Most girls would be jealous of Calliope Draycott. She seemingly has it all. The friends, the money, the boyfriend, and in a few years, if all goes to plan, she'll have the job too. So why doesn't she feel happy? It's after a disastrous family dinner...
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Ever since I got home on Friday night, all Josh has wanted to talk about is the girl I met.
I regret telling him.
I don't know why I did, to be honest, it just came spilling out of my mouth when he asked why I was home so late. He hasn't been able to drop the subject since, and it's almost been a week.
We're spending our Wednesday night in our traditional manner. Parker and Zach are on their way over with pizza and beer, but Josh and I are already two beers deep. We have old reruns of The Office playing in the background – which I'm not a huge fan of, but Josh loves it and so do Parker and Zach so on Wednesdays that's what we watch.
You know how for some people Wednesdays are a day to wear pink, for us, it's a day to watch The Office, and yes, it's a Mean Girls reference but I'm secure enough in my masculinity to appreciate what a classic Mean Girls is.
The routine is comforting.
Josh gets up to answer the door when a knock sounds and I turn the volume of The Office down, so we'll be able to talk properly. Then Parker and Zach walk into the room holding four boxes of pizza.
'I've never loved you more,' I say to them, taking the box labelled pepperoni off of Zach.
They both roll their eyes, 'we know you only love us because we bring you food,' Zach says, falling down onto the sofa next to me, before he opens the box and the smell of his veggie delight pizza films the room.
A little while later and Josh has brought up coffee on Friday night, and I'm having to defend myself to Parker. He looks disappointed in me, and I haven't seen him like this since he lost a hundred quid in a poker game. What made losing the money worse for him was the fact that he lost it to Josh – who is probably the world's worst poker player ever.
'So, you're telling me that,' Parker says, deliberately drawing out the words slowly, 'you spent all night talking to this chick and you didn't get her number?' He laughs, 'are you a fucking idiot? Have I taught you nothing?'
I nod my head in confirmation. 'Yes, that's what I'm telling you Parker,' I say, taking a swig from the bottle of beer in my hand. 'She has a boyfriend,' I shrug, 'I'm not getting involved in that.'
When I invited her for coffee, I had no idea that she had a boyfriend, how was I supposed to know. It wasn't until we had finished our drinks and she saw him leave the restaurant and look around for her that she told me. Honestly, if she were single, I would have asked for her number, but she wasn't, and I know I wouldn't take too kindly to a guy trying to chat up my girl.
Not that I would try to chat her up anyway. It was clear after ten minutes with her that she was out of my league. She's going to be a lawyer; I don't know what I'm going to do yet. She's from an upper middle-class family; mine is barely getting by. Mine is struggling so much that I think I'm working more than I'm studying at the moment. Most of the money I make I send straight to my Ma.
