After what felt like forever getting ready, making myself even more presentable than when we had gone out for Lily’s 25th birthday, I finally stepped out of the bathroom and was greeted by a smile. I had no idea why Lily had decided suddenly that I needed to get up and dress up on the day I’d just been dumped by a guy I thought I could trust and have a happy relationship with but here I was. I grabbed my jacket and handbag and locked the door as we left, getting into Lily’s car and heading back to her place. When silence fell inside the car, my mind instantly went back to Eddie and our short but happy relationship. What had I done? Why did he leave my house happy but dump me when he got to work? Was he only there to get me in bed? Was I bad in bed?

“Are you working tomorrow?” Lily asked me, her gaze glued to the road ahead of her.

“No, I’m on the day after though.” I said quickly. I wished I had work every day of the week so I could take my mind off the break up and my paranoid mind.

“That’s alright then, it means I can keep your mind empty and your glass full.” She giggled, slowly turning into her driveway and stopping the car. As she got out of the car, I stayed in for a few more seconds taking a few deep breaths and trying to calm myself down. The last thing I wanted was to suddenly burst into tears midway through a conversation with people I’d been so interested to meet and then make a bad impression. Slowly I unbuckled the seatbelt and instantly thought of the date Eddie and I had had at the café and he’d driven us. It seems the stupidest things will keep him in my mind… I jumped out of the car before any more daunting images came into my head and made my way into Lily’s house, shutting the door behind me. Lily was already socialising with her housemates before I entered the room but she made sure she stopped when she saw me.

“Ok guys.” Lily pulled me over to two men. “This is Sara, the friend I told you about. Sara, this is Max and Elliot my housemates.

“Hi.” I said nervously as these two quite decent looking men made eye contact with me. Neither of them were as good as Eddie but that would be a difficult one to beat.

“You alright?” Elliot; the black haired, brown eyed, plump lipped man said to me with a Colgate smile. Was this making me seem desperate? In my head I was already noting down all of his amazing features and I hadn’t even said two words to the guy.

“Hi!” Max said straight after. Max was the description of Lily’s perfect man. His hair was shaved short but you could see its brown colour, his eyes were a piercing green and his body looked to be something he took a lot of care on. I could already see Lily’s smile as she clocked on to me and must have read my mind.

“Do you want a drink?” Elliot asked me politely and I nodded. I need it I thought to myself as he grabbed a plastic cup and filled it with the Pimm’s that took up 3 jugs on the table.

“Thank you.” I smiled as he carefully handed the drink to me, making sure he didn’t spill it down my lace light pink dress.

“So, Sara, I hear you work as a midwife?” Elliot asked me. “It must be a tough job!” I took a big sip of my drink, the memories of having this conversation with Eddie in the bar flooding to the front of my mind.

“It can be challenging but I love it. You’re bringing new life into the world and I wouldn’t want to change it for the world. The hours can be a bit long but we all have something to complain about at work, right?” Elliot nodded and took a sip from his half empty glass.

“You really do love your job then! I can imagine a lot of midwives would get frustrated with the amount of stuff you have to do around that one great moment.” Elliot continued our conversation. “But I admire you, it’s a job I could never do! I get enough hassle in my current job.” I smiled at him, blushing slightly at the fact he said he admired me. I know, I need to grow up a bit!

“So what job do you do?” I asked inquisitively, taking another shorter sip of my drink. I saw out of the corner of my eye that Lily and Max were having their own conversation around the drinks table, so I didn’t feel bad concentrating my time on this guy.

“I work in a building company, nothing impressive. My boss skives off and always brings his home life to work so we have to hear about his problems but other than that it’s alright. It pays the bills, you know?” Elliot shrugged his shoulders.

“Yeah but it’s a job that’s in high demand, I mean people always need builders to fix or make things. It’s a good job to get in to.” I smiled at him and he returned it with a grin.

“Thank you! You’re the first person that’s said that and has actually cared!” His smile was still beaming.

“Any job is interesting if you tell the right stories!” I laughed. Talking to this guy was easy. Maybe too easy…

“So what else happens in your life other than work? Do you have a boyfriend? Do you go out much?” This was what I was waiting for; I’d known this guy for two minutes ad he was already asking if I had a boyfriend. Another few swift swigs of my drink and the glass was empty, maybe now I’d have more confidence. Elliot quickly grabbed a jug and carefully topped my drink up. “Lily’s orders.” I smiled and nodded, of course Lily would tell them that!

“Not much, I work three or four 12 hour shifts a week and I’m on call so I’m pretty busy. I don’t go out much unless Lily drags me there and I don’t have a boyfriend, no. I just came out of a relationship.” The stinging sensation in my heart grew as I spoke about Eddie for only a few seconds. What had come over me? What was this all about?

“That surprises me.” Elliot said in an outburst. “I never thought you’d be single. There aren’t many girls like you in the world, guys have to fight for them!” I tried not to blush but the smile escaped before I could say anything.

“Thank you.” I said quietly. “And how about you? What happens in your life outside of work?” Please be single.

“Not much, I have my own place but it’s just me and my dog, Bruce. I’ve been single for a while now. I was in a long term relationship with this girl, she moved in and we bought a dog together but in the end she brought her stresses and strains from work home and took it all out on me. We’re still in contact, kind of, but I know we’ll never get back together.” I wanted to hug him. A genuine guy like him having someone taking advantage and then leaving him with everything seemed pretty low, but my relationship was hardly fairy-tale material.

“Sorry to hear that. It’s good to see you’re getting on with life though and not, like, moping around. It takes a long time to get over long relationships. You seem like a decent bloke too, couldn’t think why she didn’t open her eyes and see what she had before she lost it!” And there it was, Sara’s drunken attempt to compliment someone which came across flirty and, well, drunk.

“Well you’re not too bad yourself.” He said back. “So what happened with your relationship?” Here we go, the dreaded question. What was the problem though? I’d known this guy for like a week – nothing like Elliot and his long term relationship. I downed the glass of Pimms I had in my hand only for it to be filled straight back up again.

“I don’t even know!” I began, feeling my gums get numb and my head feeling light. What had they put in this drink? “We met, went out on dates, met up before work and stuff and it was all going well until he rang me up one day and just said he didn’t think it was working.”

“Wow. What an idiot.” Elliot was quick to make his mind up. “That guy is obviously blind and can’t see what he had either.” I could feel the tears slowly building up but I desperately fought to hold them back. Why was I so upset about a guy? The last time I’d been like this was with my last boyfriend and I’d been with him so much longer.

“I doubt it. I seem to attract the wrongdoers. All my boyfriends have done something bad to me. I give up.” I was suddenly opening up to this guy like I’d known him for years, but there was something about the way he clung onto every word that really attracted me.

“Do you think I’m a wrongdoer?” Elliot asked me, looking right into my eyes.

“Well I don’t think so, but to be honest I never thought any of them were and here I am…”

“Well I’ve just proved your statement wrong because I’m not a wrongdoer but I am attracted to you…”