There was a silence at our table. We could hear the talk from other diners in the pizza place and the background music seemed to be louder than it was before. My ears felt like they were going to pop and I took up my wine and knocked it back. One of her girlfriends started a conversation about the likelihood of her ever succeeding in getting a career in publishing. I told her to fuck off and to stop talking about work. It was Jenny’s birthday and the only thing that we should be talking about is where we were going next. I was getting pumped up. Nobody spoke and I felt their eyes on me, greedy like witnesses to a car crash. Jenny had her hand held over the silver necklace as though she was protecting it. I asked her if she liked it, and she nodded.

It was expensive, I said. You can tell by the quality of the catch, and I looked away. I was the smooth guy.

I called the waitress over and asked for the bill. Conversation resumed, but it was quieter in nature than before and there was a shift in the energy. Jenny and Angela went to the loo. When they came back I was busy splitting the bill between the ten of us. I figured that it was twenty quid a head including the tip. Angela suggested that Jenny shouldn’t be included in the bill because it was her birthday. I told her that in principle I didn’t agree and that if anything Jenny was getting off lightly. If Jenny was Spanish she would have had to pay for the lot of us, as was the custom in Spain.

Nobody seemed to have thought any further ahead than the restaurant. Some of her friends started to back off when I suggested going on to Sound House on the Quays. Maybe I hadn’t made a good impression. I didn’t care. I figured that if Jenny and I were going that it would be enough but Jenny insisted that they all join us. And they did.

The club was the same as it always was. It had that quality that was hard to put your finger on, but something about the crude set-up of the place worked. It was organic. I bumped into Austin and I was pleased because I hadn’t seen him properly since I’d started going out with Jenny. The thing that I liked most about Austin was that you didn’t have to make conversation just for the sake of it. It had always been like that. We stood with our backs to the bar and took things in. I was drinking beer and it wasn’t resting easy in my stomach after the wine and the pizza. In between gulps of beer I found myself swallowing my saliva. I realized after a bit that I was going to be sick.