Story for the Worker

'I'm not too sure about this' I said in a worried tone to my friend whilstnervously caressing my mobile phone as if it was a little puppy, it being theonly connection I had to home right now, I struggled to loosen my seat belt which at this moment seemed like a prison bar bearing down on my chest forcing me to be doing something I really didn't think I should be doing.

My friend chose not to reply and just smiled sideways at me as she continued to drive and carefully concentrate on the road ahead of her. We'd been friends for years and shared many many experiences, both good and bad. We'd progressed from school girl mates in the playground to being soul mates as teenagers. We'd shared stories of our bodies changing as we blossomed into women, our fears, our hopes and even our first experiences of the opposite sex and probably many more similar experiencessince then! We'd always stayed close and never lost touch even when she had moved to London for her work a few years ago.

'This just isn't me' I continued 'I mean I feel like I'm travelling half way across the country on some seedy sex mission'

'Nobody is saying you have to pull' she said abruptly.

I looked out of the window, knowing full well she was right, so why did this feel so wrong. Basically, she had finally managed to get me to come back to this here London of hers and meet a few of her friends and colleagues. She'd been going on for months about how much better things were in London, the places, the people, the wealth, the atmosphere and more recently the dating. She'd only really started going on about the dating since she'd found this nice guy called Jackwho was apparently 'sex on legs' and was most definitely single, she also never forgot to mention that hewould suit me down to the ground. She seemed to think that this complete stranger would go from being just that to my soul mate, lover and future husband in just one weekend visit.

'But I'm worried' I said honestly 'you know my past experiences with blokes, I tend to put my heart and soul into it only for it to end in disaster and none of them were worth it in the first place'

'This one is' she said

We stayed in silence for the last half hour of the journey as she concentrated on the road, and I prayed to be back at home, with no excitement, but feeling safe.

Eventually we turned into a car park and I saw in front of me a crowd of people gathered, I quickly worked out there was a pub behind them and they were more than likely customers of it outside basking in the sun. I took in the diversity of the people in the crowd, some of them groups of lads obviously out for a laugh together, some of them groups of girls which judging by the way they dressed were almost definitely out to find someone to take home. There was also a rather large selection of couples everywhere I looked, all looking fairly happy, one couple holding each other close whilst he was carefully caressing her hair, another couple talking constantly whilst she was seductively caressing his leg.

As I took in the array of people hanging around andwe both started to get out of the carI spotted the most incrediblyfitlooking guy ahead, he was dressed well, looked like he made an effort with his appearance,judging by the car he walked away from and his general body language he was successful and hehad the most gorgeous eyes and smile ever, then I realised hewas making a bee line straight for us.

'Meet Jack' exclaimed my friend as he got closer.

Jack came over to me and gave me a very warming, friendly hug whilst saying 'you must be Kerry'. Before I even had chance to speak my friend had gone to mingle with the crowds and Jack had pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket.

'Right' he said unfolding the paper 'I don't know what you're into, but I wrote all these things down that we could do this weekend, theres loads of museums, galleries, theme parks on the list, any you fancy we'll do, my shout, thought it be a nice way of making friends'

I smiled in agreement as he grabbed my hand gently and said 'come on lets go and introduce you to the others, I can't be selfish and keep you to myself can I? By the way you're beautiful'

Speechless withmy stomach doing somersaults Iwalked hand in hand with him towards the rest of the crowd. I couldn't help thinking that my friend may have been right and there may be something to this london dating idea after all.