Touch The Sky | ✓

Two

The restaurant has a lovely atmosphere, with bubbly conversation happening all around us, faces cracking with laughter.

The waiter leads us over to a slightly more secluded area of the restaurant and I feel a rush of relief. It'll be much easier for us to talk this way and there'll be less people around. I often feel awkward on dates when there are lots of people.

Personally, restaurants aren't my favourite spot for a first date. Something much more casual would be more to my liking. However, I can't really be that picky, especially when I'm accepting an invitation, not the other way around.

Keith sits down opposite me and immediately opens the menu.

I shrug, deciding to peruse my options too. So far, he's not been much of a talker, but maybe he's just nervous. We've only just arrived here, anyway.

After a few moments, he puts down his menu and smiles at me. 'So, Cora, tell me about yourself. I know you work for Garth Publishing, but other than that, I don't really know that much about you. Rory just thought we would be a good match.'

I try to suppress a groan, because I absolutely hate these sorts of questions. Not that I don't like myself, because actually, I don't really have that low an opinion of myself. It's more just that I don't think those questions are that interesting. Or maybe, my responses just aren't that enthralling.

'Uhh,' I stall. 'Well, yeah. I graduated from NYU with a marketing degree and I've been working at Garth Publishing ever since. I have a brother and a sister, I live with my flatmate Rose and I love dogs.'

He cracks a smile at my dog addition. Honestly, Keith is actually quite attractive, in a subtle kind of way. His nearly black hair is cropped quite short and his eyes are bright blue. His physique is in good shape too.

'How about you?' I continue, for the sake of being polite, despite my displeasure about the particular question. 'Tell me about yourself.'

He shrugs. 'I'm 27, I've been working at Garth Publishing since I graduated too. I'm an only child and live by myself.'

'What's it like to grow up as an only child?' I ask curiously. 'My house always seemed to be teeming with people because my siblings always had friends round or I did, you know? It was always non-stop in our house.'

Keith winces slightly. 'I'm not sure I would have enjoyed that. It was so nice growing up just me, I always got my own space and could just do what I wanted. No stupid sibling fights, or anything like that. Plus, it means I'm super close with my parents, too.'

'Really? I don't think I could imagine anything else. I mean, of course, my siblings used to drive me crazy, but we've always had each other's back, you know? And now we've grown up, we all just get along so well. I wouldn't have it any other way, I don't think. But I guess it's different for everyone.'

The idea of enjoying being an only child strikes me as bizarre. Annoying as they were when we were growing up, I wouldn't change having Katie and Terry for the world.

He shrugs again, looking back at his menu. 'Yeah, I guess so.'

There's a long silence, where neither of us say anything, with an awkward silence hanging between us.

'Have you decided what you're going to have yet?' he eventually asks.

'I think I'll go for the sweet potato curry,' I say, thumbing through the menu. 'It sounds really good. How about you?'

The conversation feels a little forced, but I decide to peg it down to first-date-jitters. A lot of first dates can be awkward, right? Especially given that we don't know each other that well and are more here because of our mutual friend, not because we particularly like each other, or anything.