"Men!" huffed Taylor Lopez as she flopped on the couch and kicked off her heels. "The world would be better off without them!"

Her best friend Emma Woodhouse looked at her sympathetically. "So I guess the big date didn't go so well, huh?"

"That's the understatement of the year," Taylor said dryly. "I'll have to become a nun. Or a crazy cat lady. I'm so tired of the whole dating game."

"I can't see it," Emma retorted, her hazel eyes sparkling teasingly. "For one thing, you hate cats. Secondly you know how devastated your mother and grandmother would be."

"Et tu, Emma?" Taylor grumbled. "Trust me, Em, if you'd been on this date, you'd understand. He spent three-quarters of the evening talking about how much he loves hunting and showing me graphic pictures of all his trophies. He was rude to the waiter and then to the bartender and you know how much that annoys me. He chewed his steak with his mouth open. He punctuated with swear words. Then he wanted to split the bill at dinner, even though he had a three-course meal and I had soup. And then if that wasn't bad enough…"

She paused for breath before continuing.

"..He told me he was disappointed. Because my surname is Lopez, he somehow got the idea I'd look exactly like Jennifer Lopez. So if I didn't mind, he wouldn't ask me out again."

"No," Emma breathed incredulously. "What did you say to that?"

Taylor laughed. "I told him I was disappointed by him. Because he was a human being, I had thought he'd be civilised. And no, I didn't mind him not asking me out again because there's no way I would ever accept a date with him again. Then I stormed out and jumped in a taxi."

She shuddered slightly. "Anyway, thanks for baby-sitting Zoe for me. My sister asked me at the last possible minute and I know she really needed a night out with the girls. I hope my niece behaved."

"Good one," Emma said cheerfully. "And I'll look after Zoe any time. She was an absolute angel and went to sleep without any problems at all. Unlike my nephew."

Emma smiled affectionately as she thought of two-year-old Henry, her sister Izzy's son. Despite his mischievous ways, he brought so much love and joy into their lives. Izzy was currently pregnant with her second child and Emma was looking forward to becoming an aunty again.

She gestured towards Taylor's bedroom. "Zoe's asleep in the cot. I just checked on her ten minutes ago."

"Great," Taylor said. "I think Steph said she would be back around nine so we've still got a bit of time left. Anyway, enough about me. How's your love life going?"

Emma screwed up her nose. "I'm baby-sitting my best friend's niece on a Saturday night – need I say more?"

"Why did I even ask?" laughed Taylor. "That's it. There are officially no decent men in the world."

"That's not true," Emma protested. "There's Jake."

She smiled as she thought of her best friend Jake Knightley. Twelve years older than she, they made unlikely best friends, but Emma had known Jake all her life and she adored him. In a way, he was sort of family, as Izzy was married to Jake's younger brother John.

Emma's hazel eyes suddenly brightened. "Hey, Tay, why don't you go on a date with Jake? You already know him and you know he's a good guy."

Taylor frowned slightly. "I suppose, but I'm really not attracted to him in any way."

"Well, maybe that's the problem," Emma sighed. "I mean, you were attracted to the foul-mouthed cheapskate hunter… Obviously the issue is your taste in men."

Taylor pondered Emma's words. "Are you saying attraction isn't important?"

"Not at all," Emma hastily clarified. "But maybe you're making it too much of a priority. Maybe sometimes you just spend time getting to know a decent guy and the attraction grows. I mean… people used to have arranged marriages in the olden days, right? How else would they have made it work?"

Their philosophical conversation ended when Taylor's sister Stephanie arrived.

"How was your date?" she asked Taylor excitedly.

"Don't ask her," Emma stage whispered. "Not unless you want to hear all the gory details."

"All I can say is that it's a good thing one of us is married with a baby," Taylor laughed. "Otherwise I'd have let the family down."

"Oh, sweetheart, it was much worse for me," Stephanie assured her. "Before I met Jason, Grandma was threatening to send me to Spain and match me up with one of her friend's grandsons."

She shook her head slightly, "Anyway I'd better get my princess and go home. My poor hubby must be missing us."

"I'd better get going too," Emma said, glancing at the clock. "I promised to stop by and see Izzy before going home."

"Fine, leave me all on my lonesome," Taylor said dramatically. "At least I have Ben and Jerry for company." She went to the freezer and pulled out a carton of Triple Caramel as Emma and Stephanie laughed.

Taylor forced a smile on her face as she said good night to her sister and best friend. But inside she was secretly wondering if she would ever meet Mr Right.

"Coming out for drinks, Knightley?" Daniel Weston asked, his arm already around the pretty blonde they'd met at the concert.

"No, thanks," Jake said, shaking his head. "I need to drop something off for my sister-in-law."

"Really?" Dan stated, his disappointment obvious. "But Miranda here has a friend for you."

Jake laughed. "Sorry, man, I'm not interested."

"You haven't been interested in dating anyone for ages," complained Dan. "I miss my wingman! What happened to him?"

His eyes narrowed suddenly. "You have a secret girlfriend, don't you?"

Jake remained silent and merely smiled enigmatically. Far better that Dan think he had a secret girlfriend than to know the truth.

Dan's eyes widened at Jake's silence. "You do! You dog!"

"Dan, I'm thirsty," the blonde complained petulantly. "Let's go."

Jake smiled slightly as he walked towards the car park. He wondered if his friend could ever be convinced to give up his playboy ways and settle down. He knew Dan was a decent guy at heart – he just seemed to be interested in all the wrong girls. And as long as he kept hanging out with them, he was never going to find Miss Right.

The thing was, despite his Casanova attitude, Dan was really a very shy guy at heart. He put a lot of effort into making himself seem confident and bold, but Jake had a feeling that if Dan ever met a woman he could love, he would be putty in her hands. He just hoped that mythical woman would love his friend too.

An image of a certain hazel-eyed young woman suddenly flickered in Jake's mind.

He sighed. After all, he knew all too well what it was like to suffer from unrequited love.

And he would never wish it on anyone.

Author's Note: Considering this is a prequel, technically you don't need to read my story Symmetry first. But I do hope you will read it next :)

For those who have read Symmetry, this is set around two-and-a-half years before. It will involve many familiar characters but the main focus will be on Taylor and Dan's love story - and of course, you'll finally get to determine for yourself whether Emma was responsible for matching them up ;)

I'd love to know what you think of this first chapter. Feel free to review, PM, or contact me via Twitter!

Until the next chapter,

Vee