Leah glanced nervously at her reflection in the rear-view mirror, smoothing her hair for about the fiftieth time this evening before stepping out of the car. Tristan had offered to pick her up from home, but she'd declined – not drinking seemed like a sensible idea, and by driving she'd have the perfect excuse not to.

Beginning to make her way towards the restaurant's entrance, Leah scanned the car park for any sign of Tristan's ancient blue car. It wasn't anywhere to be seen, leaving Leah with the dilemma of whether to stand outside until he arrived, or to go in to the restaurant's waiting area. Well, it served her right for showing up ridiculously early. Now Tristan would be made to feel as if he was late, undoubtedly causing him to feel uncomfortable, and the evening would be off to a great start.

Nice job, Leah.

It was difficult to pinpoint what, exactly, was causing Leah to act like a terrified teenager on her very first date. Perhaps it was the fact that it felt completely alien to her; it was hardly something she and Neil had done often. Leah hadn't particularly minded, either – on the rare occasions they did go out, she was reminded how much she hated spending an entire evening listening to her husband witter on about his fabulous career.

With Tristan, though, it was completely different. Leah found herself overcome with a desperate need for everything to be just right, agonising over the tiniest of details far longer than necessary. Half her wardrobe currently lay strewn over her bed, remnants of the hour-long trying-on session that had produced only a semi-satisfactory outfit. Another hour had been spent frazzling her poor hair with the straightening irons, going over and over that one bit of fringe which insisted on remaining frizzy. And by the time she'd managed to poke herself in the eye with her mascara wand five minutes before she was due to leave, Leah had been almost on the verge of giving up entirely.

All this stressing did, however, bring one benefit: amidst the mad panic of getting ready, there was no longer room in Leah's brain to worry about Molly, as she had been doing almost constantly since dropping her off at school the previous morning. It was completely ridiculous – Molly was with her dad, after all – but Leah couldn't shake off the feeling of foreboding deep in the pit of her stomach.

Here Leah's thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a familiar vehicle pulling into the gravelly car park. With a thumping heart, Leah watched intently as the headlights dimmed, followed by the sound of the driver's door opening and the tell-tale crunch of feet on gravel. A moment later Tristan stepped into the restaurant's glow, Leah's breath catching in her throat as he became illuminated before her.

His outfit was mostly black, the only splash of colour his shirt, which appeared a striking red in the bright light. To Leah's surprise, his usually wild brown hair had been tamed into some sort of submission – with the assistance of large quantities of styling wax, judging by the stiff quality it seemed to have taken on. As he approached, Leah caught the whiff of a cool, fresh aftershave, and she could not help smiling a little in relief; clearly she was not the only one who had been anxious about making an effort.

"Hi," Tristan greeted her, smiling nervously. "Sorry I'm late."

"No, you're not late – I just got here ridiculously early," gabbled Leah.

"You should have gone inside," Tristan told her. "You must be freezing standing out here."

"I'm okay, actually."

It was mostly truthful; the flock of butterflies in Leah's stomach was currently making it a little difficult for her to feel anything else.

"Shall we, um – shall we go inside then?" prompted Tristan.

"Sure."

Leah reached for the door, only to accidentally jostle Tristan as she realised, moments too late, that he'd gone for it at exactly the same time. Smooth.

"Oh, um – thanks," muttered Leah bashfully, as Tristan held it open for her.

Aside from that minor hiccup, they were seated without any other incidents – and by the time the waitress came by to take their order, Leah had begun to relax a little. After five minutes or so of difficult small talk, the conversation had lapsed into the rather more familiar topic of Tae Kwon Do, which had done wonders in melting away the awkwardness. It felt a little lame to be discussing it on a date, but Leah was simply happy to enjoy the natural flow of the conversation, and it seemed Tristan felt the same.

During the main course talk turned to their kids, and Leah found herself in stitches as she and Tristan traded amusing anecdotes about their more trying parenting moments. It was with interest that Leah heard about a rather different side to Rosie; according to Tristan, she was a complete master at winding Cameron up, knowing exactly which buttons to press.

