Page 26 of The Blind Date

“Right.” I reluctantly agreed and tuned back into the conversation, still not convinced. “Yasmin, Alfie, my parents tell me you’ve all entered a golf competition together.”

"Yes, we have,” Yasmin confirmed with an excited grin, turning to glance at my parents. "I don't know about you folks, but I'm so excited about it. I didn't think we'd pass the first round, let alone qualify for the quarter-finals, but here we are.”

“I really think we have a shot of winning this tournament,” Alfie piped up.

"When we started playing together a few months ago, I never thought we'd make it this far,” Mum added, and they all murmured in agreement.

“What are the prizes?” I asked, having forgotten to ask earlier.

"I think the first prize is a set of new expensive golf clubs for all of us, and a year membership to the golf club we play at.”

“That’s exciting. What about second and third?”

"Second is the year membership, and third is a cash prize, I think."

"Oh, Saffron, you have to come to our next game." Yasmin turned to me, Alfie nodding beside her. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but there was something familiar about these two. Especially Alfie. It was like I knew him from somewhere.

“I’ll definitely be there. I’m looking forward to watching you all play.”

Mum and Yasmin shared a knowing look with matching secretive grins on but before I could ask about it, I got pulled into a conversation with Dad and Alfie. Even though I was half the age of everyone at this table, the conversation flowed freely, and surprisingly, I found myself having a good time. The only thing missing was the food, but we had already placed our orders, so it shouldn't be much longer now.

I leaned over to whisper to Mum, “I’ll be back in a few minutes. I just need to use the bathroom.”

“Your dad’s secret hangover cure?” She asked, and I nodded.

As effective as Dad's secret hangover cure was, the only side effect was that it had you going to the bathroom. A lot.

ChapterFive

One moment I was walking down the hallway to the bathroom, and the next, I stopped dead in my tracks. My eyes blinked rapidly, unable to believe what I was seeing right now. Or more specifically, who.

“Fancy running into you here.” A familiar voice greeted me with an even more familiar insufferable smirk. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were stalking me.”

I did a double-take to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me. Was this an unknown effect of Dad's hangover cure?

Was I hallucinating?

I had been walking down the hallway to the bathroom when I spotted him. His brown hair was slicked back today, and the lighting seemed to make his eyes look even greener, all but piercing into my soul. He looked taller and broader today as well. As if he had spent hundreds of hours working out in the gym since I had last seen him. Or perhaps the crisp white shirt stretched over the broad expanse of his chest was a tad bit too tight?

Was his smirk different? Less insufferable? More pleasant?

Or was I seeing him in a new light?

“Why are you looking at me like you’ve seen a ghost?” Cedric finally broke the uncomfortable silence and snapped me out of my thoughts.

I returned his signature obnoxious, narcissistic smirk with a deep-set frown.

“Ifeellike I’ve just seen a ghost,” I murmured under my breath, too quiet for him to hear.

"What was that?" He asked, pretending like he hadn’t heard me, though the slight twitch of his lips gave him away.

“Nothing,” I denied quickly and shook my head, not wanting to delve into my confusing thoughts. “What are you doing here, Cedric?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” He grinned and pushed himself up from the wall. “I have to admit, Saffron Remington, I didn’t expect to run into you today.”

"I didn't expect to run into you today either," I frowned. I hoped never to see Cedric again, but somehow, two days later, here we were. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here for a Sunday roast with my parents,” he answered.

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