𝑌𝑜𝑢 | 𝐽𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑛 𝑆𝑎𝑛𝑐ℎ𝑜

04

The day flew by and the afternoon slowly turns into evening.

I'm late again because I had to work until 7 o'clock. Then I hurried home to shower and change and now I'm sitting on the train again.

My mother was also at home, but she was asleep, really asleep this time, so she didn't notice me.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," I greet Jamie in a quick hug, who is already waiting at our agreed meeting point.

"No problem. You're here now," he replies, smiling at me.

"Where are we actually going?", I then ask curiously.

"I've booked a table at a restaurant. Shall we go?" he asks me and I nod.

We walk a little through the city and I watch the people.

I always find it very fascinating to see people from all over the world, with different cultures in one city.

"Tell me something about yourself," Jamie suddenly breaks the silence.

"Um...", I think for a moment.

What can I tell him about myself? Maybe that I spent two years in prison for illegal business, that my mother is a drug addict and that my brother is a footballer?

No, I don't think I should start with that on the first date.

"I don't think there's anything exciting to know about me," I answer instead and look away from him.

"Okay, if you say so," he replies, still friendly.

"And what about you?", I ask him with interest.

"As you know, I work in a restaurant, but it's just a part-time job at weekends and in the evenings. I'm studying medicine and want to become a radiologist. My whole family is made up of doctors. My parents, my two brothers...but I don't want to sound conceited," he says and laughs.

Wow. What should I say now? I don't even have a high school diploma and he's going to be a doctor.

"What do your parents do? Or do you have siblings too?" he then asks after I didn't answer him.

Shit.

"My parents live apart. My dad works in Detroit at a law firm and my mum, um, helps people with problems," I begin.

Everything is not a lie. My father really does work at a law firm in Detroit, but only as a caretaker, and my mother is not the one who helps, but the one who gets help.

"Yeah, I have a brother who plays football," I add and finish my sentence.

"I'm sorry about your parents. But that sounds quite good. Where do you live here in London?" he asks.

Great, so it can't get much worse, can it?

"Well, I still live with my parents and siblings in Kensington," he answers his own question.

I should have guessed that's where people with a lot of money live.

"I live in Chelsea with my mother," I lie.

"That's also a very nice area," he says again.

"Where are we?", I ask quickly, before he asks me any more questions, to which I have to answer with a lie.

"There we are," he says and points to the entrance of a restaurant.

I've never seen it before, but it looks very expensive.

Three hours pass and Jamie talks about himself and his family for most of the evening.

When we finally finish and leave the restaurant, he puts his arm around my shoulder.