‘Watcha,’ he said sitting. ‘Your home girl said you’re a writer. I write content for an Internet start-up so, you know. Great minds.’

He clicked his fingers back and forth, indicating the simpatico. Jemima looked over at Meagan with a glare that said both, help and you bloody cow! Meagan turned away with a broad smirk.

At Jemima’s table, Gil was filling the conversational void by talking about his top five breakfast foods and passion for the new cereal restaurant which had opened near his Shoreditch office.

‘Cheerios, Weetabix, Cornflakes, Rice Krispies, porridge, obvs. Pop Tarts, actually that’s six,’ he yakked.

Jemima had been planning on having a coffee to sober up but listening to Gil’s waffle was doing a much better job. As Gil rambled on, she spotted Simi get up from her table with that same intent she’d had earlier. Jemima had to stop her. They’d already been warned to stop bothering people. If they were going to play this game at all, it had to be in a place they had never been or never would again. That was non-negotiable.

‘Okay, Gil, lovely to meet you. We must have cereal sometime,’ Jemima blurted before staggering over to the girls’ table and stopping Simi in her tracks.

‘Thank God that date’s over,’ Jemima said pulling Simi back into her chair. ‘Probs best we knock it on the head for tonight though.’

Simi glared at Jemima.

‘That was the introduction,’ she scolded. ‘You can’t have the date the night you meet.’

‘What?’ exclaimed Jemima looking back at Gil as he raised his mason jar of pale ale at her.

‘You mean I have to spend a whole other evening… with him? Why?’ wailed Jemima.

‘Rule number five. Girl Code. No woman left behind. If two of us get dates and have them that night, the last one would be left on her own and we can’t do that.’

Jemima’s head thumped onto the table again.

‘Then we need better dates. You matched me with a lumbersexual manboy,’ she moaned.

‘At least I got you someone,’ said Meagan.

Simi raised her hands to quell the bickering.

‘Okay, Jem. We’ll chalk this one up as a test. You don’t have to see Gil again but we need to figure out how this thing is going to work. Meag, come over to Jem’s tomorrow. We can create a playbook and you can give us some tips.’

‘You lot might be beyond help,’ said Meagan.

Feeling Simi’s doe eyes burning into her, Jemima nodded glumly no longer possessing the energy nor the sobriety to fight this.

Meagan waved her credit card at the waiter and once the bill was paid they slipped on their coats and headed into the icy January night. Jemima sucked in the cold air as though it were the common sense she’d left at the door earlier that evening.

‘Relax, you wally. They’re just men,’ Meagan said prodding her. ‘Besides, all this dating drama will be good for your book.’