Two girls are sitting on picnic rugs watching the sunset over London.
The taller one, a redhead, suggested Ally Pally and only realised how cheesy her choice was when it was already too late.
She’d wondered whether to call it out or just let it rest, but Ally, the shorter of the two, got there first.
‘I see what you did there,’ she’d said and smiled, shyly.
They’d started their date sitting a few metres apart but once the sun went down and the air cooled, Becki moved on to Ally’s rug and wrapped the other around their shoulders. Social distancing and caution thrown to the wind. The heavy blanket felt a bit damp on her shoulders and Ally thought she occasionally caught the odd whiff of dog shit but decided to ignore it. Nature was what they had available to them so nature it was.
Becki had brought what she’d ambitiously called a picnic but was really just a selection of snacks from M&S by the Tube. She hadn’t thought that through either and their fingers got greasy trying to grip slippery Dolma from the plastic tray. At one point, etiquette loosened by warm white wine and flirting, Ally wiped her fingers on her jeans and then felt bad for being so grubby. She noticed Becki fumbling in her bag, the darkness obscuring what she was looking for.
Ally took one of the Wet Wipes offered to her.
‘You thought of everything’, she said. ‘This is nice.’
And it was really, despite the damp, needing the loo, the prospect of the long dark trek down the hill and the Tube home.
As first dates went, this was turning out to be a good one. She wiped her fingers and reached for Becki’s hand.