Chapter 1 - Minor Skirmishes part 1.

'I can't do this,' moaned Aurora, 'the last one went terribly, I've got a gut feeling this one is going to be worse, ten times worse.'

Tasha stopped rooting through the wardrobe and turned to look at Aurora, 'No, you say that every time. It's all sorted. Table is booked, and your taxi will be here in exactly 13 mintues, so will you please put this on. That's an order.'

Throwing her a disgusted look, Aurora pulled the floral blouse on over her head. She liked her outfit this evening, she looked chic in her skinny jeans and favourite strappy heels, 'fine, but I swear this is the last time I go on a blind date.'

Aurora has been on 9 blind dates in the last 3 months. Her best friend and flatmate, Tasha, who has a constant flow of men believes she could find "The One". That's highly unlikely. She's never come across so many boring, pompous, smug men in her whole 23 years of life. Where does Tasha find them?

'Tash, will you do my eyeliner please?' Aurora has never been able to do a perfectly straight line, or a fancy little flick. It always ends up looking like her 7 year old Niece has done it for her.

'Yes, of course. But we've only got 5 minutes.' Tasha picked up the little black felt pen and drew a thin line across the top of Aurora's eyelid. 'Perfect.'

Buzz

'Oh, that'll be the taxi,' Tasha said, slighly out of breath running for the front door. 'Be right doooown.'

Aurora walked slowly to the front door. 'Right, wish me luck. See you later.'

'You'll be fine. I bet he's lovely.'

'If he's a banker, I swear…'

'I know, you'll have my guts for garters. Right, have you got spare panties?'

'I hate you, bye.'

In the taxi, Aurora was feeling nervous. Not that nice 'fluttering butterflies' feeling, this was more like wasps. Angry wasps flying around violently in her stomach, slowly buzzing their way up to her throat. She had to keep swallowing to keep them from spilling out of her mouth. That horrible feeling that she only ever got before a job interview, on the first day of school… or a blind date.

The taxi pulled into an alley way. Aurora looked out of the window 'I'm sorry, but I think you're going the wrong way.'

'Nah, love. I got my sat nav on, this is the right way. Don't worry, we're nearly there now.' said the taxi driver, without turning his head.

Splendid. Now she was feeling even worse, a date in a dark, stinky alley. They pulled up outside a big steel door. Shit, where the hell was she? Thought Aurora, now she felt certain she wouldn't be able to stop those angry wasps from spilling out of her mouth if they came up. She felt sick. She paid the taxi driver and got out.

She stood outside the door, wondering what could be behind it. Maybe it was one of those lap dancing clubs, but why on earth would a guy take his date to one of those? He could be a drug dealer, she thought, or worse. She would kill Tasha for this when she got home. If she got home.

'Oh God, what's that smell.' She turned her head and saw the culprit. Bins. Yuck.

She turned and started walking down the alley, thinking she couldn't take anymore of this, the door opened. Out stepped a large bald man, lighting a cigarette. He looked over at Aurora who was contemplating going over and asking what was behind the door.

'You lost?' the large man said, throwing her a suspicious look.

'Erm..I think so. I'm looking for Bordello's, it's an Italian restaurant' she was now looking around for a quick escape route. You can never be too careful. He could be an axe murderer after all.

'Well, you found it.' he was now laughing at her. Why was he laughing? How was she supposed to know the little Italian restaurant was hidden behind a big menacing steel door. 'You're just at the wrong side of it.' pointing down the far end of the dark alley. 'walk down there, and turn right. you'll find it.' He threw her a not so friendly smile.

'Oh, right. Thanks.'

She walked off down the alley, feeling very self conscious, cursing the know it all sat nav. She turned right at the end and there it was, why hadn't she thought of that? Of course that wasn't the restaurant. She checked her watch, 10 minutes late. Shoot.

Stay tuned for more.