Peer Pressure (12 page)

Rob considered this, although he was fully aware that she was self-conscious. But he was too polite to call her on it, so indulged her.

“Maybe it’s because we’re strangers to each other?”

“But isn’t that the whole point of taking someone out? Getting to know them better?”

Rob nodded in agreement.

“I guess, we’re all terrified of not living up to a person’s expectations, but don’t feel too bad about it, I can tell you right now that I will probably be a huge disappointment to you.”

Katy smiled, realizing that he was attempting to steer the conversation back to lighter territory. She liked him a lot for doing that.

“Really?”

Rob sat back in his chair and took a sip of his beer.

“Really, so are you still nervous?”

“It’s just...it’s been a long time.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

Katy sniggered at Rob’s attempt at being suave.

“Please, save the flattery.”

However, Rob was being serious.

“No, I’m serious. Listen, that night in the bar, I was going to come over and speak to you.

Did you notice me too?”

Katy was going to lie, but caught herself before she indulged her instinct.

“All right, all right, maybe I did, but you had to ruin it by spilling that drink. Were you nervous?”

“Umm no, I was bumped into.”

Katy and Rob looked at each other for a moment, their eyes catching, before both started to laugh. Rob felt like things were going pretty well, considering that the last two times he had met this woman he had drowned her in lager and almost knocked her out with his weekly
‘big shop’
. Katy, meanwhile, felt twenty years old again. And, indeed, it may have been this feeling which led her to then say what she had been hesitant to say the whole evening.

“Okay, let’s just get something out of the way right now shall we?”

Rob leaned forward again, his interest peaked.

“What’s that?”

“I have a daughter.”

And it was out. The one sentence that Katy could gauge a man’s potential by. Katy expected one of two things might happen at this point. One: Rob would bolt. Or two: he might throw up. The ball was now firmly in Rob’s corner and it would be up to him whether this night ended here and now, or whether he was willing to take it further. Much to Katy’s surprise, he merely responded with,

“Really?”

Katy continued cautiously.

“She’s seventeen, smart, fun and the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Rob took this in, nodding in understanding.

“Now,” Katy continued, “I’ll make this easy for you. If you want to finish your drink, get up, leave and never call, I’ll totally understand. I’m just putting that out there to put you at ease. I don’t like secrets and I don’t like keeping her from people. It’s not fair on me or you.”

Rob said nothing, for a good ten seconds, but his eyes stayed fixed on Katy. She assumed that inside he was considering his options; or more likely he was deciding which line to use to get up from the table and out of the room as quickly and painlessly as possible.

What Katy couldn’t have known was that he was in fact looking at this woman and trying to decide if she was worth the risk and work that comes with being a single parent.

But he had seen something in Katy that night, vulnerability and a desire to have fun that marked her out from other women he had been with. Maybe, after ten years of frivolous, meaningless relationships with a number of girls, he was ready to take a risk. Was she worth the risk? he thought.

“So... do you want to order desert?”

Katy almost couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“I’m serious,” she said, an earnest look on her face. Rob smiled and picked up his menu.

“Me too, I think I’ll have the cheesecake.”

Jodie was sitting on her bed flicking through Facebook on her laptop when the request came in.

‘YOU HAVE ONE NEW FRIEND REQUEST’

Her copy of ‘Jude the Obscure’ lay a few inches from her feet, discarded by the allure of spying on her friend’s lives. From the comfort of her duvet she could see what everybody was up to, what gossip she could obtain on her classmates, who was going out with who, who thought so and so was a dick, the usual.

However, this was not her only motive tonight; she had been searching for Rob. Surely a man of his age would have a page of his own and she was right. After a little determined searching, Jodie found him; a photo of Rob sitting outside a tent at a music festival was staring back at her from the profile picture box.

Inside, she buzzed with excitement and immediately tried to access his photo albums. He had paid attention to his privacy policy and Jodie was denied access as she was not a friend of his. Jodie’s finger hovered over the send friend request link, and this is where it had stayed for a good half a minute, as she tried to figure out whether she would be overstepping some invisible line by asking him to be her online friend. Surely, he being a teacher meant that this would be out of the question. Then again, Jodie reasoned that her age and the fact that she would be leaving school after the next term would make it perfectly acceptable.

Nonetheless, she hesitated and it was this hesitation that made her feel like a twelve year old, too shy to hold hands with the boy she liked. She hated herself for it, felt it betrayed her maturity. But if she was completely honest, when she was alone, she felt no more or less mature than she had four years ago.

This was all going through her mind at the moment she received this friend request of her own. She clicked on the request and a box popped up.

‘SEAN LEWIS SENT YOU A FRIEND REQUEST.’

‘CLICK HERE TO ACCEPT.’

‘CLICK HERE TO IGNORE.’

Jodie couldn’t help but turn her head and look out her window, where she saw Sean sitting in his room, his back to her, typing on his computer. Jodie smiled a little to herself, thinking
why not?
She clicked on ‘
ACCEPT.’

‘YOU ARE NOW FRIENDS WITH SEAN LEWIS.’

Jodie closed the pop-up and went back to Rob’s picture, still trying to decide whether she should send a friend request. She didn’t get very far; as a small beeping noise indicated that one of her friend’s was online and wanted to chat with her. She clicked on her
friends
online
box and up popped

SEAN: Hi there. Thanks for the add.

Jodie turned her head and again looked across to Sean’s room. He still had his back to her, but she could just make out the Facebook logo on his computer monitor.

For a moment, she considered going offline and not replying. But then manners got the better of her. After all, it was a Friday night and she was sitting on the internet. What else was she planning to do? And so she replied.

JODIE: Hello. That’s okay. It seemed rude not to accept, given that I can see you.

