It was definitely wrong for both Charlie and Thea to be craving a pint of white wine at 10am on a Monday morning but they were both having a tough day so far.

The tough day started slightly earlier for Thea, who got into the car with trepidation on Monday morning to find it was as if nothing had ever transpired between herself and Dave. He was his usual jokey self, she was rigid and her mind went blank. She literally couldn't think of anything to say, and she didn't understand why Dave could be acting so normal.

As if he had read her mind, he touched her shoulder as she was getting out of the car and said softly "I've been pretending for far longer than you have." Their eyes had met for a long moment and then she'd shut the door, breaking the spell. She'd watched the car driving away until it reached the end of the street and turned the corner, then she'd wandered up to her school, knowing her pupils were unlikely to learn much from her that day.

Charlie, on the other hand, was late for work. Mainly because she slept in (in the end she hadn't made it back from Jake's until 9pm), and then she was having trouble actually walking thanks to an unusual amount of exercise. She made it in at 9.15, sporting a mild case of stubble rash and a major case of exhaustion. She had barely even made an effort with her make-up, which just showed how tired she was.

"Is that a monday morning walk of shame?" Josh trilled from behind his desk. In most offices, HR would probably be called in for a remark like that, but Charlie wasn't offended. She was aware she probably did look like she'd just rolled in from a wild night out, and it was almost true. That being said, she was embarrassed and she found she couldn't help but glance towards Aaron's desk.

He wasn't looking over, much to her relief. She exhaled a sigh and sat down. She was aware she looked an absolute mess and, while she might be over the little prick, she'd prefer him not to look at her if possible.

Logging into her PC, she groaned as she realised there was an all-staff meeting in five minutes. So much for him not having to see her - she'd just have to try her best to get a seat nowhere near him then!

---------------------

Well, that was the plan. Unfortunately fate conspired against her and five minutes later she found herself sitting directly opposite him in the meeting room. She really wished she'd made a bit more effort with her make-up now but she'd thought she'd just be hiding behind her computer all day and it wouldn't matter. So much for that idea.

He looked unfairly good as well. His whole aura just sang of health and the outdoors, as if he'd been up a mountain at the weekend. She was unsurprised but unreasonably annoyed when she heard him say to the guy sitting next to him that he'd climbed Ben More the day before. She didn't even know where that was. She wondered who he'd climbed it with.

She suddenly realised she was glaring at him. Unfortunately, she only realised this after it became apparent that he'd caught her. He looked at her in confusion and then looked away with a shrug.

Prick.

"So we need a couple of people to organise the summer work party," Josh announced. "Any volunteers?"

Everyone immediately looked at the table. It was a well known fact that trying to organise any kind of social event in their office always turned out to be a disaster. In fact, they hadn't had a summer work party for several years for that exact reason. Why it was now being resurrected was beyond her.

"Oh come on guys," Josh chided. "The big CEO is going to be there so we need people to pull together and get a really good night going."

Ah, so that was why it was being dug back up from its grave. Everyone kept staring studiously anywhere but at Josh.

"Well, if you're going to all be like that we'll just have to pull some names out of a metaphorical hat," Josh eventually said when the silence had tipped way past awkward and was headed towards absolutely unbearable. "I'll just chuck everyone's name in an online generator and it can randomly choose an events team. Thanks in advance to whoever is picked!"

Everyone groaned. Charlie prayed she wasn't going to be picked.

Twenty minutes later, she received an email telling her she was one of the "lucky" members of the new social committee, along with three other members of staff.

No prizes for guessing who else was on the list.

---------------------

"It's an absolute nightmare!" she exclaimed later that night to Thea. They'd both picked up wine on the way home and were systematically ploughing their way through it, accompanied by a bumper bag of cheese strings. ("Well, it's a cheese and wine party of sorts" Thea had shrugged.) "I'm now going to be forced to work even more closely with the prick."

"It's definitely a bummer" her friend agreed. Charlie couldn't help but notice Thea seemed a bit off though. There was a tenseness in her posture and her eyes looked sad. And she was drinking very quickly. "So how are you going to deal with the situation? Can you get out of it?"

