The Unexpected Date

Her friend's advice had been to look around her...

- CLAUDIA CARROLL

She was nervous. He was late. She'd just had her hair blow-dried especially. He looked like he'd just come from the gym, still wearing trainers and smelling like he'd forgotten - or hadn't even bothered - to shower.

Meanwhile, she had done just about everything she possibly could to prepare for a first date, but then she was a thorough kind of person and prided herself on always, always being prepared. She had familiarised herself with his online profile until she almost knew it better than her own. She practised small talk. She'd even practiced her own answer to the dreaded question, "so tell me all about yourself". Just like all the dating websites advised you to. Although why she bothered, she didn't know.

They'd met for dinner at his behest, which was kind of unusual - in her experience, a coffee date was standard for any first meeting. The coffee was safe. A coffee date was generally in daylight and both parties were free to decide as to whether they wanted to see each other again. Not only had this guy asked her to dinner, but he'd even gone and booked La Cava, an achingly cool Michelin-starred tapas restaurant and one of the most expensive in the city. Initially, she felt this augured well for a first date - up until then, they'd only swapped profile pictures and texted each other, but as her best friend Linda reassured her, "He must like the sound of you to book La Cava!"