Pull

Three

So, he wanted to meet. Claire stood in the supermarket queue and put her phone away before unloading her basket and paying for her shopping. It wouldn't be the first time she'd have met up with a guy from Tinder and the truth was, if they'd both been out in a bar or a club, she'd have spotted Danny with his good looks straight away. She might have even taken him home with her but it would have been on her terms. This would be no different.  

As she turned onto her street, she opened up the app and sent him a reply.  

- You'll have to prove yourself first.  

- Like a test? 

- Exactly. Unless you're not up to it? 

- I'm always up for it and I do love a challenge. 

- Game on! So, tell me a joke and make it good. 

- Lol, that's easy. What's orange and sounds like a parrot? 

- I have no idea... 

- A carrot. 

- Lmao. That was awful! 

- Yeah, but I bet you're smiling.  

She put the phone in her pocket and let herself into her building. He was right, she did have a smile on her face. His silly humour was exactly what she'd been hoping for when she'd asked him to tell her a joke. He could be as fit as he wanted, but if he couldn't make her laugh there'd be no chance of them even doing so much as swapping numbers.  

- Did you hear about the guy who invented the knock-knock joke? He won the Nobel prize. 

With the shopping unloaded, Claire guffawed as she read Danny's last message. 

- Ok, ok. Stop with the awful jokes!  

- How am I doing? 

- I'd say you're at 60%. 

- Man, you're one hard woman to please! 

- Well, I never said I was easy now, did I?  

- And I said I like a challenge. What's your number? 

- Who says I'm going to give it to you? 

- I'll help you bake. 

- Somehow, I can't picture you in an apron. 

- I'm happy to come model one for you if you like? Plus, I bake like a boss. 

- Lol. Irrelevant. You can't bake me a cake over the phone. 

- Ok, so you bake and I'll lick the bowl. That's the best part ;-) 

The smile stretched to a grin as she pictured him scraping a finger around the mixing bowl and licking it right off. Not that she had a mixture for anyone to lick yet. If this were happening face to face instead of through an app, she would already be anticipating the first kiss, the jolt of electric lust that would pull them together. 

- You're distracting me. I need to bake. 

- You're distracting me more like. I'm at work, remember? 

- Must be a sweet deal if you can spend all night messaging girls on Tinder. 

- I've been on a break but I need to get back. It's busy tonight but if you give me your digits, I can distract you some more later ;-) 

Claire flicked back through his photos. Why would someone as fit as him be on Tinder? Then again, he was hot, twenty-seven years old and probably wanted to get laid - of course he was on Tinder. She could hardly begrudge him for that, not when she was doing the exact same thing. Still, she didn't respond straight away. Instead, she went back to focusing on the task at hand. She had a bad batch of cupcakes to bake. 

Twenty minutes later, she slid the tray holding cupcake mixture into the oven and closed the door. It had been easy enough: Mix butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs. Give Danny your number. She was pretty sure that wasn't in the recipe, but she'd done it anyway.