Pull

One

Claire, 31.  

About Claire: Cabin Crew, always mile high. Fan of strawberries and old movies. Don't bother swiping right if you're posing with a heavily sedated lion/tiger/big cat of any kind. 

Interests: Made In Chelsea, Lana Del Rey, Upworthy, Pacha

'No...no...no - wait. Dammit.' Claire scowled as she accidentally swiped left and watched the flash of a cute smile disappear from the screen of her mobile phone. 'Stupid app.' 

Honestly, why wasn't there a back button? She had half a mind to deactivate her profile. At first, it had been addictive swiping through all those faces and choosing the ones who sparked her interest, but now the addiction was waning. She put the phone down on the kitchen counter and poured a glass of orange juice as her housemate, Keri, walked in.  

'I hope there's vodka in that,' Keri said, fastening an earring. 

Claire shook her head. 'I can't turn up at my sister's tomorrow with a messed up cake.' 

'It's Christmas Eve,' Keri replied, raking her fingers through her red hair. 'You're seriously telling me you're going to stay in and be all Nigella Lawson?' 

'Yep.' Claire shrugged. 'Even if I didn't have to bake, I'm shattered after that flight.' 

She'd just endured eleven hours from Cape Town back to London, running around after a group of kids, dealing with a warring couple and the heaviest turbulence she'd experienced to date. Added to the almost constant partying in the lead up to the festive season, her body needed a rest. Even so, she still tallied up the pros and cons.  

Pros: Joining Keri and the rest of her colleagues at Sugar Bar. It had been featured on Made In Chelsea and rumour had it, some of the cast would be there tonight. She could do a bit of celeb spotting while drinking Prosecco and flirting outrageously with Fit Mark, the new, hot pilot based at Gatwick. 

Cons: Dodging intimidatingly rich people all night, moving onto Sambuca after the Prosecco - never a good idea - and ending up looking like a complete moron trying to pull Fit Mark. All of which would result in her rocking up late and hungover at her sister's tomorrow with a half-arsed cake.  

'Are you sure?' Keri asked, raising an eyebrow. 'It's going to be one hell of a night.' 

Claire nodded. 'I bet it will, but I'll stick to my juice and cookbooks. Have an awesome time.' 

Keri grinned and left; the clacking of her heels against the floor echoing through the flat as she went. Claire had to admit that the pros of going out far outweighed the cons but tomorrow, she'd be spending the day with all of her family for the first time in years and she had to be on top form. Just thinking about how her fractured family had come together again made her smile. Her twin sister, Sarah, was cooking a full on Christmas dinner and their mum and step-dad had already driven down from Sheffield. It would have been unthinkable only a year ago. 

Claire took a gulp of her juice and looked down at the cookbook in front of her. Despite being the World's Worst Baker, she'd been put on dessert duty. There was a risk she'd end up making something more like rock cake than sponge, but she would've baked a hundred of them if Sarah had asked. Her sister was the one person she could never say no to. 

She flicked through the pages and stopped at a picture of dainty looking cupcakes, complete with thick, twirled icing. Everyone was all about cupcakes these days - they were bang on trend. Even traditional wedding cake seemed to have been replaced by tiers of cute little cupcakes and, every weekend, the café down the road from her flat had a queue outside that would put New York's Magnolia Bakery to shame. How hard could they be?  

Thirty minutes later, she queued for the checkout in the supermarket down the road, her basket laden with baking goodies. A Seventies Christmas song pumped through the speakers and the store was decked out with tinsel and baubles. Claire shuffled her feet as the queue moved forward an inch. The place was packed with last-minute shoppers, all intent on stocking up enough to over-indulge for the next few days and, as hectic as the shop was, most of the faces seemed to be smiling.  

She watched the couple in front of her, noting the way the man kept his hand on the small of his partner's back the whole time. Claire glanced away when the woman reached up on her tiptoes to kiss him. She loved Christmas but it was the one time of year she always started to reflect on her single lifestyle, wondering whether she was living her life wrong. Even her sister had settled down, engaged with a baby. Claire definitely hadn't seen that one coming.  

She shook her head. She was being melodramatic. Claire was living the life she'd always wanted. She got to travel the world and had a great time doing it. It was just the romanticism of Christmas messing with her head and even though it was only supposed to be for fun, she'd been sucked into the idea of finding the perfect guy on Tinder, a wholly ridiculous notion at best. Besides, she didn't have time for a relationship. In a few days, she'd be back in Singapore for the New Year and this empty feeling would slink away. It was much better to keep things casual.  

She smiled at the thought of returning to one of her favourite cities on Earth and her phone vibrated in her pocket. Claire raised an eyebrow at the message on the screen.  

Congratulations! You have a new match!