Okay, it was petty. But I’d said I wasn’t hurt any more, not that he didn’t still piss me off. ‘I’m assuming she was one of your other six matches, on Level?’
Isaac was obviously confused, wondering where I was going with this. ‘Yes, but –’
‘Well, you know how I said I worked in app development? Level is my app.’ I held out my hands as if I’d just produced a paper flower from my sleeve. ‘Virtual Cupid, here in the flesh.’
His expression told me one thing for sure; there was no way he’d seen that article about Rory and me. He looked mortified, but he recovered quicker than I’d anticipated. ‘Ha-ha.’
‘Nope, 100 per cent not kidding. Enjoy your date.’ I pulled out my phone again, reading Ella’s response to the email I’d just sent and making a mental reminder to tell her not to work after six. Isaac clearly felt uneasy, like he wanted to ask me to elaborate. Tough shit. I’d wanted a bit more of an explanation too. I hoped it was all he could think about over his spaghetti bolognese.
‘Penny, hi.’ Thank fuck. Daniel had popped up behind us, pulling me in to kiss me on the cheek. Perfect timing.
Finally, Isaac sprung back into life. ‘Okay, well I’m going to go.’ He looked awkwardly between us, clearly doing the maths and realising that I hadn’t, after all, been hanging out on my own for the past few weeks.
‘Nice seeing you, Isaac. Enjoy the food.’ I watched him go into the restaurant, meeting a woman at the bar and kissing her on the mouth. When she turned back to the drinks menu she was holding, he looked around, his eyes fixing on us one more time. ‘Who was that?’ Daniel squeezed my side.
‘No one.’ He didn’t need my baggage, and I wasn’t really in the mood to give it. ‘But, how do you feel about not eating here?’
Full credit to him, he recovered quickly from the conversational whiplash. ‘Whatever you want. Let’s do it.’
***
Forty minutes later and we were sitting on the Southbank, eating cheese toasties bigger than our heads.
‘I think I’m approaching a cheese coma.’ I groaned as I took another bite. ‘Whoever decided that cheddar and mozzarella wasn’t enough, and that they needed to add Red Leicester too, was a genius.’
Daniel was mid bite, and he nodded. ‘I can see why you’re the woman in charge at work. This was a great move.’
I marvelled at the impressive cheese pull when I took another bite. ‘Who needs pretentious pasta when you can stuff fries into your toastie?’
I did as I’d described, only clocking Daniel’s expression when I came up for air. ‘Not that I wasn’t looking forward to pretentious pasta.’
He cleared his throat. ‘No, you’re right. Even if we might be slightly overdressed.’
It did look kind of ridiculous; both of us sat on the ground and clearly dressed for somewhere fancier. I’d worn one of my own dresses for once, a red slinky number that I saved for the minimal occasions where a guy was guaranteed to take it off. I’d paired it with tiny gold hoops and black heels with gold detailing. Maeve had gone out after work so I’d dressed myself without her help, and I was pretty pleased with the end result. Daniel was wearing a black shirt and chinos, and I could smell his aftershave when I leaned in to pinch one of his fries. There was no denying it; the man was hot.
‘I’m sorry that we swerved the restaurant. I know the reservation was probably ridiculously hard to get.’
He smirked. ‘Not when you know the right people.’
Who did he know? I ignored the slightly obnoxious tone. It was a flex to secure a table there at the last minute. My thumbs itched to try and find his social media footprint again.
‘Anyway, this is much better. I won’t ask about the guy you were trying to avoid. Don’t want to kill the mood.’
Everyone at work said that the golden dating rule was to not bring up someone you’d previously dated. Unless it was an icebreaker about your worst first dates (Rory and I had led that icebreaker on our first day in the office as a full team – Ella had won. She’d once sat across from a woman for two hours who’d picked her nose ‘secretly’ behind her menu. Gross). But I wasn’t looking for a relationship from Daniel, and it wasn’t like I’d been in a relationship with Isaac.
‘Just a man who ghosted me.’ I polished off the final bite of my toastie. ‘A man I met on my own app, can you believe that? Level really did me dirty.’
Daniel laughed. ‘That’s rough.’
‘Yep.’ I took a swig of Fanta. ‘You probably should know, though, that I’m not looking for anything serious.’
I was 99 per cent sure that the feeling was mutual – it was like an unspoken agreement. But I’d heard enough horror stories to know that it probably should be spoken.
As predicted, Daniel was on board. ‘The best mindset for dating. I’m having a lot of fun with you.’
‘I’m having fun with you too.’ I smiled when he slid an arm around my waist. ‘I’ve actually never had one. A relationship, that is.’
For the first time ever, when I said it out loud, I felt a bit self-conscious. What had started out as a badge of independence now felt a little bit like something I had to hide.
‘I’d like to say I didn’t know that already,’ Daniel said, reciprocating my embarrassment, ‘but I did a quick Google of Level and–’
I groaned. ‘I forgot. Plastered all over the internet for everyone to see.’ There was no way I could hide that one, even if I wanted to. I cursed Influence.
‘I wouldn’t say all over the internet. I’m sure there are some dark corners that don’t know about Penny Webber’s relationship status.’ He shot me a smile, and I was happy to have had the conversation defused with a joke.
‘I just haven’t found that spark yet. I’m not even sure I know what that spark is meant to feel like.’ I debated asking him why he was a social media ghost, but I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing about my own internet stalking attempts.
He nodded now, finishing off the last of his food.
‘A dating app was a rogue move for someone who actively avoids dating.’
There it was. The age-old question.
‘It’s not that I actively avoid it.’ I looked out at the river, not wanting to make eye contact in this moment of vulnerability. ‘I just don’t value it like other people do. But if people are going to search for it, I want it to be safe, and fun, and more likely to pair people up according to actual compatibility. I’m still a fan of the old-fashioned meet-cute, and I wanted to create something that felt as close as possible to that.’
Daniel was listening intently. ‘How do you recreate an online version of a ladies’ bathroom meet-cute?’
I flushed. ‘Not the sexiest location, I’ll admit.’
