We pass the Tower of London and manoeuvre around the crowds that are always here day or night, rain or shine. Misha is ahead of me talking with Zeb, and I’m taking in the sights with pleasure when Felix pops up next to me. He’s wearing glow sticks around his wrists and neck, and they drop neon shards of colour over the sharp bones of his face.

“Alright, Charlie?” he asks in an interested voice.

I shoot a look at him and sigh. “Okay, ask your questions.”

“Goodness, can’t a boy ask a friend how he is?”

I eye him. “He certainly can and probably will do after he’s eviscerated every detail of that friend’s love life.”

“You know, you were a lot nicer before you met Misha.”

I laugh. “You didn’t know me before Misha.” I pause. “Although yes, I probably was.”

“So, best friends of over twenty years and now look at you.” He gives me a nudge with his sharp elbow. “All loved up in your riverside apartment with your banker.”

“We’re not loved up, Felix,” I mutter, worried that Misha will hear.

“Really?” he asks with lively interest. “You’re not shagging, then?”

“Well, yes, but… Well, that’s—” I falter.

He starts to laugh, and Max looks back instantly at the merry sound. His eyes soften, but he faces forward quickly as soon as Felix stops chuckling.

Felix grabs my arm, threading his own through it. “Charlie, you and Misha could never be just anything.”

“What do you mean?”

“Why do you think so many people have been betting on you getting together?”

“Because they have very limited social lives.”

He laughs. “Apart from that.” I shrug, and he leans closer. “Because you’re made for each other, trite as that may sound.”

“But we might never have realised that, Felix.”

He shrugs. “I think at some point you would have done. At least this way you were both so oblivious, there was very limited pining.”

I squeeze his hand. “Unlike you and Max.”

“Me and Max?” He shakes his head, a startled expression on his face. “We were done and finished a very long time ago.”

I don’t know what happened because Felix has never said, but Misha said he was devastated at the end of the relationship. I tried to be angry with Max out of loyalty to Felix, but that stopped when he called round to the flat to ask my advice on getting Felix back and I had to tell him that he was dating someone new. There was no covering up the heartbreak written all over Max’s face.

“Does Max know that it’s finished?” I ask cautiously.

“Judging by the amount of arses he’s fallen into since, I think he’s fairly cognizant of the fact.”

“Really? And he wouldn’t have you back if you clicked your fingers?”