6

Of all the times and places, she just had to run into him after her swim session. Roisin contemplated her fate as she applied her makeup and dressed for that afternoon. Her hair had been damp, she had been flushed and sweaty, even after showering, and she was sure he had seen the zit forming on her chin. She applied a generous layer of concealer to the offending blemish.

To make up for that morning's shortcomings, she overdressed for the club meeting: a white summer dress with dyed roses, a new black cardigan, and her favourite dress boots. She even repainted her nails. Let him think she was going out afterwards. Perhaps on a date?

She turned in the mirror, and stopped. If he thought she was going on a date, how would she react? Would it put him off? Or intrigue him? Tugging at the hem of her skirt, she debated: was she acting too desperate?

A horn beeped outside. Her Uber. She sighed. No time for second guesses.

The torch had passed to Bret for this meeting, unluckily for all. Bret lived in a one-bedroomed apartment on the north side of the city. Clean as it was, it was cramped, and they all had to sit near on top of one another. Roisin fretted as the room filled up, and the others closed in around her. Spencer was late. Should she save a seat? Would that be too obvious? Or not obvious enough? Marlene sat next to her and she groaned inwardly. Too late.

Spencer arrived a minute later, hair and shirt in disarray, he threw his bag down by the door before realising the only seat left was a single chair by the window. For a second, his eyes went to her, and Roisin knew she should have trusted her gut. Without a word, he slouched over and plopped into his seat.

They were forced to watch what people claimed were 'the three worst episodes in history', which Roisin thoroughly enjoyed. Afterwards, everyone fell into debate, and she sat quietly, listening to the different opinions being thrown around the room.

"Roisin?" Marlene said, causing her to jump out of her skin.

"Wh-what?" She responded.

Marlene looked down her nose at her. "...Thoughts on These are the Voyages?"

Roisin took a moment to think. "I don't think it deserves to be called the worst episode."

"Why?"

"Well I don't like it, don't get me wrong. And it was a lazy ending to a poorly thought out series, but Enterprise alone had far worse episodes."

"Such as?"

"...Too many to choose."

"You mean you can't name any." Marty scoffed.

She bristled. "Excuse me if I don't know the name of every episode by heart."

"Because they're so hard to learn."

"I don't know all of the titles, either." Spencer chimed in.

Roisin beamed at him. He let his hair fall over his face as he inspected his fingernails.

Marty glared at him. "Yeah but you're…"

"I didn't know it was a competition." Spencer said, eyeing him unyieldingly.

The older man threw his arms up. "And maybe if I wore a skirt up to my fanny, you'd agree with me!"

Roisin's jaw dropped. "How dare you!"

Everyone froze in the face of her wrath, watching as she stood and gathered her belongings.

"Never in my life...:" She fumed. "Has any pig… said something to disgusting to me!"

The others looked on, perplexed. Until Spencer offered:

"'Fanny', um...means something different in Europe."

They turned to him, and he reluctantly gestured the meaning. Marlene gasped.

"Marty!"

"How in Hell was I supposed to know, they -"

Roisin did not stay to listen. Sparing Spencer what she hoped was a thankful look, she turned on her heel and burst out the door, livid.