There were a couple of other available girls back at the house but Dean the fucker had his eyes on mine. At one stage he asked her to dance with him. I think she agreed because it was his house and perhaps she felt as though she couldn’t refuse him, as if she was caught up in a weird hostage situation over which she had no control. She was fairly drunk, we all were. She was set in close against Dean, he cradled her head with his hand. I was uncomfortable with it but I tried not to show it. After a couple of minutes, she screamed and extricated herself from Dean. We all stood around as she informed us that Dean had given her a hickey. I looked at her neck, a big sweltering red mark was there all right but I laughed and tried to make light of it. I could see that she was close to tears so I told Dean that he was a prick but yet I insisted that she shouldn’t have made such a big deal of it.

Jenny acts as if Dean and I were engaged in some Dionysian, mental situation. Something out of control. I have tried to tell her that it was nothing like that but she won’t believe me.

When we go into the house I push a bottle of red wine into Dean’s hands. He thanks me without looking at it, I have to tell him that it wasn’t cheap. He puts it to one side and keeps talking to Jenny, asking about her art. She seems pleased by his interest but too bloody quickly she starts to mention the problems that she’s having with it. How she finds it difficult to get any work done on account of the kids, they’re still so young. It’s not what somebody who is hosting a party wishes to hear. Dean is zoning out. He’s only asking about her art to be polite, he doesn’t care about Jenny, about anything that she’s trying to pursue. Her dreams. He’s humouring her and it’s sad to witness. I think she realizes in that moment that she has taken Dean’s questions too seriously and she might well have looked a bit cooler if she had just said that things were going fine. I think she knows that she has embarrassed us both.