Jodie turned her head to see Sean slowly turn around and wave at her. She waved back at him, feeling a little bit like a dork in doing so. Sean turned back to his computer and replied.

SEAN: I could shut my curtains?

Jodie chuckled.

JODIE: Go on then.

She watched as Sean stood up and walked to his window. He moved slowly, as if to emphasize how goofy they were being, before drawing his curtains across and blocking their view of each other. He then returned to his monitor.

SEAN: Better?

JODIE: Much.

SEAN: So, No plans for tonight?

Jodie knew what he was getting at. In truth, there was solidarity in his comment, the fact that he was doing the exact same thing as she was giving her a strange sense of comfort, as if she wasn’t just some sad, seventeen year old whose mother had left her to look after the house while she went on a date. Of course, that’s exactly what she was.

JODIE: Another exciting Friday night. What about you? Where’s Laura?

SEAN: At home probably. Unless she’s hiding at yours?

JODIE: Not here.

SEAN: There we go then.

Jodie then stalled. She’d run out of things to talk about, so looked about her room for inspiration, her eyes eventually landing on the book at her side. That would do.

JODIE: How do you like ‘Jude the Obscure?’

SEAN: The single most depressing thing I’ve ever read.

What do you think?

JODIE: That sounds about right. How far in to it are you?

SEAN: I finished it.

JODIE: Really? You’re a fast reader.

SEAN: Not as fast a typist as you, though.

Jodie took the compliment and was about to type a response when suddenly she was faced with

SEAN: Can I ask you something?

Intrigued, she replied

JODIE: Sure.

SEAN: Why do you act so strange in class?

His question caught her slightly off guard, as if she had been caught cheating on a test or something, and for a moment, she wondered if Laura had mentioned something to him about Rob, about how she felt towards him. If that was true, then the question he asked was pretty specific. However, she couldn’t be sure, so continued with a cautious
JODIE: What do you mean, strange?

SEAN: I don’t mean to sound rude. I’m just curious. You always seem pretty distant.

For a moment, Jodie felt a little offended, as if she was being given some cod-therapy. So she kept her reply sarcastic but curt.

JODIE: Four weeks and everyone’s an expert?

Sean sensed a hostility building up, so decided to ditch what had been his honest enquiry.

SEAN: Just tell me to piss off. I’m too forward for my own good sometimes.

Jodie relaxed a little and decided to let it go, feeling that Sean had merely been concerned. That said, she did have a question of her own for him and decided that after his being so forward, that she would give it a shot.

JODIE: It’s fine. Can I ask you a similar question?

SEAN: Shoot.

JODIE: Is Laura even your type?

There was a pause. Sean hesitated, wondering whether this was a trap or not, set up between best friends to try and catch out their boyfriends, or get them to confess something.

SEAN: Maybe.

JODIE: Well?

SEAN: Well what?

JODIE: Why did you agree to go out with her?

Sean then took Jodie’s cue, with a reply that would allow her to read between the lines.

SEAN: It’s nice to meet new people...that and she’s got a nice arse.

Jodie rolled her eyes and didn’t reply. It was a good minute before Sean decided to clarify his last comment.

SEAN: That was a joke by the way.

But Jodie could sense his reluctance to discuss his relationship with Laura much further, at least over Facebook, so decided to back off.

JODIE: I should mind my own business.

SEAN: Your best friends. I’m sure she’ll tell you everything anyway.

Jodie suddenly felt like she had been interrogating him and, feeling guilty for it, decided to make a gesture.

JODIE: Open your curtains again. This is silly.

Jodie looked across to see Sean re-open his curtains. He had a wry smile on his face, which was illuminated by a car driving slowly past, before returning to his monitor.

SEAN: So, what now?

But before Jodie could answer, she heard the doorbell ring. She looked across to her bedside clock. It was ten thirty p.m. A bizarre time for the doorbell to go off on any night.

Feeling slightly concerned, she stood up and went to her window. Peering out, she could just about make out the back of a parked car, but her window being at the side of the house, meant that she couldn’t see any further than the garden gate.

She looked across at Sean, who, she felt must’ve heard the bell too, as he waved at her.

She went back to her laptop and typed

JODIE: Somebody at the door. Got to go. Will you keep an eye out in case it’s a psycho?

Jodie turned back to Sean, who gave her the thumbs up before standing up and walking to his window to keep watch. Feeling more comfortable now, Jodie stood up and went to get the door.

By the time they had left the restaurant, Katy and Rob had eased into each other’s company. The awkward silences had been replaced by jokes and laughs and, while she may have been reluctant at first, Katy had thoroughly enjoyed herself.

Rob, meanwhile, felt that he had been on top form. He always stressed over whether he came across as too smooth for his own good, or even pretentious. He knew it had put off women in the past, women who didn’t take the time to get to know the person behind the act. And it
was
an act, a defense mechanism that worked just as often as it failed.

Katy had just been enjoying the ride, feeling refreshed to have managed to have had a proper, adult conversation with someone other than work friends and her family. She didn’t resent this fact, on the contrary she loved her family and had always been grateful to the girl’s at work, many of whom had husbands, kids and families of their own. It’s just that she knew, more than most, the rarity of talking to someone about something other than problems. In truth, she just liked the notion of having someone to shoot the breeze with. And with Rob, after a slow start, she felt that perhaps he had more potential than she had first given him credit for. Any man, she felt, that didn’t bolt for the door at the first sign of a child being thrown into the equation, was worth exploring a little further. That and the fact that she quietly enjoyed the notion of being the older, more experienced member of this scenario.

Indeed, this may have been the first time in years that she actually enjoyed being in her thirties, allowing herself to be flattered by the attention this handsome twenty something was giving her.

That said she remained cautious enough to continue to throw little tests at Rob, just to see if his interest in her was genuine, the first of which being whether or not he would offer to drive her home.