‘So first, I thought we could make a list of your guy friends and—’ began Simi, pen poised.

Meagan sat bolt upright. ‘HARD no, Simi. For real. Forget it. My friends aren’t just friends, they’re work associates and I don’t wanna mess with that by tangling them up with you two. No shade,’ she added off of Jemima’s offended scowl.

‘That’s not fair. You met Todd through Jemima,’ Simi wailed.

‘Errr, slow your roll. Yes, he works at Hudson Hicks but I caught that fish all by myself,’ Meagan said folding her arms.

Simi looked to Jemima for help.

‘It’s true,’ said Jemima, ‘Meag hooked up with him after that first Hudson Hicks party we went to and the rest, as they say, is her story…’

Simi sagged, resting her head on her hand, ‘Well, if friends are out, how are we going to find dates for each other and break each other out of our patterns?’ Simi pleaded.

‘What if we set up online dating accounts for each other?’ said Jemima.

Meagan leaned back in her chair, looking around the bar, which for a weeknight was buzzing.

‘We need to think of this as an experiment, and for that we need fresh samples but you two are overthinking it,’ she said. ‘Internet dating is a long ting. Messaging back and forth til you get ghosted. Who’s got time for that? Let’s just bowl up to someone. Yes or no, mate? Yes? Cool. No? Your loss. IRL. Face-time. Old school stylee!’

‘Yes!’ said Simi. ‘Let’s get out there and face-time! For each other! And change our shit!’

‘Yes, Sim! And there’s no time like the present,’ said Meagan, clapping her hands and whistling for their waiter, ‘Three sambucas, my good man!’

‘Oh my god, what are we doing?’ said Jemima.

‘This is great. I love it!’ squawked Simi. ‘What’s IRL??’

Chapter 13

Jemima

‘So we’re literally going to walk up to a bloke and go, “Excuse me, my friend fancies you”?’ Jemima said, sniffing her sambuca with suspicion.

It reeked of liquorice and bad choices.

‘Yeah,’ said Meagan gulping her shot.

‘I’m so excited!’ squeaked Simi, ‘Let’s come up with some rules of engagement.’

‘Because this will be a battle,’ Jemima murmured, feeling like that cowardly soldier who knows there’s no escape other than going over the top.

This wasn’t what she should be doing with her Wednesday nights. She should be planning loft conversions and going on wine-tasting holidays not embarking on a game of My Friend Fancies You. This was going to be horrific for her. Men would love having a 29-year-old like Meagan bouncing towards them but being ambushed by a 42-year-old recluse was a different story. Jemima groaned as Simi excitedly smoothed out her overturned script pages, to take notes. Meagan tapped the table for quiet.

‘Okay, rule one, we always ask guys out for each other, never for ourselves. So for example, I’ll ask someone out for you,’ said Meagan pointing at Jemima, ‘you ask someone out for Simi and she’ll ask someone out for me. Round Robin.’