Break for FREEDOM

If she played her cards right, she might just be able to escape her dating disaster

Lenina was pleasantly surprised as she walked towards him.

He appeared normal. And nice-looking, with his curly brown hair and dark beard to match.

All the others that she had met so far hadn’t looked much like their profile pictures.

There had been Dave. His profile had shown a tall man with piercing green eyes. When she saw him for their date, he looked like he hadn’t washed for days, with his greasy hair and an ill-fitting suit that was stained and stretched. His eyes weren’t green either.

Tom hadn’t been much better. His picture had revealed his athleticism, but in real life she couldn’t help but wonder if he could even identify a pair of running shoes.

Of course it wasn’t all about looks, not at all. But when Darren spoke, he was arrogant, and conversation with Geoff was limited to golf and gambling. And Anthony had gazed at her with such slavish adoration on their very first date, saying how much she looked like his last girlfriend, that she had to make her excuses and leave.

Why had she allowed Caroline to convince her to join love2date.com when she really wasn’t sure about a new romance? But her best friend had been persuasive.

‘It’s been way too long,’ she had said, swivelling her laptop round to face her. ‘You need to get back out there.’

Lenina had grimaced as she gazed at the website with all its clichéd hearts and red and pink balloons.

‘I don’t really want to,’ was her simple reply.