“Sleep aids are never wasted on me,” I say solemnly.

Sam throws his head back and laughs loudly. “Misha, you have always been and will always be a little shit.”

Aidan nods. “He speaks the truth.”

I look at Charlie. “How is it that you’re hanging around with someone whose idea of reading is looking at the titles of the videos on PornHub?”

“Jamie’s not so bad. I actually met him in a library.”

I think of the sweet upper-class boy. “Was he lost? Had he stopped in for directions?”

Charlie shakes his head, but I can see he’s trying not to laugh. “He’s just not a reader. He has other good qualities.”

“Is one of them excessive vacuousness?” I ask dubiously.

“Enough,” he says firmly. “And don’t start on Harry again either.”

I bite my lip to stop my litany of complaints and watch Charlie put some bread in the toaster. He looks around the kitchen with a puzzled look on his face.

“Misha, where’s your compost box?” he asks in a concerned voice.

I blink. “My what box?”

He turns to face me. “The box for your kitchen waste. It helps with recycling.”

“You look a bit possessed when you use the word recycling, Charlie. Makes me want to cross myself.”

“It’s very important,” he says earnestly. “We have to do our bit for the future of the planet.” He stares at me. “So where is it?”

“In one of the cupboards? Who knows?” I hold up my hands in defence. “Until you came to live here, I never had any kitchen waste. Not unless you count vodka bottles.” I hesitate. “Do you count vodka bottles?” I ask hopefully and slump when he slowly shakes his head. “Damn, I really thought for a second that I’d been an ecowarrior and never realised.”

He looks at me pityingly. “I’ll ring the council and get some more recycling boxes. We’ll be doing the right thing before you know it.”

“Great,” I say faintly.

He turns back to the toast, probably happily secure in the knowledge that this is only the first in the many lectures he has in store for me.

“I’m going round to Mum’s on Monday night,” I say to him. “Are you coming?”

“It depends. Is she making solyanka soup?”

I grin at his hopeful tone. “Probably.”

“Then I’m definitely coming.” He sneaks a look at me that I’m probably not supposed to see. “Any particular reason for the visit? You don’t normally go round during the week.”

I frown. “She’s called a meeting.”

Aidan grins. “What have they done now?”

I sigh at the thought of my teenage twin sisters. They’re hellions. “I don’t know,” I say grimly. “She’s saving that for when we get there.”

Charlie winces. “Eek! Sounds ominous.”

“Sounds tiring.”

“It’ll be fine,” he tells me comfortingly.

And even though they’re just words, they’re also Charlie’s words, and so they work. I still do my best to grimace at him. “Easy for you to say, Charlie Sunshine.”