Page 55 of Falling for You
It’s a picture of a tall blonde guy. He’s wearing a sequinned unitard and is kissing the man next to him, fully on the lips.
‘Well, we thought that at first,’ Penny says, as though it’s no big deal at all. ‘But he was the only American guy we could find! He wasn’t even on the guest list – he was tagged in a picture from the night.’
‘And we thought he could be bisexual!’ Tanya says quickly, desperate to keep the fantasy alive. ‘He’s American, it says so in his profile.’
I scroll through the pictures. ‘He’s definitely not bisexual.’
‘How do you know that?’ Penny arches an eyebrow at me. ‘You’re just making an assumption based on his photos.’
‘No,’ I say, turning the phone to face them, ‘I’m making an assumption based on the “I’m gay, I’m great, I’m gorgeous” T-shirt he’s wearing.’
‘Oh.’ Tanya bites her lip. ‘We didn’t see that.’
I roll my eyes, but I can’t help but laugh. ‘You got me then,’ I say. ‘For a second I really thought you’d found him.’
‘We looked through every guy on the list,’ Tanya says earnestly. ‘It took us hours.’
I feel a pang of guilt. ‘Well, thank you. I guess he has just disappeared into the ether.’
‘Or maybe you imagined him,’ Penny says helpfully, and I give her a look.
‘I’m not that desperate.’
‘Yet.’
‘Shut up.’
‘I know what will cheer you up,’ Tanya says. ‘They’re hosting another speed-dating session down at the Clapham Arms next Saturday.’
Penny groans. ‘That’s not fair, I want to go.’
I smile. Speed dating has become a bit of a weird tradition between the three of us. We first went at university when we were all still single. Tanya had been unceremoniously dumped by some loser called Euan, and Penny found a local speed-dating session that same night. We got pissed and decided to go, and it turned out to be one of the funniest nights of the year. We all put on different accents and set ourselves stupid challenges (I had to see how many times I could say the word ‘peacock’ and Penny had to convince everyone that she thought she was a real wizard). By the end of it, Tanya could barely remember Euan’s name.
‘Can’t you come and just make up a persona?’ I ask.
Penny scrunches her nose. ‘That feels a bit unethical.’
‘Or,’ Tanya says, her eyes wide, ‘why don’t youandMike go and you can pretend you don’t know each other and then, like, sexily meet at the end …’
Penny kicks Tanya from under the covers. ‘Stop getting turned on about me and Mike, you weirdo.’
Tanya laughs. ‘Well, I’m definitely going. Annie?’
‘Yeah,’ I grin. ‘Count me in.’
CHAPTER TWENTY
Nate
‘Here you are, then.’
I look up as Remy hands me a plastic pint of yellowy, foamy liquid. I take it in my gloved hands and immediately take a sip.
We arrived at Stamford Bridge about an hour ago. I met Remy outside Fulham Broadway station at nine in the morning, just like we’d planned the week before. I was surrounded by a sea of football fans, all swarming out of the station, chanting and jostling each other in their blue football shirts, and I suddenly felt a bit like an alien in my green sweatshirt.
As soon as we got into the stadium, I ran to the merchandise stand and bought the first Chelsea shirt I could see, blaming the eye-watering cost on the conversion rate. I pulled it on over my sweatshirt and immediately felt like I’d put some armour on. I may not fully understand the rules, but at least I was now blending in with the crowd.
Remy was wearing his flat cap, jeans and a blue Chelsea football shirt. He held his hand out for me to shake as soon as he saw me. Now we’re sitting in our cold plastic seats waiting for the game to start.
