Page 33 of The Blind Date

“I find that hard to believe.” I returned her pointed look, not believing her for a second.

“Me too,” Cedric chimed in, but I didn’t pay him any heed as I was still annoyed with him.

“There you go again,” Yasmin huffed. “The two of you are acting like children.”

Instead of answering, I sighed and pursed my lips. As much as I hated to admit it, they were right. Wewereacting like children.

At this point, everyone in the restaurant was staring at us, but I didn’t care. Sure, I had retaliated and raised my voice just as much as Cedric, but he was the one that had started it by underestimating and talking down to me! I mean, who did he think he was? He wasn't the only one with a stable job that paid well and had a promising career ahead of him.

“If you can’t be civil, we’ll have no choice but to leave.” Mum pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at us.

“I can be civil if he can be civil.” I jerked my thumb in Cedric’s direction, refusing to look at him.

“And I can be civil if she can be civil.”

"Well, that's settled then,” Mum sighed in relief.

“I’m glad that you two have decided to grow up.” Yasmin shot us both a polite smile before they returned to their earlier conversation. Alfie and Dad joined in because their football match was still at half-time, but neither Cedric nor I joined in.

Honestly, it was better this way. At least now I could enjoy my meal in peace.

Unfortunately, it didn’t stay peaceful for long.

“I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but you’re insanely difficult to get along with,” Cedric leaned in to whisper to me even after we were reprimanded like misbehaving children.

“What’s wrong? Did I hurt your frail masculinity when I paid for dinner the other night?”

"Actually, no. It was oddly refreshing to be on the other side of the table for once,” he grinned. "And don’t you worry about my masculinity, darling. It's still very much intact. Now, let's get back on topic. You're very difficult to get along with. Have you never been made aware of that, or do you actively choose to ignore it?”

“If I’m difficult to get along with, then you’re impossible to get along with.”

“And I’m the childish one?”

As tempted as I was to wipe that smirk off his face, I kept my mouth shut and returned my attention to my food. There was no point ruining a perfectly good roast dinner over a man who was impossible to talk to, let alone get along with.

“What? You’re not talking to me anymore?” Cedric asked from beside me, but I responded by tuning into what our mums were talking about, more interested in learning which spa in London was best than what the horrid man next to me had to say.

Cedric persisted in his attempts to get me to talk to him for a while, but I was just as adamant in ignoring him. I would remain civil for the remainder of dinner. But after tonight, I would never see him again. I would make sure of it, even if it meant I had to check with my parents every time before we went out for dinner.

I didn’t care if I woke up tomorrow and we were the last two people on Earth, tasked with populating it. There was no way I would be going less than a foot near Cedric Barlowe ever again.

“You’re acting childish again.” Cedric mimicked his mum’s voice, but I didn’t miss the way he stole a sneaky glance at her, making sure she wasn’t paying attention to us.

Instead of answering him, I rolled my eyes and kept my eyes trained on my meal.

"This is so much more boring when I have no one to talk to," he whined, but his efforts were wasted.

My resolve remained strong. Or rather, that was what I thought.

One moment I was enjoying my roast dinner in peace, paying attention to what our parents were talking about, and the next, a thief came in and stole an integral part of my meal!

“What are you doing?” I whispered harshly under my breath, turning my accusatory glare on him. “You just stole my last roast potato!”

“I didn’t get enough roast potatoes.” Cedric shrugged, still chewing on the crispy-on-the-outside-fluffy-on-the-inside goodness. “And you already had plenty so I just took one.”

“You can’t just take food off someone’s plate!”

"You were ignoring me, so I couldn’t even ask permission for it if I wanted.”

---