Hello! Happy Valentine’s Day, and welcome to my penultimate February love story.
All month I’ve been writing stories based on these prompts by Jericho Writers. Today’s story was inspired by this prompt:
You didn’t realise that when you arranged to meet, they would also bring their boyfriend.
It’s a story about being brave enough to start again. Also about Korean stew. I’d recommend pairing it with a glass of something fizzy and Tougher Than The Rest by Bruce Springsteen.
If you enjoy this story, please subscribe to read more - I’m hoping to share one more story before Valentine’s Day is over, and I’d love to stay in touch after then too. You can also share this story so more people can enjoy it.
Lots of love,
Grace
Joe says "What was your most embarrassing moment ever?"
Rose thinks "I wonder if every question he asks me on this date is going to come from the Guardian Weekend weekly celeb interview?"
Rose says "I applied for a job once, by email, and instead of my CV I attached a video of myself lip-syncing to Taylor Swift. That's probably on the list."
"Why did you have a video of yourself - "
"Lockdown."
"Ah."
"What about you, then? Most embarrassing moment?"
Joe takes a deep breath and then says "About twenty years ago - I would have been in my early 20s - there was this woman I worked with. Stella."
Rose thinks "Did he say her name was Stella or that she was stellar?"
Joe says "Her name was Stella. I thought she was the most beautiful woman in the whole world. We talked all the time, but only about work stuff, and I desperately wanted to ask her out but I was terrified that she'd say no. But one day she lets it slip that her birthday is coming up, and in a rare moment of bravery I say "Well, if you're free on your birthday I'd love to take you for dinner." And to my amazement she says yes."
"So I book a restaurant, the day comes, I'm so nervous that I spend about four hours worrying about what to wear and I end up getting there late. Just a few minutes late, but when I walk into the restaurant she's already there, sitting at the table, and she spots me and stands up to greet me, and so does her boyfriend."
"What?"
"Yeah. I'd clearly misunderstood the situation."
"I'd say she had."
"Well, maybe. Either way it was excruciatingly embarrassing. Three courses chatting to both of them. And what was worse is I still ended up paying."
"No!"
Joe has told this story many times over the years. He's never told anyone the next bit before, but after a deep breath he says
"I sort of think of that dinner as my origin story."
Rose thinks "Oh god. Incel. Finish your wine and get out - wait, have I been in full sight of this glass the whole time?"
She says "Oh yeah?"
Joe says "After the 'date', I went home on the bus, fuming, cursing myself all the way. My housemates were all like "hey, how was your dinner?", because, remember, I'd been raving about this woman for weeks. Months. I think I just mumbled that we didn't get on, and then went straight to bed. I remember lying there thinking how, how can I make sure I never make a mistake like that again?"
Rose thinks "Definitely an incel."
"And then - and I think you're probably going to find this difficult to believe," Joe goes on, "when I woke up the next morning, something was different."
"Different how?"
"I could read minds."
Rose thinks "How long would it take me to get to the door, if I make a run for it? Thank god I didn't wear heels."
"You're thinking I might be dangerous," says Joe.
"Oh, don't do this bit. Of course I'm thinking that. Anyone would."
She thinks "Does this ever work for him?"
"You're wondering if this ever works for me."
"Easy guess. Please stop it."
"When you arrived here this evening you thought I was cute but that you don't like this jumper I'm wearing."
"So you know you're cute but you weren't sure about the jumper. I’m gonna - ”
She gets up from the table and picks up her coat, thinking that at least there’s food in the fridge she’s looking forward to eating when she got home, a kimchi-jjigae stew she made last night, and she's about to walk away when he says
"Kimchi-jjigae?"
She's frozen for a moment. Then she spins slowly around to look at him.
"I told you I wasn't making it up," he says, almost apologetically.
She comes back and sits down.
"Honestly," she says, "I feel like you'd have better luck if you didn't lead with it."
He smiles.
"I don't know if there's a good time," he says, "Let's say for some mad reason you agree to go on some more dates with me. Say we're still seeing each other a month from now. How would you feel if I told you, then, that I'd known everything you were thinking the entire time?"
She thinks "He's got a point."
She says "Did your wife know?"
He shakes his head. "I met her when I'd been like this for about a year. And there was never a good time."
"Bet you never forgot your anniversary."
"No. There were upsides. I used to call her on the way home from work, and even if she didn't tell me she'd had a bad day I'd know anyway. So I could stop off for flowers. That sort of thing. But this - " He gestures to his temples. "This is why we broke up, in the end."
"Aw. Let me guess. She cheated on you, and you knew."
"No...well, yes, actually. She did cheat on me but I didn't mind that so much."
"What?"
"Well, she was unhappy. I just wanted her to be happy. No, it was a while after that. I realised...well, I realised she just didn't love me any more." He hears his voice catch, and realises what they're talking about. "God. Sorry. This is pretty heavy first date stuff."
"Don't worry. In a bit I can tell you all about the two years I stayed in bed with depression after Mark died."
She thinks "It's good to talk about something real."
"Oh, good," he says.
"Go on."
"Anyway, the way she thought about me got...pretty horrible, to be honest. By the time we'd been married ten years she pretty much hated me."
"How long were you married?"
"Fifteen years."
"You stayed five years with a woman who hated you?"
"I didn't have any reason to believe anyone else would be different. I didn't know if anyone else would ever be interested in me."
"What changed your mind?"
"Nothing, really. I just had to leave anyway. I still don't know if I made the right - "
Rose leans across the table and kisses him.
"Oh," he says, after a moment. "I didn't know you were going to do that."
"I didn't either. But I think...I think you were very brave, to leave without knowing what was next. So I wanted to do something brave too."
They smile at each other for a moment.
"I'd like to see him again", she thinks.
"I'd like to see you again," she says.
"I know. I’d like to see you again, too."
"Oh, and I'd love you to meet my boyfriend. I'll bring him next time."
"Shut up."