First Date

by Sue Watson

We get up to leave. I go on ahead, and turn to see him discreetly pick up my used coffee spoon and napkin, and push them into his trouser pocket.

But I saw Tom in a bar a few months back and he looked sad and rather dishevelled, and I worry that the break-up had a more lasting impact on him than I’d realised. But I push away troubling thoughts of Tom, when I see the phone on my desk flashing. I pick up and catch my breath. It’s a voicemail message from Alex.

Jas gives me a warning look. ‘Sounds too good to be true. And when someone seems too good to be true – that’s because they are.’

feel guilty now. She’s ambushed me slightly with our supposed cinema arrangements; what I thought of as a vague idea, was clearly seen by Jas as a booking.

‘Yeah you do. I mean… I thought…’ he stutters, ‘I just… I just know you’d be the sort of person to have one.’

‘Gosh, you sound like me. I wrote a piece for a social-work blog recently and said exactly that.’ ‘Did you? I’d love to read that sometime.’ I blush slightly, loving the fact he’s taking such an interest.

Jas picks up the card from the ground where I threw it as I realised what it was. She nods slowly. ‘Yeah, probably Tom… but then again?’ ‘Definitely Tom,’ I say angrily,

As Jas said when I told her, ‘That sounds like a confession to me, babe.’ Anyway, she suggested I go and stay with her until he’d calmed down.

‘Yeah, Jas’s here late too.’ I nod in the direction of her office. ‘She’s not working though,’ he says. I’m surprised. ‘Oh, so why is she still here?’ ‘Well, when I went in about ten minutes ago, she was trawling through a load of guys’ photos on her phone. I reckon she’s looking for a hot date.’ ‘She told me she’d had it with men.’ He laughs. ‘She’s always saying that.’ I grab my bag to leave and, walking past her office, I wave. ‘Hey, Hannah, let me walk you to your car,’ she says.

him fumbling around in his pockets, then he pulls out a key. Unaware I’m watching, he is now putting his face right up against the narrow glass panel in the door. He does this for a few seconds,

my suspicions are confirmed. A screwed up Häagen-Dazs container. When I loosen it slightly, it’s clear to see the label – Pistachio Ice Cream. I really believed he’d made it specially for me. I guess he just wanted to impress, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, who hasn’t told a little white lie at the start of a relationship? And there are worse things to lie about than ice cream… aren’t there?

‘Alex, where are you? I can hear water running.’ ‘I’m… yeah… I’m actually in the bathroom – at court.’

‘Hannah…’ He looks behind me into the office. ‘Is somebody else here with you?’ ‘No,’ I say, irritated. ‘So you’re on your own?’ he asks again. ‘Yes, of course – why are you asking?’ ‘I was worried… I thought I saw someone.’ ‘When? Now?’ I’m really creeped out. Can he see someone behind me? I daren’t turn round to look. ‘Not at the moment, but I swear I saw someone leave. They were coming from the back of the building.’ I feel a shiver run down my spine. ‘That’s why I came to the door,’ he explains.

‘Looks like you’re drinking with me after all, babes!’ The sensible thing would be to call the breakdown people, but, as Jas points out, it’s freezing and it will mean us standing around for at least a couple of hours and this is our night out.