A couple of mild panic attacks later, Rona was ready to set off for her date. She'd settled for a look that she decided was smart-casual - "Smasual" as Hannah termed it triumphantly, before collapsing in a fit of giggles and then hanging up the 'phone to go find something to eat. Rona felt a sudden need to go to the toilet - but the sound of the shower hissing downstairs told her that this wasn't an option. The smoke-detector was still beeping for a new battery. Nothing for it, then: she hurried down the stairs and out the door to catch the tram.

She'd thought, briefly, about cycling to the bar - it wasn't very far away - reasoning that this would give her a rosy-cheeked, healthy glow (or something like that); but Hannah had counter-argued that it'd also make her breathless and sweaty, which was not so appealing - trust me, she said, I know. Rona ummed and ahhed over it - it was another way of delaying the inevitable - but the matter was settled when she realised that the battery for her bike-light was flat: Hannah resolutely refused to let her ride anywhere after dark without proper illumination, and Rona wasn't so keen on the idea either.

She was lucky: it was after dark but she only had to wait seven minutes for the tram. She'd arrive at the bar a few minutes late but if nothing else she'd learned from her (now occasional) friendship with Alain the principal of "treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen" - which she'd always dismissed as bullshit, but which she felt was somewhat justified now given the disappointment that the record-store-guy had subjected her to on their previous attempt at a date. Yes, she knew that that disappointment was not without reason - but all the same.

She shut her eyes tight: she had to stop calling him that! It was something she'd picked up from Phuong, who'd picked it up from Hannah, who'd picked it up from Alain. His name wasn't "record-store-guy" - it was "Matt". It was a perfectly good name. Easy to remember. She hoped she wouldn't call him "record-store-guy" any time during the course of the evening. Though on the other hand, he might find it amusing - he might find it cute.

But she didn't really want to be cute - she wanted to be something, she wasn't quite sure what, but she was sure it wasn't cute. Sexy, maybe - but not too sexy, not on a first date. God, just calm down she told herself. This really was like being back in high-school. It was her Year 12 Formal all over again - and hadn't that been fun, she thought sarcastically.

As it happened, when she got there she was apparently neither "cute" nor "sexy" - she was "great". That was what he said when she arrived: "You look great." That was okay, she could settle for that. She asked him if he'd been waiting long: not really, he said. Just a few minutes. He shivered, but somehow he managed to do it stoically. Okay, she said, let's go inside and grab a drink.

The inside of the bar pounded with amplified, simplified music - there was a band scheduled to play that night, but not for another couple of hours, and anyway they weren't anything special: Rona had seen them before and she could live without seeing them again. The big screen in the bar was showing a replay of some Aussie Rules match - which Matt looked at, briefly, before turning his attention back to Rona. He looked pretty much the same as he always did, only a little bit more so. Maybe he'd just finished work or something, Rona thought. He wasn't wearing any after-shave, or any deodorant - but then, he didn't have any appreciable odour to decrease. His hair was just a little bit damp - had he showered before he came here? Well that was surely a good sign. He offered, uncertainly, to pay for her drink - she declined the offer, also a little uncertainly, but politely. Damned if she was going to let some stranger pay for everything, no thankyou. What an odd way to think of him, she realised - he said something which she didn't quite catch over the noise of the bar - but I suppose that's what he is, isn't he? A stranger? Surely that was the point of this date, to get to know him better? Rona took a gulp of her drink, desperate to silence her chattering brain just for a few moments. He noticed her do so, and asked if she'd had a long day. My god, she thought with amazement, I'm on a date!