Page 28 of The Fallback

‘Since when did it become acceptable to wear tracksuits?’ Rosie grumbled but grabbed the pair from him and against her better judgement went into the bathroom in Mitch’s flat to try them on. She knew Mitch well enough to realise she was not going to hear the end of it until she actually did what he had asked and tried the damn things on.

‘You won’t regret it!’ he called after her and she turned and frowned at him, almost walking straight into the wall as she did so.

‘See!’ he said in triumph when she eventually came back into his sitting room.

Rosie had been stood in the bathroom for at least ten minutes, turning this way and that, trying to get a sight of her bum in Mitch’s tiny bathroom mirror. What was it about men and not having proper-sized mirrors?

‘They look great!’ he said enthusiastically, standing up to admire her from all angles. Rosie wished he meantshelooked great, not the lounge pants. ‘How do they feel?’

Rosie fixed him with a stare. ‘Promise not to make a big deal of this?’

Mitch nodded.

‘They feel amazing.’ Her expression changed from one of irritation to one of delight. ‘Better than amazing, these are like the best trousers I’ve ever worn!’ She paused, running her hands over her thighs. ‘But just because you’re right on this occasion,’ she waved a finger at Mitch, ‘it doesnotmean you are always right.’

Mitch laughed and sat down on his sofa, pulling her down with him. ‘Promise never to mention it again,’ he said and reached for the remote control. ‘But I get to pick what we watch tonight.’ He turned the TV on. ‘Because I’m always right,’ he said with a grin.

Rosie swatted him but he caught her hand and pulled her under his shoulder, wrapping his arm around her. Rosie smiled and didn’t argue. She was happy where she was, under Mitch’s arm, wearing the comfiest trousers she had ever owned.

NOW

Rosie pulled the cord tight on her trousers to stop the onslaught of memories with an overly tight waistband – who could be distracted by cosy memories when it felt like you were slicing your stomach in half? She walked through to her kitchen and bent to open her fridge, thinking food might work as a distraction, but she really couldn’t face eating anything and anyway now her trousers were too tight. The chocolate cake earlier was delicious but it was still sitting heavy in her stomach; at least that was what she was blaming her discomfort on and not the acid reflux brought on by being judged by her sister-in-law for contemplating having babies with her best friend in what might be the world’s oddest bargain.

Sighing, she slammed the fridge shut and decided a tea would do instead. She glanced at the time on her phone – still nothing from Mitch, and too late for caffeine. Rosie opened a box of peppermint tea, stuck a bag in a mug and leaned against the counter waiting for the kettle to boil. She may as well get on with it; scrolling through her phone, she belatedly remembered that not only had she deleted her profiles from all of the dating apps, she had gone one step further and deleted the apps from her phone, too.

Deciding it would be easier to start from scratch on her laptop, she took the mug over to her table and opened her laptop, letting out what was another overly dramatic sigh for someone who lived alone and was not going to receive her due concern from an audience. This was not how she wanted to spend her Sunday evening. She was tired from all the family time and still grumpy about Jasmine’s third-degree scrutiny.

After her mum had interrupted them, Rosie didn’t get the chance to be alone with Jasmine again. She wasn’t sure if her outburst really was brushed away and they were back properly talking to each other, or just acting polite in front of the rest of the family. Rosie wasn’t wild about the fact that she had told Jasmine that she’d agreed to Mitch’s proposal, but now that Jasmine knew, and despite the fact she was still cross with her and probably wouldn’t like any of her advice, Rosie still craved hearing it.

Irritably, Rosie opened up a new tab on her laptop and looked through her browsing history, wondering exactly how long it had been since she’d been on any dating apps. Sunday evenings were usually reserved for going to the cinema, letting Mitch pick the film, and then teasing him mercilessly about his choice for the rest of the week – his taste in films almost as bad as his taste in music. But also refusing to pick their next film because part of the fun was seeing what hopelessly romantic comedy Mitch would choose next.

Or, if there was nothing on at the cinema, Mitch might come to hers with a bottle of wine and in the mood for mindless TV. She’d lost a summer of evenings one year toLove Islandbefore she had finally gone cold turkey and banned Mitch from ever talking of it again.

‘Just think of all the things we could have achieved in the time we’ve spent watching this rubbish,’ she had shouted at him, blaming him for their addiction, after yet another housemate drama had left her feeling slightly dirty and used. But Mitch had merely laughed and asked her if she’d like to tryThe Bacheloretteinstead. Rosie tapped the mousepad on her laptop and wished she was watching reality TV with Mitch instead. Ironically, this was supposed to be fun, or at least the end result was meant to be, but Rosie thought she’d pick a root canal over online dating and scowled at her screen in silent fury. At least at the dentist – or most dentists – you were too numb to be expected to be witty and sparkling or to look years younger than you actually were.

Hinge, Bumble, Match, LetsGetChemical. Rosie peered at her screen, she didn’t even remember that last one. She cast her mind back…Oh.

THEN

‘There!’ said Mitch triumphantly, pushing himself back from Rosie’s kitchen table and making her fold-up chair squeak in protest. ‘Want to look?’ he asked.

‘What am I looking at?’ Rosie walked over, rubbing her hands clean on a tea towel and then resting her elbows on his shoulders. It was her turn to make dinner and she had left Mitch installing an update on her laptop. At least that’s what he said he was doing but now looking at the screen, Rosie had a lot of questions.

‘What’s this?’ she asked in surprise.

‘LetsGetChemical!’ Mitch replied, smiling up at her.

‘Icanread Mitch,’ she said. ‘What is it and why is it on my computer? Are you shirking your duties? I asked you to update Windows, not scroll through some random website. Hang on…’ Rosie paused and looked closer at the screen. ‘Why am I on this?’ she turned to look at Mitch.

‘Why am I on that site, Mitch?’ she asked, a note of panic rising in her voice.

‘It’s a dating site,’ he said, slightly taken aback by her response.

‘Oh, Mitch, no,’ she groaned. ‘Please tell me you haven’t signed me up for another dating site.’

‘Yup!’ he grinned at her. ‘What?’ he asked, seeing the look on her face.

‘I don’t want to be on another dating site, Mitch!’ she protested. ‘They’re all a waste of time.’

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