‘Sade? Where is your ACL?’ I asked, shaking my head.
‘I don’t know, like … the ankle?’ she responded with full confidence.
‘OK. I see,’ I replied, trying not to burst out laughing. ‘Anyway …’ I continued, ‘Going for drinks? In his neighbourhood? Where he lives? We love that.’
I could already see where this could potentially go, but it wasn’t my business.
Sade seemed to sense my pessimism too. ‘Girl, don’t even try it. Nothing like that is going to happen – when have you ever known me to be a “sleep with a guy on the first date” kinda gal?’
‘Umm, let’s see,’ I began, counting on my fingers. ‘Four months ago with that guy with the wide jaws from Hinge. Last July with that Nathan guy. Last May with the guy on Bumble – need I contin—?’
‘Would you look at the time?’ Sade cut in, fake yawning. ‘It’s time for me to get some beauty sleep, I think. Let me know how you’re feeling with your Jerry guy tomorrow and I’ll see you at the office!’ and with that, Sade put the phone down. Heh. Got her ass. Not that I’ve ever had anything against people who sleep together on the first date, mind you. I’ve had my fair share of one-night stands in the past.
I hopped under the covers and opened up Jericho’s message again, thinking about how to respond. There was no doubt that I wanted to see him again, but I needed to see whether that was what he wanted too before I made my next move. I thought back to that weird interaction with the group of girls and how taken aback he’d been. Who was the person he’d dated before and why did random people know aboutit? Was he well known? Had that interaction maybe put him off meeting again? I typed back, deciding to not mention that incident:
I had a wonderful time too, Jerry, thank you so much for today; it was almost the perfect date but I reckon you could do better, don’t you think? ;) How about we go for round two if you’re up for it? I have a Nintendo game that needs solving. Cassie x
A mere five minutes later, Jericho had responded:
‘Almost’, you say? Hmm. Challenge accepted. You know what to do. :) And yes, I’d like to see you again; I had fun with you too!
Much better! Without hesitation, I swiped to his menu, this time looking for the ‘evening company’ option, which was £350. I transferred the funds from my savings account to my current account and looked through his calendar; his earliest availability was tomorrow night at 7 p.m.
I finalised the booking, switched my phone to airplane mode, and tried to fall asleep before I could dwell on what I had just done. £350 – was this what gambling felt like?
The next day, I was up bright and early, rummaging my cupboards for what to wear that evening for my second date with Jericho. I’d received a message from him early that morning:
Oh, someone is keeeeen. Thank you once again, Cassie, I’m looking forward to seeing you. Would you like to go somewhere near where you are for ease? Jerry x
He’d signed off as ‘Jerry’, and I took that as a sign that he was warming to me. After texting him back the location of my neighbourhood (as my plan was to hurry home at 5.30 p.m.and get ready in time for 7 p.m. – the privileges of living fifteen minutes away from work!) and getting dressed for work, I quickly tried to pair together an outfit for the evening, to keep me from rushing when I got home.
As it was to be an evening date, I really wanted to make an impression, so I decided to go for my killer dress: my burgundy, long-sleeved bodycon ribbed midi dress with a slightly plunged open back. It wasn’t just any dress – it wasthedress. It sculpted my figure in ways I never thought possible, especially in the back, and let’s just say, it had a well-earned reputation. I called it my ‘fuck ’em’ dress, and nine times out of ten, it lived up to its name.
I laid the dress and a pair of black high-heeled boots to the side for later, and hurried out the door to grab the bus for work. My plan for this evening was to hopefully try to entice him to the point where he would want to potentially start seeing me more casually, outside ofOuiMeet –a girl could only dream.
I arrived at work a few minutes before 9 a.m., awkwardly bumping into Jeff in the elevator going up to our floor. My mind was so preoccupied with my upcoming meetup with Jericho that I had zero interest in making awkward small talk with Jeff right now. He was wearing a navy-blue suit complete with a salmon shirt and blue tie; it was kinda giving ‘Tory MP’ but I let it slide. I gave him a brief smile and uttered a quiet ‘Good morning’ before reaching for my phone in a bid to feign productivity, but he didn’t take the hint.
‘Hey! So did you enjoy the drinks last week? You left a bit early, I noticed.’
Damnit. Why did everything involving this man always feel soawkward?I looked up from my phone, trying to come up with an excuse on the spot.
‘Oh, no, I had a fab time! I had to leave early to feed my cat actually – silly reason, I know – but he only eats wet food and well, you know …?’ I tailed off, hoping he would get the hint.
‘Ah, I hear you. Not to worry!’ he replied, as we finally reached our floor. ‘It was really great getting to know the other members of the team. I didn’t realise how young everyone was – it feels like everyone’s in their twenties here!’
‘Ahh yeah, haha, we’re a young bunch in this department, I suppose,’ I muttered quietly as we walked in tandem to the department. ‘I hope you had a great time, though! We should probably hold events like that in the department more often, to be honest.’
I knew I was just saying it to make small talk, but I had no business suggesting it as an idea. It’s not that I didn’t have an OK time; it’s just that pub nights weren’t really my cup of tea.
‘Yeah, it would be good for workplace morale, I think – it’ll be nice to get to know everyone better. Anyway, had a good weekend?’ Jeff responded; we were almost near the office now. I used this as a chance to casually remind him of my marital status – just in case it had slipped his mind. It was a harmless little lie, one he never needed to know wasn’t true.
‘Um, yeah, it was great actually! I was in the West End for most of it with my boyfriend, just hanging out and stuff.’ Smooth, Cassie. Real smooth.
‘Oh, lovely …’ Jeff said in an almost whisper. Cue an awkward silence yet again as we finally made it to the office. I opened the door to see Kofi already at his desk, headphones on. We smiled at each other as I entered. ‘OK, well—’ continued Jeff, who seemed to be addressing me but looking at Kofi instead ‘—when you’re all settled in, can you please send me the new patient appointment doc for today, as well as their past medical records, if possible? Oh, and I have a meeting atmidday with one of the spinal surgeons – if you could book meeting room two, that would be amazing.’
‘On it; no problem!’ I responded as I took my seat. In true ‘Cassie’ fashion, I’d already typed up the new patient list and had placed it on his desk along with the patient records on Friday before leaving for the day.
Kofi removed his headphones and swivelled over, his eyes meeting mine. His eyes were swollen and bloodshot, and exhaustion was written all over his face.
