Free How to Get a (Love) Life by Rosie Blake Page A

majority of the bottle into my own glass and taking a large gulp.
    ‘And Josh has actually begun to work, but only because his parents are going to buy him an air rifle if he passes the year.’
    ‘It’s a start,’ I said, horribly enthusiastically.
    ‘I suppose,’ he relented. His face softened a fraction. ‘Then there’s Adam. He’s a nice guy.’
    ‘Really?’ I encouraged, swallowing the last mouthful of my risotto.
    ‘Yes, he reminds me of me when I was that age,’ he said wistfully.
    I didn’t dare ask what Andrew had been like in his youth. I certainly didn’t expect ‘popular, confident, go-getting’ to make it into the description.
    ‘Yes, Adam isn’t appreciated by the other students, but one day they’ll realise Adam has a lot to offer the world.’
    ‘Absolutely, I’m sure Adam will,’ I smiled, almost with a wink. These positive thoughts of Adam had, I think, managed to bring Andrew back from the Dark Side, and he returned to the pleasant version of himself I’d met at the start of the date. I straightened in my chair, pleased to have been some help to Andrew. It felt good.
    The coffee passed without further mishap. Andrew seemed … alright. But my stomach was hardly flipping at the thought of seeing him again any time soon. In fact, at ten o’clock, I was keen to get home to my book and a hot-water bottle. The fact that Andrew seemed less of an appealing option than a hot-water bottle solidified the notion that he probably wasn’t The One . It was with these thoughts whirling through my mind that I found myself outside the door to my apartment block with Andrew looking a little nervous by my side. I gave him a slightly awkward smile and indicated my door.
    ‘So! This is me.’
    ‘I’ve had a lovely evening,’ he smiled.
    ‘Yes. Thank you for dinner. It was delicious.’
    ‘It was,’ he said. ‘And it was excellent to meet you, Nicola. You are a very special lady.’
    ‘Well, thank you.’ I offered my hand for him to shake. It instantly felt wrong. He took it and we did an odd sort of limp shake. Damn. I should have given him a kiss on the cheek. But would that have given him the wrong idea? I was so out of practice.
    ‘We’ll have to do it again sometime,’ Andrew said cheerily.
    ‘Yes, yes. I am quite busy with work at the moment.’ His face fell. I felt bad. ‘But um, well, a film might be … um …’ I shrugged awkwardly.
    ‘There’s a new Coen Brothers film coming out next week if you’re interested? Maybe we could go to that?’
    ‘That might be possible,’ I said, searching my handbag for the door key.
    ‘That would be wonderful ,’ he gushed.
    ‘Possibly. Right, well,’ I indicated my door again. ‘Long day tomorrow and all that.’
    Andrew moved determinedly towards me. I backed away, jabbering. ‘ Lots to do, sleep. I need some sleep! Okay, so I best …’
    Andrew was leaning in so closely that my entire field of vision was taken up by his head. The flecks of cheese remained on his top lip.
    ‘Goodnight,’ I yelped, whipping round like a ninja, plunging my key into the lock and throwing myself over the threshold. I shut the door firmly behind me, catching a last glance of Andrew standing in the dark of the street. Another date? I didn’t think so. I’d have to think of a nice, encouraging, non self-esteem-destroying way to dissuade him. I sighed and headed upstairs to my flat. I plonked down into the sofa. That hadn’t been an enormous disaster, but it hadn’t got me any closer to finding true love with a capital T, capital L either. Obviously, I hadn’t expected to strike gold and be whisked off my feet on the first date with a total stranger, but it would have made this whole thing way easier if Andrew had been The One .
    I turned on the lights in the flat, kicked off my heels and flung my feet over the side of the chair. Picking up yesterday’s newspaper, I idly flicked through the articles. A headline caught my attention. ‘Puppy