Cass stood up abruptly. ‘Who wants coffee?’ she asked.

Stephen was the only one with a driving licence. Nick said he could take his car to go into Truro for the weekly Friday night disco. It’d be fun to see Helena off with a party. She wore a yellow halter-neck top, which fastened at the neck and back with red binding. Her breasts pointed upward, like the snout of a little terrier. Cass was in a floor-length skirt with a purple crochet top and Georgie wore her velvet trousers and a turquoise shirt with a big collar and wide sleeves. With the front of her hair pinned up and a swoop of eyeliner to match the shirt, she looked exotic, older, as if she’d come from a job as a croupier in Las Vegas. Stephen had one good shirt with him, white with a cowboy-style piping across the chest and cuffs. He’d ironed it that afternoon.

The disco was in an old Baptist hall. Stephen didn’t like dancing all that much, but after a couple of beers he could usually be persuaded to at least sway along to the music. Georgie and Cass weren’t physically self-conscious; that was one of the things that drew people to them. Within seconds they were on the dance floor, alternately jumping and wiggling their hips from side to side in each other’s direction, laughing and joining in at the top of their voices:

Ain’t gonna bump no more with no big fat woman

Stephen felt shy with Helena by his side. He felt as if she was expecting something, but he didn’t know what it was. Did she want him to ask her to dance? Or was she hoping for some kind of assurance from him, that he’d wait for her; wait until she came back from France and then come to her in London? But he couldn’t say that, because he didn’t know. He didn’t have a clue, really, what would happen. He didn’t want to promise anything, because that wouldn’t be right. You should never make a promise unless you were sure you’d keep it.

Cass and Georgie came back over. ‘Someone’s rolling a joint out the back if you want to come,’ Cass told Stephen, leaning up and into him to make herself heard above the music. Her breath on his cheek caused him pain and longing: so close to kissing and yet so far from her intention. He and Helena followed them out to a parking area. There were dustbins by the wall, and a couple of girls he’d never seen before.

Helena had told Stephen that she didn’t really like to smoke, but it was her last night and she obviously wanted to be part of the group, so she took the joint and inhaled a couple of times before passing it on.