Sacha knew it was coming, and she braced herself. She could've avoided it: she could've talked about anything else, about work, about the weather - but really, how could she? When her sister rang for their regular chat there was, realistically, no way Sacha could not tell her about the blind date Rona was organising. So instead, she just had to brace herself for Kate's squeal of excitement.

It was a short one, by Kate's past standards, but it more than made up for that with resonance and passion. Sacha winced as she held the 'phone away from her ear. The next thing out of Kate's mouth was just as expected:

"That's so exciting!" she shouted. "I'm so excited for you. You have to promise to ring me and tell me all about it as soon as you get home."

"You're strangely optimistic about how it will go" Sacha said.

"Don't be so down on yourself. The guy's gonna love you. I just know it!"

"I wasn't really thinking about how it goes from his perspective."

"Oh come on, you know Rona's gonna pick someone nice for you. She's your friend! Just imagine if it was me. Would I pick someone bad for you?"

"You really want me to answer that?"

Kate laughed at the memory. "Give us a break, we were practically still kids then! And I was drunk. You seriously can't blame me for any matches I try to make when I'm drunk." A thought suddenly occurred to Kate. "Was Rona drunk?"

"My 'phone doesn't come with a breathalyser, Kate."

"Just remember to smile" Kate said. She was too excited to concentrate on any one thing for long.

"It's the guy's job to make me smile" Sacha replied. "I'm not giving that out for free."

"I swear to god, sometimes I can't even tell if you're serious or if you're joking."

"To go through with this thing," Sacha said, "I'm starting to think I must be kidding myself."