Page 62 of In the Same Boat

‘I have dating horror stories too, you know,’ he says eventually. ‘A girl I dated once brought an ex to our third date.’

My eyebrows shoot up.

‘Really?’

‘At first I thought she was trying to show him that she’d moved on – I flattered myself, thinking she was showing me off…’

‘But…?’

‘But that wasn’t it at all – she was trying to recruit me.’

‘Recruit you?’

‘For, er, the bedroom,’ he confesses.

‘Oh, that is so awkward – I’d sooner fall through a kids’ castle any day,’ I reply.

‘Yeah, it was awkward… They had a nice bedroom though.’

He smiles in a way that lets me know he’s joking.

When our main courses finally arrive, I fall in love with my lobster linguini. It’s rich – which it ought to be, it costs enough – with the freshest tomato sauce I’ve ever tasted.

Nico’s sea bass looks perfect, crisp-skinned, delicate… except…

‘You had sea bass last night,’ I point out.

He shrugs.

‘I like it. What’s the problem?’

‘Well… I mean… there’s no problem,’ I reply, trying to find the words to explain myself. ‘But for someone who talks about being spontaneous and adventurous, it seems kind of weird, to have the same thing again. That’s all.’

‘Some feedback for you, Sammie. You need to worry less about what other people are doing,’ he says. ‘Leave people be, let them enjoy the things they enjoy, and in the process you might stop worrying about what people think of you.’

I frown.

‘I was just saying, I thought you’d be into trying new things,’ I reply.

‘Ah, and there was me just trying to have a good time,’ he says.

And now I’m fuming at him again. Why does he have to be such an arse? Obviously I didn’t mean anything by it – it was just an observation.

Nico is more insightful than I expected him to be… and more guarded than I realised.

He’s funny, when he wants to be, but also so deeply annoying.

Over the course of one structurally date-shaped meal, we’ve highlighted a bunch of differences between us. I like plans, he likes options. I think stability is underrated, he thinks too much certainty makes people boring. I believe problems should be anticipated and managed while he sounds like he almost gets some sort of weird kick out of things going wrong.

Except this holiday, of course.

When the bill arrives, Mum and Hank turn up with it.

‘Sort that with my card, will you, Nico?’ Hank prompts him.

I look at him. Does he really use his dad’s card? That’s a bit of an ick…

Mum looks suitably impressed by it all. Beyond the food, which was unreal, I can’t say that I feel the same way.