The wonders of adulthood had yet to amaze and astound me. The only good thing about my life was the fact that I had moved out of my backwards village to live in London. And of course London had everything; shops, theatre, clubs, pubs, art, music and culture. Where I grew up there was about enough culture in the whole village to fill an egg cup. But in London I was spoilt for choice, admittedly I did now spend most of my free time going to art exhibitions and installations. Socialising with talented and highly respected members of society that had no idea that I was a complete nobody when it came to the art world.

There we go, all fixed. Eddie said triumphantly, straightening up and sticking his belly out.

I shuddered inwardly, how anyone could find that attractive was beyond me. Would have been good for a cuddle if times were tough , but they would have to be pretty damn tough to put up with that smell at such close proximity. I pulled myself back to my desk but Eddie was still lingering at my side.

Trix, can I ask you something? he asked, his
eyes darting nervously around, settling anywhere but on my face.

Sure Eddie, as long as its not maths. I joked, chuckling to myself. I had a tendency to say that in awkward and inappropriate situations, similar to this one.

Would you be interested in going out for a drink with me sometime?

Oh *****! I smiled kindly, not wanting to show how utterly scared I was at that proposition. Now all I had to do was let him down smoothly and compassionately, without sounding like I was a patronising ***** ***** who took pleasure in watching men suffer from rejection. Not that I was of course. And if it wasn’t for my lack of tact and verbal diarrhoea in awkward situations, I wouldn’t of just sat there for a minute staring blankly at the poor guy who was becoming more and more nervous as the seconds ticked by.

Wow Eddie, that was unexpected. When were you thinking?

I couldn’t believe those words just came out of my mouth, I felt bad, I felt awful. I didn’t want to go on a date with him just as much as I didn’t want my legs amputated. *****, this was going to be hard to get out of. Well if he suggests a night and I say Im busy, oh well some other time maybe, maybe as in never. Then I wouldnt be too much of a *****.