Week 11 - Blind Date Surprise

The next hour went quite slow with Denise and Lyn spending a considerable time in the toilets together. It seemed that almost after every conversation the two had to disappear to compare notes on their dates. Pete seemed more interested in the girl with the stubbled faced skinhead by the bar than his own date. I actually found Lyn quite interesting although her insincere laugh was a bit off putting. Denise might be attractive but she could make Nigel Mansell seem a gripping conversationalist. When she wasn’t dragging Lyn to the Ladies she was checking her reflection in a mirror that was positioned to the left of us. Lyn started to show more interest in me as Pete was obviously being distracted by the girl at the bar to the annoyance of the skinhead who was trying to show that this was his girlfriend by holding her close to him. I am sure I even detected a snarl across his face, but this just encouraged Pete to give his companion a cheeky grin.


Denise was taking her time making a glass a dry medium white wine last and rather annoyingly was running her finger around the rim to make an irritating noise. She seemed lost in her own world with her eyes focused only on her own reflection. Lyn had finished her third half a lager and was beginning to get annoyed with the lack of attention Pete was showing her. Pete had no idea though and just kept smiling at the girl at the bar. What was he playing at? This was going to either end with Pete being slapped by Lyn or the Skinhead coming and trying to deck him. I hoped it would be the first because I think Pete would be less likely to retaliate if it was Lyn.

“So you were jilted then, Jon”, Denise suddenly addressed me for the first time all night.

“Look, he doesn’t want to talk about it”, Pete quickly burst in.

“It must have been awful for you”, Lyn caringly joined in, “Did you have to give all the presents back?”

Pete was right I didn’t really want to talk about it, but not because it was painful. Now it was just something that I had moved on from and I was ready to become Jonathan Stadler again and not ‘jilted Jon’. I didn’t need Lyn feeling sorry for me because I wasn’t a charity case and hadn’t been scarred for life. Yes, it had been a difficult couple of months, but I was only twenty-nine and hopeful had two thirds of my life ahead. This was now my time to be the real me again and not half of Jon and Becky. Or as it appeared more often than not ‘Becky and Jon’. It took a few more comments from Pete before the ladies finally realised that this was not a topic for conversation. Unfortunately this then meant we all sat silent for the next five minutes. All of us probably just trying to think of what we could talk about now. I am sure this used to be easier when I was younger. What did I used to talk about with dates before Becky? With Becky it was quite easy because she was always talking and all I had to do really was listen. She even claimed that she fell for me because I was such a great listener. I must admit though, that a few times I didn’t listen to all the conversations but seemed to have the knack of smiling or saying ‘oh dear’ at just the right moment. The thing was, that me and Becky worked and it was easy, but was that the problem? Had I taken my foot off the pedal and stopped really trying with Becky. When you are first interested in a girl and trying to seduce her you work so hard. You spend hours in the bathroom and make sure that all your spots are covered up, you even blow in your hands to check that you haven’t got smelly breath, but how quickly that all disappears once you are together. I suppose girls keep trying and still take hours getting ready, but that is probably for other girls benefit not the boyfriend. Perhaps I have let myself go. Perhaps I did enter the comfort zone where you can break wind in bed and it doesn’t really matter. I enjoyed the comfort zone, though. Coming home to Becky and just collapsing together on the settee watching ‘Brookside’ was just ‘cosy’. Now I was going to have to start dating again and being presentable. Could I do it? Have I forgotten how to talk to women?
The next time that Lyn and Denise returned from the toilets with newly applied lippy they surprised me by sitting the opposite way around. Denise moved next to Pete and Lyn came and sat by me. Was this deliberate or had they just not thought about it. Pete was no longer staring at he girl at the bar mainly because his view was now obscured by a very large bloke who had a leather jacket that was even too big for his wide body. It was now my chance to talk to Lyn and be my ‘real’ charming self. I have to avoid the obvious questions like ‘what do you do?’, but I need to sound interested in what she has to say. It was actually Lyn who started the conversation.

“Has there been anybody since the one we can’t mention”, Lyn came straight to the point.

I told her that I hadn’t really been out, but couldn’t think of a reason why. I decided to go right for it and ask if she had been in a relationship recently.

“I am sort of engaged to a bloke in the army”, she surprisingly informed me. I tried to play it cool, but began to wish that the two girls hadn’t changed places. I enquired what ‘sort of engaged’ meant. Lyn then told me about how she had been a penpal for a soldier serving in Bosnia for two years now and that she had only spent one weekend with him but he had mentioned in his last letter that he would like to marry her. This was my chance to let Lyn speak and I could just be a good listener. Also a reminder not to pursue any romantic involvement with Lyn just in case he has any Leave due.
The rest of the evening went well and I ended up walking Lyn home, which was admittedly considerably further than I had anticipated when I made the offer. Pete had left with Denise twenty minutes earlier giving me one of his famous winks as he left. I must ask Pete next time I see him if he still keeps count of how many conquests he has had. Knowing Pete he has probably compiled a top ten of Pete’s Shags. Despite Pete’s obvious hunky attributes I don’t think I have ever been jealous of him. Pete always has just been my best mate. Pete doesn’t let his emotions really show and I have never really seen him cry, although he came very close when the beat Trammere in the 1994 League Cup semi-final. As for serious relationships Pete had not really had one. Yes, there was Caroline Randall in the third year at secondary school. Pete spent the whole year chasing after ever and copying her taste in music. It was strange because Caroline really liked him but for some reason neither had the nerve to ask the other one out. Caroline actually ended up as our year’s first gymslip mother at the end of the fourth year. The father was a Sixth Former name Darren Woodward who was mysteriously beat up the week after the pregnancy was revealed. The gossip was that it was Caroline’s Dad who inflicted the damage, but Pete never spoke about it. Perhaps it is wrong but a part of me always assumed that Darren had received a legendary Pete headbut.
Lyn chatted the whole way home and insisted on us walking with our arms linked. I was frequently on the lookout for hidden army men armed with sniper guns. Lyn was very easy going and had a smile that was relaxing. Was this turning into a date and if so would she be expecting a goodnight kiss? One thing was for sure I was not going to give her anything else. I am not that kind of boy. I usually have to know at least a girl’s next of kin's star sign and a list of all previous lovers postcodes before they get to see my dangly thing. Maybe, though, that was the old me perhaps the new post ‘Jilted Jon’ should be a bit more easy and perhaps even more Pete like. The problem is I think too much about things. I mean what happens afterwards. I haven’t got any protection or any clean pants to put on. Yes, I could just put my jeans back on and go pantless. But the last time I did this when I forgot to take a pair of pants when I went swimming, having worn my blue trunks to go in, I nearly had a nasty accident with my zip. Perhaps I am thinking too much already because just because Lyn was leaning against me closely and blowing in my ear doesn’t mean she is looking for anything else. After about forty minutes of walking we reached a street called Bell Road, which I think I had heard Lyn say earlier in the night is where she lived. It was now gone midnight and I was just deciding that I was going to have to ask if I could use Lyn’s bathroom.

”I am ok from here on Jon. Thank you for walking me home”, Lyn rather hurriedly said. She then kissed me on the cheek and then ran off through a gully-way. In no time she was gone and I was left to think about two different things. Firstly, where I was going to be able to spend a penny and secondly, ‘where the hell am I?’

Next week : Thirty and  party not to foget