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I chucked in a glug of cranberry juice. ‘That’s TV for you.’
‘You look like an actor,’ she said.
‘What does an actor look like?’
‘You know …’
I didn’t.
‘What’s your name?’ she asked.
‘Jack.’
I chucked in the ice, closed the lid and began to shake. Everyone looked over, as though I was performing some kind of show. Doing a Tom Cruise in Cocktail. I felt pressure to chuck up the shaker and catch it behind my back or something.
‘What’s yours?’ I asked, pouring the mixture evenly between three wine glasses. I couldn’t be bothered to find proper cocktail ones.
‘Ishanvi,’ she said.
‘Nice name,’ I replied.
‘It’s Indian.’
I nodded, sliding her the drinks.
‘What time do you finish?’ she asked.
I looked at her. She was pretty. Tiny and fragile-looking, with big eyes and lips painted ruby red to match her jumper.
‘I’ll be here until midnight,’ I said.
She picked up all three drinks, the stems slotting between her fingers. ‘If I’m still around, we should do something after,’ she suggested. ‘If you want.’
I hesitated. I was desperate to get home so I could wallow in self-pity and chuck a Tesco Value pizza in the oven. But then again, here she was, giving me another option. Was there a chance that hooking up with someone I didn’t know might help me forget about my shitty acting career for a minute, possibly longer?
‘Maybe,’ I said, non-committally.
One-night stands were fine; it was all the other stuff I couldn’t be bothered to get into.
Later, me and Ishanvi walked through the backstreets of the village together, past the Anglican church on Downshire Hill, and the huge Freemasons Arms pub, which had just closed for the night, too.
‘You must be doing all right to live around here,’ remarked Ishanvi, seemingly impressed.
‘It’s only temporary,’ I replied, pulling my scarf tighter around my neck.
‘Still,’ she said.
‘Yeah. Still.’
We turned left up East Heath Road. I pointed out the pond glittering in the moonlight; she said it looked romantic.
‘Are you all right with this?’ I asked her.
‘All right with what?’
This was the awkward bit. I should probably have said all of this when we were still at the pub, so she’d have had the option to say no and go back to her friends.
‘With this just being one night,’ I said.
