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Rosie bristled at his choice of words.Why not?she wondered. What was wrong with their traditions?
‘And, anyway,’ he said leaning forward conspiratorially, ‘the food here is supposed to beamazing. And just look at the setting…’ He threw his arms out towards the square.
‘Hmm, I suppose so,’ replied Rosie, sounding less than convinced.
Eventually she settled on a plate of rigatoni and a cold glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Mitch was right, the food did look delicious and her wine was served at exactly the right temperature. She was happily savouring her first sip when Mitch shifted in his seat.
‘So,’ he started, sitting forward and staring at her with a determined look. ‘My plan.’ There was a pause.
’Your plan?’ she answered falteringly. She slowly lowered her wine glass back to the table, hoping that perhaps she could deflect whatever was coming by pretending to have forgotten their previous conversation.
‘Yes!’ he exclaimed. ‘The plan I said I was going to work on? To change things for us? To get us to focus on sorting our lives out?’
She looked around at the other people hoping that they were too engrossed in their own conversations to eavesdrop on theirs. ‘Erm, Mitch, I’m not really sure I need?—’
Mitch interrupted her with a wave of his hand. ‘Nonsense, of course you do. We both need this.’
‘Do we? DoI?’ she anxiously asked.
Mitch took a deep breath. ‘We’ve been friends for ages, right?’
‘Yes,’ she agreed.
‘Really good friends, right?’
‘Yes,’ she agreed again.
‘We know everything about each other, right?’ Rosie decided at this point that Mitch wasn’t really looking for affirmations so she kept quiet. Something told her that whatever Mitch was about to suggest, this would not be the time to confess to her long-held secrets.
‘And we both feel it’s time to start thinking about settling down.’ This was very definitely a statement, not a question. ‘But neither of us has met the right person yet.’
Now it was obvious that Mitch was only talking about himself. Rosie could feel her heart beginning to beat even faster.
‘I think both of us have been messing about a bit,’ he mused, 'not taking this dating thing seriously and…’ He paused, giving Rosie a long look across the table. ‘Perhaps dismissing people that really we should have given a second chance.’
‘You mean breaking up with people because they want you to meet their family,’ muttered Rosie under her breath before taking another gulp of wine. Mitch glared at her and she quickly shut up.
‘So, as I said before, I think we need an incentiveanda deadline. And I’ve come up with something I think could really work,and…’ Here he paused again for dramatic effect. ‘And would solve lots of our problems even if we don’t find The One,’ he finished in a rush.
He now leaned back in his chair looking extremely pleased with himself. Rosie decided she really didn’t like Mitch’s plan, and she hadn't even heard it yet.
‘And?’ she snapped at him. ‘What is this magic plan of yours?
‘Oh right, sorry.’ He sat back forward again. ‘Right. The idea is that we both commit to trying to find The One by the time your work Christmas party comes around.’
‘OK,’ Rosie said slowly, this actually didn’t sound too bad.
Mitch pushed on, clearly reading her mind. ‘No Rosie, we really commit to doing this. I don’t mean pretending to be looking for someone but actually deleting all your dating profiles.’ He shot her a meaningful look and she felt herself blushing.
‘Yes, yes, I know what you’ve been doing,’ he said, waving his hand perfunctorily across the table at her. ‘There’s no point pretending that’s not the case. You do know I can look you up, don’t you? And anyway, I set half those profiles up for you.’
‘Have you been logging into my dating profiles?’ Rosie spluttered.
‘No,’ Mitch replied firmly, ‘I haven’t. Because they don’t exist anymore, becauseyoudeleted them.’
‘But you tried, right?’ Rosie protested, trying desperately to shift Mitch’s focus. He just gave her a dismissive look. She thought about protesting further, but realised the futility of it and decided to keep quiet and hear Mitch out.
‘I’m talking about messaging people, being open to different people, not just our usual types. But maybe a good start would be reactivating your profiles?’ he said.
