"Wow," Dillon couldn't contain his enthusiasm as Lucy walked into the pub. "You look really nice, Lucy," he said. "Really nice."
Lucy smiled shyly. "Um thanks, you look…"
"Really underdressed beside you," Dillon grinned, aware that his jeans and casual shirt hardly complimented Lucy's pretty black dress. "You do realise that I hadn't planned on going anywhere other than here, right?" he said hesitantly.
"Oh yeah!" Lucy nodded emphatically. "I said it would be way too much, but… I took some bad advice," she finished in a hurry, wincing as she nearly mentioned Patrick. "Can I get you a drink?" she suggested, smiling over brightly in an attempt to cover up her earlier stumble.
"No, let me," Dillon insisted. "I invited you out after all. Archers and lemonade, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Lucy nodded. "Please. Thanks. Erm…" she blushed and giggled in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I'm useless at this kind of thing, it's been a long time."
"That's okay." Dillon smiled kindly. "I'll just get the drinks in."
He returned carrying both drinks and balancing a packet of crisps on the top of the glasses.
"I'm afraid it isn't quite a four course meal at the Rochester, but I couldn't let that dress be entirely wasted." He grinned. "Cheese and onion do you?"
"My favourite." Lucy grinned back. "How did you know?"
"Intuition," Dillon said in mock earnestness. "And I have watched you devour many packs on your lunch breaks."
Lucy blushed as she began chewing on her current mouthful. "I'm sure I'm attractive like that," she said when her mouth was empty again.
Dillon shrugged. "You're not bad. So, you said it had been a long time since you'd done this kind of thing. I suppose Patrick didn't take you out much, did he?"
Lucy nearly choked on her drink. "Sorry?" She looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I was just saying that you and Patrick probably didn't get out much, seeing as it was supposed to be a secret." Dillon shrugged as nonchalantly as he could manage.
Lucy put her glass down heavily. "I wish people would accept what we tell them. Me and Patrick never happened, there was never anything between us."
"I know that's the line you've fed Lara," Dillon said nodding. "And maybe she even believes it. But not everyone's so blinded by love, Lucy."
"I haven't fed Lara any line!" Lucy protested. "Honestly, nothing happened. Me and Patrick are just friends."
Dillon frowned. "But how? You're complete opposites, you used to ignore each other, all but."
"We've got more in common than you think," Lucy said softly. "Anyway. I don't want to talk about that. Can we not just concentrate on having a good time?"
Dillon hesitated before nodding reluctantly. Why did he get the feeling he was being shut out of Lucy Hart's life?
Lucy wrenched the dress off angrily that night, throwing it far across the room. She pulled the multitude of hair grips in her hair out and dropped them on the floor. Bundling her hair up into a pony tail, she looked into the mirror.
"An idiot," she said decisively to her reflection. "An absolute idiot to think this evening would work." She looked at the picture of Jamie. "Why did you let me do this? Why did I ever listen to him, eh? He's not you, he never will be, neither of them ever can be. From now on, it's me, on my own, without any stupid rules or challenges or help. Just me."
