Becky looks down at the rubber curve of her trainers and feels more at sea than ever. She takes a huge gulp of her drink because it is something to do other than look anxious. She wants to go now.

With no regard for order, a boy called Nick leans forward and spins the bottle, urging it on, ‘Spin, bottle of fate! Show me my sexual destiny!’

The bottle points to nose-ring girl. She shrugs good-naturedly.

Nick lies down next to her, posing and pouting. ‘Come on then. Lay it on me, baby!’

Nose-ring girl leans down and gives him a quick kiss. Three seconds at most, no tongues. Raucous cheering and laughter.

‘Marry me?’ he says to her.

‘Next!’ she shouts.

The girl sitting next to Nick reaches for it.

One by one they spin and kiss, until it comes to Scott. ‘Ah, fuck,’ says Scott, dismayed, as the bottle faces him.

‘Go on, mate,’ calls out a boy in a baseball cap opposite him. ‘Good luck. Hope you don’t get a minger.’

‘Fuck off!’ says the red-head. ‘We’re all beautiful!’

‘Only on the inside,’ retorts Nick.

When Scott spins the bottle it is with the strength of someone who wants it to ricochet across the carpet, to smash against a skirting board and disappear from the game entirely. But as it makes its final slow revolution, the group cheers and whoops as it comes to land on Becky.

Scott and Becky look at each other and then Becky looks at the boy in the baseball cap to see if she is deemed a minger.

Scott leans in and kisses her. She is surprised at how soft it is. It’s a kiss with good manners. ‘Shall we get out while we can?’ he whispers to her.

‘OK,’ she replies.

They get to their feet, to roars of delight. ‘Wardrobe, wardrobe!’

‘For God’s sake use a condom!’ shouts Nick, emulating someone’s anxious mother.

‘How come I only got a kiss? We need to look at the rules,’ laughs someone else.

‘Spin on!’ declares nose ring as Scott holds Becky’s hand firmly and leads her away to the walk-in wardrobe, while the whole room raises another cheer. His expression now is not soft, or kind – rather, he looks determined.