Despite being careful to keep his tone light and jovial, Leah could tell that Tristan was holding back. Looking intently into his eyes, Leah saw the shadows there once more, divulging to Leah what his words would not. There was pain there in those blue depths; a sort of empty hollowness and loneliness just crying out for someone to take notice. Seeing this made Leah all the more frustrated; why would he not open up?

He had asked her on a date, after all – did that not mean their relationship had progressed beyond a mere acquaintance? Evidence suggested it had not; they had spent the entire evening, after all, simply discussing their one shared hobby, before grazing over kids. Clearly he had no intention of furthering their relationship – if he had, this evening would have been the perfect opportunity to try and get to know Leah a bit better. As it stood, they were set to stay very polite and distant – which had Leah wondering why Tristan had bothered asking her on a date at all.

Unfortunately, it seemed as if she and Tristan both wanted very different things from their relationship. While Tristan evidently wanted to go on dates with and have a good time, keeping things simple, Leah needed more than that. After such a false, empty marriage, she'd promised herself she wouldn't settle for anything less than something really special.

And this just wasn't it.

With that sad revelation, it was with no small amount of misery that Leah finished her meal, before she and Tristan settled the bill and vacated the restaurant, crossing the car park in silence. Things were fast becoming awkward, and Leah was rather hoping for a hasty exit - but as they reached Leah's car, Tristan stopped suddenly, turning to face her.

"Thanks for a lovely evening," he said sincerely. "It's been really nice to spend some time with you, Leah."

"Thank you, too – I had a lovely time," replied Leah, hating how false and forced the words sounded.

Here was the point where Tristan was supposed to head towards his own car. They both knew it – but as the moments ticked by and Tristan still hovered, Leah realised with a jolt that he wasn't planning on leaving just yet.

"I, uh – I thought the food was really great," offered Leah lamely, trying to make sense of this unexpected turn of events.

"I'm not actually very used to, you know – this sort of thing," blurted out Tristan suddenly, startling Leah into silence. By 'this sort of thing', she could only guess he meant dating – and she waited with intense curiosity to hear what he said next. This was by far the most open he had been all evening, and suddenly Leah found herself hanging onto his every word.

"I wanted this evening to go a certain way, and I feel... I just..."

Tristan floundered helplessly, words escaping him. As she watched his difficulty, Leah felt a blush slowly creeping up her neck; she could make a good guess at what he was trying to say. Clearly he, too, had realised they were ill-suited, but was struggling to find a way to let her down gently, little knowing that she too felt the same way.

With a resigned sigh, Leah realised she would have to be the one to get it over with. Awkward though it would undoubtedly be, at least then they could resume their friendship without further issue.

"It's okay, Tristan," said Leah. "I..."

Here she was cut off abruptly. In perhaps the most unexpected event of the entire evening, Leah suddenly found Tristan's face approaching hers, eyes closed as he went in for a kiss on the lips. Pausing only the briefest of moments to admire their soft, pinkness, Leah instinctively drew back, brow knotted in confusion.

Call her old fashioned, but Leah was used to a kiss meaning something. It was supposed to be a display of romantic affection – so how could Tristan expect her to want to kiss him when he'd treated her as nothing more than a friend all evening?

By now Tristan was also looking confused, and a little hurt, which caused Leah's stomach to knot. Why did it all have to be so complicated?

"I'm sorry," he muttered, refusing to meet her gaze as his cheeks glowed with embarrassment.

Leah pinched her eyes shut for a moment, trying and failing to gather some kind of coherent response.

Opening her eyes once more, Leah saw the man before her – the man who, yes, she would admit, she had been romantically attracted to since the moment she first spoke to him. For weeks now she had been secretly fantasising about a moment like this; but now that it had actually come to fruition, she realised it hadn't at all worked out how she'd expected. Though she desperately wanted it to, Leah now knew a relationship with Tristan wouldn't work.

With a heavy sigh, Leah resigned herself to seal her fate.

"I'm sorry, Tristan," she murmured. "I just can't do this."

Before Tristan could think up any coherent reply, Leah had got into her car and was already driving off into the night.