Free Love... From Both Sides (A laugh-out-loud romantic comedy) by Nick Spalding Page B

desire not to get sued.
    It was a blatant lie in fact, because I’d actually woken up the next day with a nasty backache, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to admit it.
    Backache is the kind of thing only suffered by men who have completely lost their grip on youth.
    This is not the impression I want to give Laura at the outset.
    She even sounded pleased when I suggested the out of town Barley Corn pub as a location for our date.
    This is the riskiest part of THE PHONE CALL. The place you choose says a lot about your personality. The reaction you get says a lot about hers.
    A girl like sex monster Isobel would have been deeply disappointed with a quaint, quiet country pub like The Barley Corn I have no doubt, as would Annika the Swedish goddess.
    They would probably have both found it far too prosaic and boring.
    I took a chance with Laura though. She struck me as being a down-to-earth, easy going kind of girl who’d appreciate the quiet atmosphere a place like The Barley Corn provides – and I was proved right when she sounded genuinely pleased at my suggestion.
     
    Having arranged to meet at
seven thirty
, I hung up with a huge sigh of relief and instantly began to worry about what the hell I was going to wear…
     

 
     
     
    Laura’s Diary
    Tuesday, May 24th
     
     
    Dear Mum,
     
    Oh my. My luck just might be changing…
    I’m not saying last night’s date was necessarily the start of a love affair for the ages, but I can’t remember the last time I walked away from one as happy as this.
    I’ve heard people talk about ‘clicking’ with someone before. It always sounded like the worst kind of buzzword bullshit to me, but I’ve got an idea of what they’re talking about now.
    Jamie and I just seemed to fit together well and I couldn’t be more pleased.
     
    Blah .
    This is disgusting.
    I’m a twenty eight year old independent woman with her own business and I sound like a giddy schoolgirl.
     
    Three days after the crash Jamie phoned me.
    He’d obviously read all the right dating manuals as this is the accepted time any man should leave before getting in touch. Long enough not to appear desperate, but short enough to seem appropriately interested.
    To tell the truth, the call could have come at a better time as I was waxing my legs – something you want to concentrate on as much as possible, with no outside interference.
    Besides, when a man calls, you want to feel at least a little bit attractive, even though he can’t see you, for the psychological boost if nothing else.
    Being dressed in my fluffy blue dressing gown, biggest period knickers and sporting a set of hairy legs is about as far away from attractive as it’s possible to get.
    It’s the kind of look you don’t want a man to associate you with until at least four years into a relationship.
     
    I could tell Jamie was quite nervous by the speed at which he talked.
    He was kind enough to ask whether Hayley liked her present or not, though he did call her Katy for some reason. I let it slide as the fact he even remembered who the present was for was surprising in itself.
    I suppose the one saving grace of the ridiculous manner in which we bumped into each other was that we had something to talk about in our second conversation.
    Jamie asked about the graze on my leg. I neglected to go into detail about the fifteen pitiable minutes I’d prodded at it with TCP soaked cotton wool, tears brimming in my eyes.
    He did the typical guy thing of shrugging off being body slammed to the road by a frantic blonde on a Vespa.
    I nearly brought up how funny he’d looked hugging his rubber plant like it was about to leave him for another bush, but thought better of it. A man’s ego is fragile enough at times like this and I didn’t want to scare him off.
    Frankly, I was pleased he made light of the accident, just in case the date didn’t work out and he decided to sue me.
    The Barley Corn was a bit out of left field for a location, it has to be