Neither of us are ‘city kids’ and I can definitely see us moving back out of the chaos eventually, but for now we are both where we need to be. I’ve got the bar and access to more information here than I did at home and Jesse is doing his Grad Year, teaching at a primary school. We are doing normal stuff. Things people in their twenties do, right?

I lead the way through the house, my heels tapping on the wooden floorboards. I’ll definitely have polished floorboards in my home one day, they provide a much warmer feeling than the tiles in my apartment. Jesse slips into the lounge whilst I enter the kitchen in search of some food.

“Movie or footy?” Jesse calls from the couch. I’m not a huge footy fan, but I need to vent so football for background noise will be easier than a movie.

“Footy,” I say. “Whose playing?” He laughs, knowing full well I don’t give a shit about who is playing.

The kitchen leads into an open plan living space, with a lounge area to the left and a U-shape couch surrounding a TV that has been mounted onto the wall. Jesse’s place has a homely feel to it, even though he still hasn’t decorated and there really isn’t much here other than the essentials.

I place the leftover pizza I found down on the coffee table as Lou-loo jumps up and makes herself comfortable at one end of the couch. Jesse sits smack bang in the middle with his arms stretched across the back and I take a seat between him and Lou.

“Something on your mind, Meadow?”

I sigh, sometimes i forget that he can read me so well. “Where do you want me to begin? Your choices are, the phone call or some dating advice?”

“It depends if it’s dating advice for me, or for you?” he says, with a sparkle in his eye.

“Well, that’s the thing,” I cover my face with both my hands. “Drunk me might have roped us both into double dates.” I peek through my fingers as Jesse bursts into laughter.

I tell him all about Soph, how I met her at Mrs Campbell’s cafe, and then bumped into her at the bar where she was stood up by some guy.

“So, who’s your date going to be then?” he says, as he grabs another slice of pizza. I don’t know why, but I’ve been dreading telling Jesse about how things have kind of stepped up with Tanner. He has always been protective of me when it comes to guys, but the mention of this particular one causes him to react differently. What could be so different this time?

I keep eye contact so I can gauge his reaction. “Tanner,” I say, trying to sound casual.