The Importance of Being a Bachelor Read Online Free PDF Page A

unless they were the sort who appeared on daytime TV talk shows and he was certainly not that kind of person. Second, having told Angie, there could be no untelling which meant that even if one day he was to get over his secret crush on Cassie there would always be at least one person in the world who knew what kind of freak he really was. Finally, despite his reassurances last night, it was completely true that their relationship had always been something of a one-way street. Angie would unburden herself of whatever was on her mind while Russell would listen and nod in the appropriate gaps in the conversation before offering Angie such nuggets of wisdom as he could lay his hands on. That was how it was supposed to work and that was how he had always liked it. And yet Russell had, in a moment of weakness, in a pub, on an evening when they had both imbibed more than a fair bit of alcohol, willingly told her everything about his feelings for Cassie. The reason was simple: it is one of the fundamental truths of human nature that there’s only so much keeping of a secret a person can do before it comes out of its own accord. Russell had been aware for some time that he was reaching maximum secret-keeping capacity so it came down to a choice of either telling Angie his true feelings about Cassie and learning to live with the consequences or telling Cassie about his true feelings, thereby ensuring that neither she nor his brother Luke ever spoke to him again. So basically it was tell his best friend or end up being cast out by his family. It wasn’t a decision that took him a long time to make.
    A few weeks later on one of his regular Friday nights out with Angie, the moment of truth arrived in the form of a slightly drunken rant from Angie very similar to the one that he had heard last night.
    ‘You do realise that this isn’t fair.’
    ‘What isn’t fair?’ asked Russell.
    ‘This,’ replied Angie, gesturing to the space between them. ‘You and me sitting here now doing what we always do. I spend the night bitching on about the stuff that’s wrong with my life and you get to come out with the words of wisdom that make it all right again. I hate it. It should be more equal. You know, a bit more give and take.’
    ‘Fine,’ said Russell.
    ‘Excuse me?’ Angie was obviously taken aback by this deviation from the usual script.
    ‘Fine, I’ll tell you about something that’s going on in my life where I could do with a bit of advice.’
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Really.’
    ‘So go on then,’ said Angie. ‘It’s not about you and that girl at work?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘You’re not going to tell me you’re dying are you? That would put a real dampener on the evening.’
    ‘Thanks,’ laughed Russell. ‘It’s good to know that my untimely passing would mean so much to you.’
    ‘What is it? What’s the big problem?’
    ‘It’s me,’ he began awkwardly. ‘I’m the big problem . . . I think I’m in love with Cassie.’
    Angie had pulled a horrified face and put her hands up to her mouth as though she was watching a car crash. ‘You mean Cassie, Luke’s stick insect of a girlfriend?’
    ‘Yup,’ replied Russell looking sheepish.
    Angie smiled. ‘I didn’t even know she was your type. I thought you liked them a bit chunky like me. Is this something new?’
    ‘Nope. I think I’ve loved her since the day I met her.’
    ‘And that was when exactly?’
    ‘About half an hour after Luke met her.’
    ‘And you really do love her?’
    ‘Insofar as you can love someone without them loving you back, I’d say yeah.’
    Angie had reached across the table and held Russell’s hands. ‘I don’t know what to say.’
    ‘There isn’t much to say really.’
    ‘How did it happen?’
    ‘I guess it’s just one of those things.’ He proceeded to tell the story of how he had been out in the Jockey with some mates when he’d got the text from Luke.
    Although he had guessed that the text was designed to help his brother