Full Attention — Long-Sleeve Tee

Don't answer yet. I'm trying the sentence.

Your friend puts their drink down. You begin with dinner, because dinner sounds manageable. You and the person in question have already had dinner several times. This is part of the difficulty. There were other people at those dinners, and once a very long discussion about a leaking roof. You would like a dinner with a clearer purpose and considerably less roofing. Ideally, they would understand that you fancy them without acquiring any information that could later be repeated.

Your friend suggests saying that you would like to take them out. You say it. Then, apparently alarmed by how well it is going, you add that it needn't be anything, and that they must be busy, and that a group could come if that would be easier. Your friend asks whether you intend to invite the roofer.

You start again. This time you get all the way to 'as a date.' The words sit there looking perfectly ordinary. It is irritating how little effort they seem to have made, considering what it cost you to put them in that order.

Your friend offers to play the other person. Unfortunately, they begin with an expression of such lavish romantic interest that you throw a cushion at them. They adjust. You straighten the sleeve of your wine top, reclaim the cushion and try it once more, including the bit about Friday. You have a restaurant in mind. You have had it in mind for some time.

Your friend says yes.

For a moment you forget that this is a rehearsal. Then they ask what time, and you tell them they are making it very difficult to return to your actual love life. They hand you your phone. Before you can invent a fourth person who might like to join the dinner, you begin typing.

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