Juliet and I had arranged to have dinner together, at a new Soho restaurant, that evening. Juliet had read about its opening and decided we had to eat there as soon as possible. She wasn't able to get reservations until a month after its big opening - neither of us is famous.

In the weeks before our meal but it had began to dawn on me; Juliet and I weren't going to work as a couple. We were far too different, we had nothing in common; Juliet is a very attractive blonde but God is she boring. Her endless talk of celebrity gossip, soap operas and reality TV shows was grating on me. I couldn't bare one more conversation about Celebrity Big Brother, I didn't care if someone massacred the whole household. It's one thing to have an attractive girlfriend to show off but I'm not the type of man who can just sit back and stare at her beauty, I've got to find my girlfriend interesting.

The closer we got to our big meal together, the more I realised that I had to end our relationship. It was going nowhere. I couldn't end it all before our meal because Juliet was so excited about it, but as soon afterwards I could I had to.

Then came the night of our meal came. We'd arranged to meet at the restaurant and as usual Juliet was late. Not late enough to miss our table but late enough to make me frustrated as I sat there alone at our table. She eventually turned up as the barman gave me that pitiful look of “You've been dumped” for a third time. She was wearing a small bright pink dress, which emphasised her breasts and legs, she looked both beautiful and cheap; suddenly I was very embarrassed by her.

At the bar, as we waited again to be seated, Juliet chatted away about the latest big fight on Celebrity Big Brother. I had spent a busy day at work and I just wanted to relax, I didn't want another conversation about people I'd never heard of. What I really wanted to was to have gone home and slumped on my sofa in front of a video, with a beer or two. Instead here I was with Juliet in another very expensive restaurant.

When we were finally seat at our table Juliet had moved onto talking about her friend, Donna, who had now got her boyfriend to propose to her. Over our starters, our very small starters, Juliet told me all the details Donna had planned for her wedding - even though shed only been engaged a week she had everything planned down to the place settings. It was then that I knew if we carried on any longer we would hurt each other. Juliet was beautiful but we had to have more in common than just my attraction to her.

Over our main course, only slightly larger portions then our starters, I took a deep breath and said, jumping in with both feet:

"Look, Juliet, there's something we need to talk about..."

"Harry," she said cutting me off. "I've got to say something first."

What did she have in mind now, a holiday together, moving in together, another thing to be done only as a couple? I felt my half empty stomach sink.

"Sure," I said.

Not looking me in the face, she said:

"I've been thinking a lot about me and you, us, and I know we're not great together. You like all this highbrow stuff and I'm more an OK Magazine and soaps girl. When we went to the theatre I was bored stiff, even with that hunky bloke from Casualty in it, but you loved it. Sex is great but I'm not that stupid, I know there's got to be more. Sorry Harry, I don't think we're right for each other... I think we should break-up."

I felt a rush of relief running through me. Without realising it Juliet had let me off the hook and given me an escape route all at the same time. I almost let out a sigh of relief, but I managed to hold that in.

“Sorry," I said. I just said it without thinking.

"You are?" Her whole face lit up as she spoke. Suddenly she was smiling broadly back at me.

"Yes, how couldn't I be," I said but I couldn't say anything else, I couldn't be a total bastard to her. She had those big, beautiful, blue eyes turned onto me.

"You really care about me?"

"Of course I do, you're a lovely person." I wanted a way out, but I was digging myself in deeper and deeper.

"I thought you didn't care about me that was why I was going to break up with you. I really care about you but I thought you didn't care about me. But you do care and that's great. You’ve made me really happy. Harry, thank you. I know we can make a go of it, if we really work at it."

My half empty stomach sank again. I was trapped. I couldn't get out of this all now without being a complete bastard. I just wanted to stand up and walked out of there, but I couldn't. I'd agreed to pay the bill and I knew she couldn't afford it on her own. I couldn't dump that on her.

"I know after tonight everything is going to be different, as long as we work at it, everything is going to work" Juliet said, her smile lighting up her whole face.

"That's nice," I said, then took a large drink of our overpriced wine.

Drew Payne

April 2013