, it’s not my style. I can’t. Not straight away. What am I going to tell Bea?
He leans in closer. ‘You are funny, funny strange, not hilarious.’ He grins. ‘I’ve been watching you.’ He wags a finger. ‘You’ve been here for ages, sitting all on your own, with a drink. One drink!’ This is even worse than being stood up. Being watched being stood up! ‘You look kind of lonely, not like the type of girl who comes out on her own. You’ve been dumped, haven’t you? Am I right, or am I right?’
‘You’re wrong!’ I glare at him. I am feeling uncomfortable: hot, flustered and embarrassed. I brush a hand over my knee, even though there’s nothing on it. ‘Actually, I was just about to say sorry for being grumpy, it was just you startled me,’ and grabbed me, ‘but now you’ve spoiled it!’
‘Really? I’m wrong? About you being dumped?’
‘Stop saying really like that!’ Technically he is wrong. I have not been dumped, I have been stood up. Worse, I have been ghosted. On my first date. ‘And stop saying dumped!’
‘Stood up then?’
Shit. I’ve gone bright red again; I know I have. I need to invest in a really good foundation that will leave my face the same colour whatever happens. Green’s the colour, isn’t it? ‘Okay smart arse, I’ve been stood up. So what?’
‘So nothing. No shame in that, happens to the best of us.’
‘You too?’ For some reason this cheers me up slightly.
‘Well not actually me.’ He grins, then chuckles. It’s quite sexy. Well sexy if you had to rate it on a scale. Kind of deep-throated, the type of sound that would make you clench your thighs if you were into this man. Which I am not. See, I am unclenching. And … relax. ‘I was here for a drink with my mate, Jed. We had a couple of drinks.’ He shrugs. ‘Then he buggered off early.’ He glances away briefly, as though it bothers him, then looks back at me and gives me a bit of a wolfish grin. Whatever bothered him has been dismissed. ‘So, I’m all yours.’
‘I don’t want you to be all mine. I’m fine on my own thanks.’ I half turn away, but he doesn’t take the hint.
‘But you do want something, am I right, or am I—?’
‘Will you stop saying that, it’s so, well, so annoying.’ I had two glasses of wine before I came out, to boost my confidence. That’s why I was taking it easy on the prosecco when I got here; falling over drunk isn’t a good look on a first date, is it? And without the pre-date wine I might well have ducked out. It was my confidence booster. Without the wine I wouldn’t be here now, talking to a man who thinks I am going to fall for his charm.
‘Sorry, babe.’ He doesn’t look sorry. ‘Anything else?’
‘Can you drop the babe bit. I’m not your babe, I’m not anybody’s babe. Who says babe these days?’
‘I meant anything else to drink, not continue with your character assassination!’
‘I’m not …’ I pause. Take a deep breath. I’m here, he’s here, he might be useful. He’s obviously a bit of a jerk and a lot of a bad boy. Which strangely enough might be just what I need. For the next half hour or so anyway. ‘Oh God, I’m sorry, I’m not usually this rude and grumpy, it’s just …’
‘The date?’ He tilts his head on one side. ‘You were totally into him? Am I right, or …?’
I scowl. ‘No, I was not totally into him. I’ve never actually met him.’
He frowns. ‘I’m usually right quite a lot! Not scoring tonight, am I?’
‘No!’
He sticks his lower lip out. ‘Part of my charm? Nobody likes a know it all, do they?’
‘No, it is not charming. Look, do you want me to tell you or not? Unless you have somewhere better to be?’ His eyes open wide. ‘Thought not.’ Normally I’m not this forward with men I don’t know, with anybody at all if I’m honest. But I am desperate. And I am also a little bit tipsy.
‘Wow, you say it like it is, don’t you?’ He grins. ‘Fire away! Let me order more drinks first though, you