Hello, thanks for all of your feedback and votes. This chapter is a little slow but I was trying to build the anticipation so I hope you enjoy. Again, please vote and comment, as it's a really good way for me to learn.
Hope you enjoy
Elle x
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I wondered to myself if it would be appropriate to rock up to my date in my jeans and Ugg boots but I had a feeling that the maitre d' probably would frown on ripped Levis and a Barbie Tshirt. This was the thing I hated about dates. They made you analyse the things you hate about yourself in a bid to hide them so that someone would love you. Irritating really.
I huffed a sigh and plonked myself down on my vanity stool. I say vanity stool but mean upturned box in the hallway facing the mirror. Two years moved in and still not completely unpacked. My overanalytical mother would have said that this was because I had commitment issues and she'd be right. However, I realised that this mode of thinking was a means of distraction and I still had to find something to wear for this date that my sister had arranged for me. Huffing another deep sigh of regret, I pulled out my strapless black dress, which had never failed me in the past - although I wasn't sure of what it was to succeed at in this case - and made my way to the bathroom in a bid to make myself beautiful, or at least passable.
Having been on blind dates arranged by my sister before, I had learnt not to hold out much hope, and this time I really wasn't holding out any hope. The guys that I had always preferred to date had been manual workers or at least good with their hands. I loved a bad boy, someone who wasn't quite sure where he was going in life because it meant that I didn't have to worry about that conversation about where we were going and what this relationship meant and more than anything, man was I a sucker for calloused hands that could rip stockings in a fit of passion and soulful temperaments who really weren't all that bothered about money and status.
My sister had always despaired of this as it went against every quality that she looked for in a man and she had tested those qualities extensively with her potential boyfriends before finding Michael who she fell in love with and who luckily happened to be successful and wealthy. So because all of Roni's dreams had come true, and she was living the life of Reilly or some such person, she felt it was her responsibility to provide such dream fulfilment to her little sister.
What she failed to notice however was that her little sister was significantly different from her. I found it difficult to put into words what I wanted, but a carbon copy of my brother in law wasn't it. I loved Mike in the "Hey doofus, how's it going" kind of way - not in the " God I find you so sexy Michael Collins, won't you come and fuck me" kind of a way and so my worry for this prospective date was that this man, this Greg that my sister had set me up with, was the same age as Mike, did the same job as Mike, and was probably in all actuality a Mike mark II. God I was dreading this.
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Greg was kicking himself, nerves having got the better of him. He was pacing in his office and had been doing so for the past hour. He had rules - his life was run by rules and the no blind date rule had been in the top ten. He had always resolved to himself that he would stick to those rules; don't go on them - they're always a fuck up, and yet here he was, breaking his rule so that his friend could continue to get laid by his wife. Frankly it was ridiculous; although if Greg were honest with himself, if he had a wife that looked like Veronica Collins, he'd do everything to ensure he kept her happy too!
He continued pacing and was interrupted by the sound of his office door opening and an exasperated tone,
"Jeez Greg, what's the matter with you? Your constant pacing is giving me motion sickness."
Greg stopped mid pace to look at Tamara, his secretary, or as his colleagues had named her (although never to her face or within ten miles of her earshot), Terror the guard dog. He smiled sheepishly,
"Sorry Tams, was just thinking about something."
"Yes Gregory, I could see you were thinking about something, but what could be so bad that it would cause you to pace the floor like a caged lion?"
He shrugged and started to pace again,
"Greg! Stop! Me and the baby don't like it."
Greg stopped immediately and Tamara congratulated herself. She had been working for Greg for over five years and if there was one thing that she knew, it was that he knew nothing about what was and wasn't normal and acceptable in pregnancy. She was about three quarters of the way through her pregnancy and had had a great deal of fun and had gotten away with murder since she had revealed her condition to her very kind boss.
Greg sank down on his sofa and watched Tamara try and get comfortable in his big leather chair waiting for him to unload his problem. She watched him flick a glance at her and lean his elbows onto his knees sinking the heel of each palm into each eye. Tamara watched him rub his eyes and then look up at her, his cerulean gaze fixed on her.
Blimey, this must be bad, she thought to herself. Greg took a deep breath and started to speak,
"Mike has set me up on a blind date with his sister in law."
"Mike who?"
"Mike Collins"
"Oh! And?"
"What do you mean 'And?' Isn't that enough?"
"Well it's been a while since you dipped your wick - let's be honest - so it's about time you went out on a date, but Mike Collins? Isn't his wife kind of, well, high maintenance?"
Greg exhaled a deep breath,
"Yep"
Tamara rolled her eyes, irritated by the short sharp response,