Page 3 of The Fallback

Mitch sat back in his chair and stretched his arms above his head. ‘No problem,’ he said as Rosie tried hard not to notice the inch or so of flat stomach he had inadvertently showed her. ‘I think it’ll be fun, don’t you?’ Rosie nodded, worried that if she spoke it would come out as a squeal.

‘I’m very happy to be your Plan B.’ He grinned as he said it. Rosie started to protest but he continued, ‘Or your fallback, whatever you want to call me. And I can’t wait to show you around London, but we should get going if we don’t want to risk the wrath of Rachel.’

They tussled over Rosie’s rucksack for a few seconds before Rosie gave up and grudgingly allowed Mitch to carry it for her. He turned and waved at the barman as they made their way to the steps. The barman nodded grumpily and went back to whatever it was he was doing before. Rachel turned and looked back at the pub and smiled; grotty though it was, she was excited to start her London life.

‘Which part of Rachel’s team do you work in?’ she asked as Mitch shouldered the door leading out to the Strand. Streams of people walked past in every direction and Rosie braced herself for the rush of commuters and tourists which she would need to get used to.

‘Antivirals,’ he said as he held the door open for her. She looked up at him in surprise as she walked past him out into the street.

‘You’re kidding! Me too!’ she exclaimed.

Mitch looked down at her and grinned, his blue eyes sparkling with amusement. ‘Yep, I might have had another incentive to offer you my spare room,’ he admitted. ‘I thought it couldn’t hurt to have a genius as a flatmate who just happens to share my area of research.’

Rosie laughed and jokingly swiped at his arm. ‘Now I feel like I’m doingyouthe favour!’

‘I think you just might be,’ he agreed and grabbed her hand, pulling her out into the London street.

And just like that, Rosie and Mitch were flatmates.

ChapterOne

NOW

Rosie tipped her head back and enjoyed the feel of the sun on her face. She put to the back of her mind the fact it would bring her hated freckles out. It was UK sunshine after all, hardly tropical. She stretched her feet out under the table as she waited for Mitch to come back from the bar and silently congratulated herself on the purchase of her new sandals. They were both cute and comfortable, and made her realise she desperately needed to paint her toenails. She sighed. There was always something beauty-related to do, she wondered how other people had the time to keep up their grooming habits so effortlessly.

She spotted Mitch coming out of the back of the pub, carrying two drinks and picking his way through the beer garden towards her. She could tell just from the way he was walking that he was miserable about something. That and the fact he had summoned her to an emergency drink before dinner with his mum that evening. But despite his gloomy look, her heart still squeezed tightly when she saw him – in a completely friendzone manner, of course.

Mitch arrived with a face like a black cloud and hooked his foot through the legs of the chair opposite Rosie, pulling it out so he could sit down. He plonked a wine glass in front of her and a pint of beer in front of him and said ‘They didn’t have a French Sauvignon so I got you a Pinot Grigio. Hope that’s OK.’ The tone of his voice told Rosie that it better bloody be OK, because he wasn’t in the mood to be questioned on his choice of drink.

‘Thanks,’ she said, and quickly pulled her feet back towards her under the table as Mitch’s boots caught her ankle. ‘I don’t know how you wear those things in the summer,’ she said, pointing under the table at the black Chelsea boots Mitch had on. He glanced down as if he had forgotten what was on his feet and shrugged.

‘What would you prefer I wear? Sandals and socks? Yeah that’s a good look,’ he grumbled. ‘Not that it matters what I look like now, anyway.’

‘All right,’ Rosie took a deep breath. ‘Tell me. What’s up? Why the urgent meeting? Why couldn’t we meet at your mum’s as usual.’

‘Tessa dumped me,’ he moaned and flopped back into his seat in a dramatic fashion.

Rosie watched him. Her heart wanted to sympathise but her head was telling her not to indulge him. Poor Mitch. Not again. He claimed he had lost count of the number of times his heart had been broken, but Rosie knew that it was him that did the breaking. Mitch was the one that would end a relationship like a shot as soon as real life popped the romantic bubble.

Pulling herself back into the moment, she tried to picture Tessa, thinking this might help her in offering support. Was she the one with the curly hair who made a peculiar noise when she laughed? Or no, perhaps the one Mitch met at a work party? Giving up, she settled on composing her features into what she hoped was a compassionate face.

‘I had a really good feeling about Tessa but it turned out she didn’t feel the same.’ Mitch sighed deeply. Rosie half expected him to swoon dramatically but instead he reached for his beer and took a long drink. He hunched his shoulders and Rosie could see he was tense. Maybe he’d actually been serious about Tessa, and if that was the case she felt a sense of guilty relief that it was over.

‘I’m sorry Mitch, I know you really liked her.’ Rosie reached across the table to give his hand a quick squeeze but he grabbed hold of her hand and held it tight.

‘I don’t know Rosie, sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever meet “The One”.’ He gazed at Rosie earnestly. ‘Don’t you feel like we’re running out of time?’

Rosie tried unsuccessfully to pull her hand away. ‘Hmm, not really.’ She pulled harder and Mitch reluctantly let go. ‘I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before you meet someone amazing,’ she said in a distinctly unconvincing tone. Mitch glanced over at her, evidently unconvinced too.

‘Did Tessa give you any reason why she ended it?’ Rosie asked cautiously.

Mitch sighed. ‘She said she could tell I wasn’t ready to settle down.’

Rosie’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. ‘I thought you had a good feeling about her? What made her think that?’

‘Oh, well she found out I had been messaging someone else on a different dating app… What?’ he said defensively, seeing the look on Rosie’s face. ‘We never had the exclusive conversation, OK?’

Rosie couldn’t bring herself to shout at him; actually, she felt like laughing.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com