"Unfortunately not." Charlie fumbled with the packaging of a cheese string and pulled it open. "There's no way out - no one volunteered so we just got picked at random. So frustrating. Why does it have to be him of all people? We're having a meeting tomorrow morning about it and I'm already dreading it." Her phone bleeped and she picked it up. "Oooh."

"Someone interesting, I assume?" Thea perked up nosily.

"It's actually from Jake, believe it or not," she said excitedly.

Thea frowned. "Texting a soon-to-be-betrothed lady that you picked up at a hen do isn't exactly a classy move," she tutted.

"I'm not actually getting married, remember?"

"He doesn't know that."

Charlie shrugged and sipped her drink. She knew Thea had a point, but that didn't mean she had to like it. "I like him," she said, almost testing the words out. "I really like him, Thea. I've not liked anyone as much since . . . "

"Aaron." Thea finished her sentence, grimacing as she said his name.

"The prick." She necked her glass at the thought.

"So what's your man-of-the-moment saying?" Thea queried.

Charlie felt a smile spread across her face as she opened the message again. "He said he had a lovely weekend with me and he wishes he had met me first."

"Poor, poor Paul." Thea topped up their drinks. "You're going to ignore him, right?"

"Paul?" Charlie deliberately misunderstood. "Not on purpose, it's just he's imaginary." She giggled at Thea's disgusted expression.

"I mean Jake. You know that."

"But why? I mean, like I said, he's the first guy I've really liked in a long time. I don't want to just give this feeling up and never see him again. He's hot, and he's funny, and sexy and . . ."

" . . . And he thinks you are engaged to be married. In a month's time. Think of the practicalities, Charlie. I know it's a bit beyond your capabilities . . ."Thea raised her hand to silence Charlie's protest. " . . . But think about it! I mean . . . how is this going to work? How can you continue to see him when he thinks you are marrying another man? Fictional or not."

"I don't know." Charlie's face fell. "Thea, I need help. How can I make this work?"

"Have you forgotten the real reason you were doing this?" her friend asked. "This was meant to be a way for you to break into freelance journalism, not actually find a boyfriend. You've proved the point we were trying to prove. You should be excitedly working out a pitch right now, not trying to find a way to see a guy again who was only interested in you because you were engaged."

"We don't know that for sure," Charlie argued. And they didn't. Yes, he'd met her on her "hen night" knowing she was the hen. But that doesn't mean that was necessarily why he'd went after her. He seemed to like her too, she reasoned. And if that was the case, then the point she was trying to prove wasn't actually true after all, so then her magazine article idea was completely moot.

Thea softened. "That's true. We don't. So what are you going to say?"

When it came down to it, Charlie thought, Thea was a great friend. She could be a tad judgemental at times, and very opinionated (and not always correct in her opinions, although she would argue that point until the cows came home) - but she wanted the best for Charlie. And while she might not think Charlie's plan to hopefully keep seeing Jake was the best one in the world, she would support her in it. At first anyway.

Sipping her wine, she stared at her phone thoughtfully, as if it might provide her with the answer. Decision made, she nodded firmly and picked the phone up again. "I'm going to ask him why he wishes he had met me first."

Thea groaned. "If you really must." She stood up. "Now I really really need to go and have a nice long bath . . . wash this horrible day off me." She dumped her wine glass in the sink and wandered off holding the rest of her bottle of wine.

Charlie watched her leave, momentarily concerned again for her friend and wondering exactly what was wrong. She was sure Thea would tell her in her own time though - she was a notoriously private person, as hard to read as poker player and aptly always played her cards very close to her chest. A hard nut to crack, she wouldn't open up until she was absolutely ready.

And so, her conscience clear about that, she turned her attention back to her phone, her fingers hovering over the letters. She typed in her reply, pressed send before she could think otherwise. Placed the mobile back on the table and then stared intensely at it over the rim of her wine glass. "Reply" she urged the phone, as if the decision was in technology's hands and not the one-night stand of the night before. "Please reply."

But by the time she'd polished off the wine, showered and climbed into bed, the phone hadn't obliged with a response. It was complete radio silence.