Group Fun

After work, I meet my single friends - Miss P, Dora, Prince and The Actor - for drinks. I am usually quiet in a group - never the centre of attention - but they all want to know about my new job so I end up talking a lot. I show them my belt and whistle and they agree that they make me look "very butch." Groups of friends can be difficult to navigate. How do you not favour some people over others? I worry that most people do not think about this as much as I do. Our group is effected by The Actor being in love with Dora, who does not return his feelings. He singles her out, directs the conversation towards her and makes her the centre of attention. At one point I start a conversation with him, only for him to completely ignore me and turn away to ask Dora a question. (I only sulk about it for a few minutes). He is completely smitten and I wish there was a way of making her feel the same way about him. They are close, she likes him as a friend but that is all. Occasionally, he refers to his unrequited feelings and it makes the rest of us embarrassed.

This group is the polar opposite of The Intellectuals. We gossip about work colleagues, talk about the new series of Big Brother and everyone fiddles with their iphones, showing off their new apps, taking photos and posting them to Facebook. It's light, silly fun, good for every now and again but I wish there was a bit more substance to our conversations.

Prince is leaving to go travelling for a few months and we toast him with overpriced cocktails and then enormous glasses of German beer.

I sway through the city centre towards my bus stop. Taxis are pulling up outside all the bars and clubs, spewing out girls in tiny dresses and boys dressed like spiffy little thugs. I arrive home still wondering how to meet people like me and whether they would get on my nerves as much as I get on my own nerves.