Page 51 of The Fallback

Slowly, she looked around Ben, who still had her pinned into her space on the bench and there Mitch was, grinning and waving at his friends. He was wearing a dark grey jacket, which Rosie knew well. She had helped him choose it last winter on an exhausting shopping trip. Mitch had made her go into every shop on Regent Street before deciding that he wasn’t interested in anything in any of them and making her trek back over to Bond Street, where he’d then bought the very first jacket he’d tried on in the very first shop they had been to.

Looking at him now, Rosie had to agree he looked amazing wearing it. Mitch had made it up to her by taking her for drinks on the roof terrace at Selfridges afterwards, where he had disappeared off to the bathroom at one point in the evening, reappearing wearing the jacket and with the number of a girl he had met on the way. And now here he was wearing that same jacket but with a different girl on his arm.

Rosie tried to forget the memories and turned her attention to Jenny. If Rosie had to describe in detail Mitch’s ideal girl, she would have described Jenny; she was petite and looked all the more so tucked up close to Mitch’s tall frame. She had a mass of blonde curls, which framed a pretty and expressive face. Rosie wasn’t sure who looked more pleased with themselves, Mitch or Jenny. Both of them were beaming from ear to ear, so much for being too shy to come on her own, Rosie thought sourly.

If Rosie had been feeling especially catty she would also have commented on the length of Jenny’s skirt but that would make her sound too much like her mother, so she settled instead for feeling extremely jealous of Jenny’s jacket which Rosie could tell, even from this far away, was a beautifully soft leather one.

‘There they are,’ Ben said, turning back to fix Rosie with his gaze. ‘Do you want me to move so you can go meet the new girl?’

Rosie had an uncomfortable feeling that Ben knew exactly what she was thinking. She broke eye contact and mumbled, ‘No, it’s OK, I’ll go in a minute.’

Rosie watched over Ben’s shoulder as Mitch was mobbed by his colleagues. He was always popular but tonight people were intrigued to meet the new girlfriend, about whom they had presumably heard so much already. Rosie knocked back her glass of wine and asked Ben to tell her again about the time he had almost made it at Arsenal.

* * *

The pub garden had begun to spin. Rosie had lost count of the amount of drinks she’d had but so far she had managed to stay out of sight of Mitch. Hiding behind his least favourite colleague had its advantages, she thought, even if it did mean that she had had to make conversation with Ben all evening. Rosie was just beginning to wonder if she could sneak out without Mitch ever having realised she was there and avoid having to meet Jenny.

‘There you are!’ Mitch said with surprise, finally spotting her in Ben’s shadow, ‘Everything OK?’ he asked with concern as he noted Ben’s hand on her knee. ‘Mate,’ he said, nodding quickly in acknowledgement at Ben before he reached over and pulled Rosie to her feet and away from him.

‘Are you OK?’ Mitch asked her again as he led her away from the table.

‘I’m fine,’ she replied, glad not to have to say much more as she was very aware that she was now in danger of slurring her words.

‘I thought you hadn’t come,’ Mitch continued sounding put out. ‘What were you doing withhim?’ he said, indicating his disapproval of Ben.

‘I wasn’tdoinganything,’ Rosie retorted, ‘I was waiting for you. I’ve been here for hours.’

Mitch ignored the resentful tone in her voice. ‘Come and meet Jenny,’ he said enthusiastically, ‘I’ve been looking forward to this all day.’

Rosie said nothing but wrinkled her nose with distaste.

‘Jenny, Rosie; Rosie, Jenny,’ Mitch said, switching his arm from around Rosie to pull Jenny in tight against his body. Rosie did her best to ignore the effect this had on her heart. Jenny beamed up at her.

‘I’ve heard so much about you!’ she said excitedly.

Rosie struggled to produce her best smile. ‘Likewise!’ There was an uncomfortable silence while Rosie and Jenny sized each other up and tried to pretend that they weren’t.

‘I need a drink,’ Rosie said. ‘Can I get either of you anything?’ Not waiting for an answer she dived into the crowd, leaving Mitch watching her go in puzzlement.

Rosie stood outside the bathroom, leaning against the wall trying to get her bearings back. It was darker in the corridor here than in the main pub and she took advantage of the dim lighting to gather her thoughts. Tonight was not going well; she was drunk, she had failed to be polite and calm when meeting Jenny (although she hadn’t actually seen the look on Mitch’s face when she walked off, she could just imagine it). And she had spent far longer than she should have done in conversation with Ben.

This could all be fixed, she thought. Firstly she needed to stop drinking right now. Then she needed to get straight back to Jenny and Mitch and make polite conversation and, finally, she had to avoid Ben for the rest of the evening. She could do this.

‘Rosie!’ Rosie’s head whipped round to look back towards the bar and she saw Mitch coming towards her.

‘Where did you get to? Is everything OK?’

‘I’m fine, Mitch. I was going to the bathroom.’

‘Er, OK.’ Mitch didn’t look like he believed her. ‘Look, I’ll wait here and then we can go to the bar together. Jenny needs a drink, too.’

Rosie tried not to grind her teeth at the mention of Jenny’s name. She merely nodded and went into the bathroom hoping that the queue might be so long that Mitch would lose patience and go back to find Jenny.

But that wasn’t Mitch’s style. If he said he was going to wait, he would wait. She stared at herself in the mirror, willing herself to wake up and find herself back in her own flat, out of this nightmare. But magic was not on her side tonight. Washing her hands in the cold water and playing for time by carefully drying them with a paper towel she made her way back out with a heavy heart and a churning sensation inside. Mitch grinned at her as she walked back out into the pub.

‘What do you think of her?’ Mitch asked as they stood waiting in the queue at the bar.

‘Of who?’ Rosie asked, aware of the stupidity of her response.

---