what if he thought I was one of those anorexic girls who couldn’t handle buffets? My appetite was the one positive attribute guys loved about me. All my male friends were terrified of dating skinny dieting girls who only ordered salads and counted calories—they’d all told me this was my niche. Considering I didn’t have that many, I knew I had to work it.
I mentally said goodbye to the light, refreshing tacos and prepared myself for a second carby dinner. ‘Buffet sounds great.’
‘Are you sure?’ he asked. There it was, my get-out card. I just had to say no and we could get tacos.
‘Yeah, definitely. I’m starving.’
‘Cool, it’s just down here,’ he said, gesturing as we started walking down the high street. ‘So, how has your day been?’
‘Um, pretty uneventful until the past ten minutes,’ I said.
‘Same.’ He laughed. ‘I can’t say I imagined I’d be running down the street behind my first OKCupid date.’
‘This is your first time too?’ I asked.
‘Yeah, I thought I’d give it a try and do something new.’ He shrugged. ‘Everyone kept raving about it at work, so I figured I’d give it a shot. What about you? What made you take the virtual leap?’
‘Um …’ I racked my brains for an appropriate response that didn’t have the phrase ‘slut’ or ‘one-night stand’ in it. ‘Pretty much the same as you, really. Just something different.’
‘Yeah.’ He nodded. ‘I guess I’m just looking for whatever happens, really. Whether that’s a relationship or just … casual fun.’ He looked straight into my eyes and I felt a tingle run up my spine. Thank God I’d shaved my legs and trimmed my bush—one-night stand, here I come.
He looked at me questioningly and I realised I’d stopped walking. ‘Yeah, I’m the same,’ I said. ‘Just looking for whatever life throws at me.’
He raised an eyebrow at me. ‘Are you quoting my dating profile?’
Oh fuck. I was unconsciously reciting the ‘Looking for’ section of his profile. I knew I shouldn’t have read it so many times. ‘Um, unintentionally?’
He laughed. ‘Well, at least you’ve done your homework. Gotta be safe, eh?’
‘Exactly.’ I grinned. ‘So, uh, is this the restaurant?’ We were standing outside the fanciest Chinese restaurant I’d ever seen. Stone lions were wrapped around the columns at the front and the words ‘Red Dragon’ were written in a non-tacky gold.
‘This is it,’ he said. ‘Hope you’re hungry.’
My plate was heaped with Ma Po Tofu, steamed aubergine, egg fried rice and crispy seaweed. The whole thing cost £18.99 and I’d eaten only three chopsticks’ worth.
‘This is so good,’ said JT, as he finished his first helping. ‘Do you not like it? You’ve barely eaten a thing.’ He looked discerningly at the mound of food on my plate.
‘Oh God, no, it’s amazing. I’m just pacing myself.’ I raised my chopsticks to my mouth and forced myself to swallow. It was the nicest Chinese I’d had in years but I was so full of £1.99 tortellini I couldn’t eat it. Typical. ‘Anyway, tell me more about you,’ I said. ‘You work for Marc Jacobs, right? Are you going to get me freebies?’
‘You’re not the first person to ask me that, but no, I’m sorry, those are strictly for me. Shit, that makes me sound very camp doesn’t it?’
‘Yeah, just a bit.’ I smiled. ‘Honestly though, I was pretty relieved when I saw on your profile that you work in IT and not fashion.’
‘Bit more manly, eh?’
‘Totally,’ I replied, wishing I could think of something witty to add. Instead, I reached for my chopsticks and forced more mouthfuls down me.
‘So I know you’re interning for some crazy boss, but what exactly is the magazine? Is it a fashion one?’ he asked.
‘Uh, it’s more just a bit of everything. It’s the London Mag. Have you heard of it?’
‘Obviously,’ he said, leaning back in his chair. ‘It’s the new online one that’s getting bigger each week. I’m impressed.’
‘Yeah, except you forget I’m not actually getting paid for it.’
‘This is some extensive hinting that you can’t get the bill, Ellie,’ he teased. ‘I would have paid anyway, you know.’
I blushed and looked up at him through my layers of mascara in an attempt to look like Ange_xx. ‘I would never expect a man to pay for me.’
He laughed. ‘You’re hilarious. I’m so glad I said yes to this date with you.’
I had no idea what I’d done that was so funny, but if he was enjoying the date, who was I to say otherwise? ‘Me too,’ I said.
‘I was kind of surprised when you asked me out though,’ he admitted.
‘What, why?’ Shit—maybe Emma was wrong and it was still desperate to ask someone out online?
‘I guess I’m not used to forward girls,’ he said.
Forward?! I wasn’t FORWARD. I was a virgin at twenty-one, for Chrissake.
‘Right.’
‘No, it’s not a bad thing. It’s … sexy. I like it. In fact, I like it so much that I’m going to get the bill and rescue you from that plate of food that you clearly don’t want to eat.’
Oh my God, I didn’t have to eat my cold Chinese. This was it—he was officially the one. You could fall in love with one-night stands-to-be, right?
I crossed my legs and flicked my mass of hair over my shoulder as I laughed demurely at JT’s joke. I was perched on a bar stool in the poshest wine bar—OK, only wine bar—I’d ever been to and I was determined to act as elegantly as was required.
‘Another glass of Muscadet?’ asked JT. I nodded enthusiastically and almost toppled off my stool. ‘Careful,’ he said, as he steadied me with his arm.
The only problem was that it was getting quite difficult to act the height of sophistication when my date was plying me with drinks. Was this glass number … four? Five?
I ignored the sensible voice in my head screeching at me to order a tap water and graciously picked up the wine glass the barman put in front of me.
‘Why thank you,’ I said.
‘Anything for the lady,’ said JT. He looked straight into my eyes and I swallowed a laugh.
‘I’ll just have a tap water as well, please,’ I told the barman.
