‘Lovely to meet you too.’ She smiles at me. ‘Guessing this evening made absolutely no difference whatsoever to your views on happily-ever-afters.’
‘None,’ I agree.
She laughs. ‘I’ll let Freya know. I don’t think she’ll be surprised.’ We’ve already established that she and Freya are very good friends. ‘I’m sure she can still win,’ she adds loyally. ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day.’
I shake my head. ‘She won’t be winning.’
And that’s the end of our dinner. It was a perfectly pleasant evening having an interesting experience with a very nice woman and I have not changed my mind about anything.
In the morning, I pick up my phone to message a friend, and see that Freya is typing a message to me. The typing stops, restarts, and then stops again. I have to say, I do enjoy imagining her being tempted to send me a snarky message and then feeling that she has to restrain herself.
I’d quite like to sendhera message, pointing out that she cannot possibly win this, because she cannot change my mind. You can’t ever prove to someone that something they thinkmightbe out there doesn’t exist.
Whereas Icouldwin. Youcanprove to someone that something they don’t believe inisthere. I just need to find someone she falls in love with, and who will from their side fall in love with her to provide that happily-ever-after. Yeah, the latter part might be tricky. Even in the dark Freya was annoying. Plus she’s going to be tryingnotto fall in love. Plus I only have three months.
The whole thing is a complete farce. Neither of us is going to win.
I send Sonja two videos from last night, one of me outside the restaurant saying I’m going in, and one afterwards walking along the street saying I had a great time with a lovely woman but that I don’t think I’ve necessarily found true love; but one blind date has not changed my views on the likelihood of me finding love in the future. (I asked the restaurant if they were happy for me to video inside, and, happily, they weren’t. Thankfully, Charlotte also declined to be videoed.)
Yep, such a farce.
After spending far too much time trying to come up with something better than meeting in a regular restaurant for Freya’s date, I decide that my best approach is to steal her idea and hope that she doesn’t feel any sense of victory as a result. Okay, I think shewillfeel smug about it and that annoys me, but I’m just far too busy to waste any more time on this.
So I ask Sonja if the production company can book the same restaurant for next Tuesday, and message Freya to ask her to meet my friend Minuk there.
Minuk and I met in our first term at uni and have been very good friends ever since (half a lifetime now). He’s had the odd serious (ish) relationship but basically goes from short-term fling to short-term fling, always monogamously. He hasnotrouble attracting very attractive women – understandably, because he’s great company and objectively good-looking and in good physical shape – and has always said that the reason he never stays with anyone for long is just that he hasn’t met the right person yet. He’s definitely not averse to longer-term relationships.
He could be the perfect person for Freya. She probably just hasn’t met the right person yet either.
I mean, no, who am I kidding? What are the odds? You never know, though. Worth a shot.
Freya does of course gloat about my inability to think of a different meeting place. Her first message in response to my question isHa ha ha. Her second isOkay. I’ll be there.
And there we go. I can now put the whole challenge out of my mind for a few days. Well, not entirely, because I’m unable to prevent myself watching theWake Up Britainmontage ofmy date. (I’m pleased to see that they only managed to cobble together thirty seconds of footage.) I’m also recognised twice in one morning in the street, which I do not enjoy. And I can’t help thinking of Freya and how incredibly annoying she is at least several times a day. But apart from that, all good.
Minuk messages me at around ten on Tuesday evening to say he and Freya have finished their evening and do I want to meet at our local (we live ten minutes apart on foot and there’s a pub exactly equidistant between our houses) for a one-pint debrief. I did offer to meet him before their dinner but he said with great scorn that he’s been on alotof first dates before now and he really doesn’t need anyone to hold his hand, which was good news for me; I don’t want to see Freya more than I have to and I wanted to squeeze a gym visit in this evening.
I set off immediately and as I arrive at the pub I can see him walking down the road towards me. I wave and go inside to order us both a pint.
‘So how was it?’ I ask as soon as we’ve slapped each other’s shoulders and sat down at a corner table.
‘Well, she’s lovely. Very nice.’
I nod, make a huge effort and do not correct him by saying no she bloody isn’t.
Each to their own, after all.
And, obviously, if theydidhit it off, great. As long as they don’t hit it off so much that I lose one of my best friends to her. Fuck. That would be terrible. What was Ithinking? I donotwant Freya in my life as Minuk’s plus-one.
‘You going to see each other again?’ I ask, panicking.
‘Yeah, no, maybe. I liked her a lot.’ Minuk likes a lot of women a lot, so that isn’t too worrying. ‘And I think she liked me. We agreed to leave by the same exit, and had a nice chat in the light out of earshot of those helpers. And by the way, that wassucha weird experience. I’m glad to have been but I don’t think I’d go back.’
‘Same,’ I agree. ‘I liked the way that it made you really focus on everything about the food and your companionexceptthe way they looked, but having the helpers there was just weird. The way you could hear their breathing from time to time.’
‘Exactly.’
‘Soooo… what are you thinking about Freya?’
