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‘She was off with me too,’ he replies. ‘I’ve already been to her table. I tried to make a joke about Sconegate but she wasn’t interested.’
‘I think she was already pretty livid with me about the bowling ball,’ I tell him. ‘I’ll try to smooth things over with her later.’
The bell rings. No! Did I just waste my speed date with the only man in the room I could ever be interested in talking about bloody Leila?
‘Stay there, I’ll grab you another drink,’ Rocco tells me. ‘What was it?’
‘Like, a fruity gin thing,’ I reply, unsure what it was actually called.
‘Back in a minute,’ he says, grabbing our empty glasses before he heads off to the bar.
‘Did he just say he would get a drink for you?’ the blonde next to me asks.
‘Yeah,’ I reply.
‘Wow, so there are some good ones here,’ she says. ‘That’s so sweet. How old is he?’
‘Erm, thirty-six,’ I reply.
‘What does he do for work?’ she enquires curiously. ‘Did you ask?’
‘He’s an architect,’ I say. ‘You’re talking to him next, save some questions for him.’
I laugh politely but then I notice a look in her eye.
‘I will,’ she replies. ‘He’s pretty hot, isn’t he? What’s his deal? Is he looking for something serious? What does it seem like he’s after? Help a girl out, tell me everything I need to know.’
The fact that this woman wants me to give her all the info on Rocco, and has dismissed me as any sort of competition for her, and actually expects me go out of my way to help her pull him makes me feel a whole bunch of things, none of them good. It annoys me that she sees me as little more than a vehicle to get the guy. It messes with my confidence, ever so slightly, but only in that way it would anyone, to be thought so little of. Worst of all, it fills me with jealousy. I don’t want to see other girls flirting with Rocco, and I’ve got absolutely no right to feel that way, no claim over him whatsoever, and yet here we are. I don’t want to help her; I want to hinder her.
‘He kept going on about buying me drinks, getting me drunk,’ I lie. ‘He said everything is easier with a drink in you.’
At least Sid’s failed attempt to get me drunk was good for something.
‘Oh, that seems a bit weird,’ she says, pulling a face. ‘Maybe he meant it would be easier for him?’
I daren’t even consider what she means by that.
‘Yeah, I don’t know, I wasn’t sure at that point,’ I reply. ‘But then he started banging on about how he hates condoms and wouldn’t ever wear one. That was enough for me.’
‘Wow, major red flag,’ she replies. ‘Thanks for letting me know.’
I hear a man clearing his throat behind me. Of course it’s Rocco.
‘Billie, can I borrow you for a minute?’ he asks, pulling me from my conversation.
‘Sure,’ I reply nervously. He didn’t hear any of that, did he?
I walk a few paces away with him.
‘There are two drinks on the menu that could be classed as “fruity gin things”,’ he tells me. ‘Was it the one with the lime or the passionfruit?’
‘The passionfruit,’ I reply.
‘Okay, also, did I just hear you telling that girl I don’t wear condoms?’
He doesn’t seem mad or confused by this – just curious.
I stare at him. So he did hear.
