‘Really, though, it means a lot that you’d risk becoming a meme for me.’ Maeve had mastered the pretzel and was speaking to me through a gap in her arms. ‘Especially when you have to go straight to your date, with potential yoga sweat.’
I felt my heart rate increase. The second date. I genuinely couldn’t remember the last time I’d been on one. What did people talk about when all the obvious small-talk opportunities had been used up?
‘I think I’m safe from exerting enough energy to activate my sweat glands.’ I raised an arm up so it looked like I was participating. ‘You’ll be all right, though, whilst I’m gone?’
She nodded. ‘It was a shock. Who expects to receive their underwear in the post? But I’d rather a clean break than a messy one.’
I nodded. Messy breaks were the thing of nightmares. At least, if Bill Webber was anything to go by.
‘Besides, he never said I had to post his stuff back. And I am definitely keeping the Phoebe Bridgers vinyl that he lent me.’
I laughed quietly to avoid the stink eye from the instructor. ‘That’s the spirit.’
I mustn’t have looked convinced, because she continued. ‘I’m going to be alone for an hour, max. Rory is meeting me for ice cream after he’s finished at the climbing wall.’
Rory had really stepped up in the aftermath of Maeve and Adrian’s breakup, spending more time with her than he had maybe ever. If anyone was going to have the goss about his date, it was Maeve. I entered stealth mode.
‘How is Rory? I haven’t seen him much this week.’
Maeve smirked. ‘That’s what a jam-packed dating life will do to you.’
I choked on my next question. Well, that had been easy. ‘Dating life?’
‘Erm yeah, remember? Hot chemistry teacher? Meeting him at 11.30?’ She shot me a weird look. ‘That shouldn’t be new information. Has the blood rushed to your head? You’ve been sat in foetal for a while.’
I sat up, ignoring the glares from around me. ‘Jesus, I thought yoga people were meant to be full of serotonin. I’m aware of hot chemistry teacher, thank you very much. I meant Rory.’
She suddenly became very interested in her downward dog. ‘Oh, right. Yeah.’
I copied her, shuffling my mat so that I was right by her face. ‘That’s all I get?’
From the front of the room, the instructor encouraged us all to slowly return to our feet for final stretches. I held my arm behind my neck.
‘I think he’s been on a couple of dates. Nothing ground-breaking.’ Maeve closed her eyes. ‘You know what he’s like. Give it one more date and he’ll have found some minor reason to call it off.’
She had a point. Ever since his breakup with Lottie, he’d found every reason under the sun not to let things get serious with anyone else.
‘I can’t believe he didn’t tell me about that.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘If we sent round an alert every time someone went on a date lately, we’d never be able to relax. Anyway, aren’t you going to be late for this date?’ She checked the time on her phone as she rolled up her mat. ‘It’s past eleven.’
I looked at the time on my own phone. 11:10. Shit.
***
Isaac was staring at me, and not in a smitten ‘I need to get my hands on you’ kind of way.
‘What?’ I put my doughnut back in its brown paper bag. ‘What are you staring at?’
He laughed. ‘It’s just, have you been outdoors this morning?’
I froze. Maybe my half-hearted downward dog had activated my sweat glands after all. I tucked some hair behind my ear and tried to take a subtle sniff. The coast was clear. Dove deodorant was all I was getting. Isaac reached over and pulled a leaf from my hair. Oh.
‘I didn’t realise I was dating such an outdoorsy type.’
Dating? Were we dating? Fear crept up my spine.
‘You are not dating an outdoorsy type.’ I would lie about my career, but not this. That was how you ended up on a hike, pretending you enjoyed sleeping in a tent. ‘You’re on a second date with someone who would do anything for their friends.’
I hoped he didn’t take offence at my slight correction. We weren’t dating.
‘How’s your doughnut?’ I took a bite of mine again, the chocolate oozing out. Isaac had gone for vanilla (I was trying not to hold it against him).
‘Phenomenal, as always.’ His tongue caught the sugar on his top lip.
‘Did you ever play that game at birthday parties? Where you had to resist licking your lips the longest?’
I tried it now, swerving the sugar crystals accumulating above my lip. Joe had been awful at that one, a lot happier when playing pass the parcel. He’d hated the messiness of the sugar – I laughed as I shared this with Isaac.
‘Are you close to your brother, then?’ Isaac picked up on my comment as we started to walk again, passing a busker who was playing a cover of ‘Here Comes the Sun’ and had encouraged a small crowd to stop and get their phones out.
I thought of Joe, who’d sent me a text this morning asking for advice about colour palettes. I got the sense that he was in way over his head with this wedding. As maid of honour, I had a feeling I was going to be looped in on a lot of minor wedding debates that I didn’t fully understand. I said as much to Isaac.
‘Wow, maid of honour. My sisters would not trust me with that kind of responsibility.’
He had two sisters – one in university, and one fresh out of it.
‘I’m lucky that Joe and I get on so well now that we’re adults. Our circle of friends is really close.’
