The Love Diary

Friday 12th January

Craig knocked on the door at 6 to pick me up for the quiz.
“Hey, you look beautiful.” He smiled at me in the doorway. I looked down and then smiled back up at him.
“Thank you.” I was wearing a long black maxi skirt with pink roses over it and a black long sleeve top. Craig was wearing a pair of black jeans and I could see a bit of a blue top peeping around his black bomber jacket.
I grabbed my bag and we headed out towards the pub. My group of friends have been saying for years that we wanted to do a few pub quizzes and so when Lizzie saw this one come up at her local we all decided we would commit and head out.

When we arrived most of the girls were already at the table and I went round and introduced Craig to everyone before we headed to get drinks from the bar. When we got back everyone was gathered and we straight away fell into chat and laughter.

I didn’t think we would do particularly well at the quiz but we were happy to give it a go and see how well we could do.

“Next question… when was the movie Titanic released?” We all turned back to the paper.
“It was 1996.” Craig said.
“I thought it was a bit later than that? Like 98 or 99?” Barry said.
“No it’s definitely 96.” He sounded so sure it was what we put down.

“In which European country would you find the Rijks museum?”
“Oh my god I know this. We were just there… The Netherlands.” Ally says slapping Liam on the arm enthusiastically at the same time.
“No, I’m pretty sure it’s Denmark.” Craig cuts in. I nudge him with my arm and give him a quesitioning look.
“We literally went there two weeks ago on holiday. We were in The Netherlands.” Liam states looking directly at Craig.

I was dying inside. What the hell was he doing?

“Alright well we should be off now.” Craig is standing up and shrugging on his jacket and I turn from the conversation I was having with Harriet.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Well there’s no point hanging around. We obviously haven’t won.” His jacket is on and he’s looking at me, waiting for me to stand up as well.

“Craig, sit down, we’ll still wait to see what happens, have a few more drinks.” I emphasise drinks and flick my eyes sideways to the rest of the table. Who were doing an excellent job of acting like they weren’t listening. He looked at me a moment longer and then sat down. His jacket stayed on.

At this quiz the sheets were taken away by the quiz called and marked and the correct answers were written in and we got our sheet back and we were disappointed we didn’t get some and we were amazed we got some of the harder ones right.

But there were 3 that Craig really really pushed the answer on. And they were wrong. I was cringing on the inside.

We didn’t win. I didn’t ever think we would but it felt worse now Craig had made a scene.

“I’m just going to the bathroom.” I stand up and straighten my skirt. I don’t look at Craig. I think all the girls stand up and chorus that they are coming with me.

“Alice, are you ok?” Penny asks as we walk into the bathroom.

“Yeah. I really want to say, he isn’t like this. Because he isn’t. Well, he hasn’t been so far… He’s being rude tho isn’t he. And arrogant.” The girls are nodding.

I huffed a sigh and went into the cubicle. I did need to pee.

We headed back out and I tried to enjoy the rest of evening but everytime Craig spoke I cringed, worrying about what he’s going to say.

When we did leave I sat in the car keeping quiet.

“I liked your friends.” Craig said glancing over at me.

“Well… I’m not sure they liked you.” I said firmly but quietly.

“What?”

“Craig, you were acting really arrogant and mean! You seemed so disinterested the whole night and you tried to leave early. Not subtly!”

“Hey, I’m sorry… I… I… I was just nervous… I did like them. It’s a lot, you’ve all known each other for so long. Even the guys.”

I sat there in silence for a moment. I suppose that could be a valid explanation. He’s not acted like this around me before.

“You know what Craig. I’m sorry. You’re right. I didn’t even think about how overwhelmed you would feel. Thank you for coming. You can come out with us all again and get to know them better and they can get to know you better.”

We didn’t talk much more because I was nearly home and we kissed gently before he left.

Me, Duke and Chester all piled into bed together and watched tv before falling asleep all smoshed together.