He takes my hand and leads me through the crowded room. Bobbed-hair girl is slow-dancing to a Sade song with some floppy-haired guy. She smirks when she sees Ben holding my hand. As we walk past I hear her mutter ‘cradle snatcher’.

But I don’t care. All that matters is Ben and me, and the way my hand feels in his.

He opens the bedroom door and we step inside. The lights are off and we begin to kiss. I’ve wanted to do this for so long. He tastes of alcohol but his lips are soft and it feels like I’m dissolving into him. Then he puts his tongue inside my mouth. It shocks me, but then I get used to it, and I use mine too, running it up and down his. It is the most beautiful feeling.

‘Come here,’ he whispers, and my body begins to tingle as he leads me further into the room.

The moon is shining through the window, casting a silvery glow so that Ben’s face looks spectral. He sits down on the bed then beckons me to join him. We curl up next to each other and I feel his hands move down my body. He lifts my dress and before I know it his fingers are inside me. It’s a sharp, rather unpleasant feeling, but then as he continues it starts to feel almost good. I lie back and close my eyes, feeling Ben’s warm breath on my face. Then the door opens and someone turns the light on.

‘Shit, sorry, folks,’ says a girl in a red dress. ‘I was looking for the loo.’

‘Other way,’ hisses Ben. ‘By the front door.’

‘Where’s that?’ she slurs.

As Ben is talking to the girl I sit up and notice a red stain on the duvet. My first thought is that my period has come. I’m utterly mortified.

‘Out there, you idiot,’ Ben snaps at the girl.

‘Charming,’ she mutters, backing out of the room clumsily.

‘Now where were we,’ says Ben, turning back to me.

I put my hand over the stain, try to hide it from him, but he has seen. He smiles at me.

‘That’s normal,’ he says, stroking my face gently. ‘When you do it for the first time.’

‘Are you sure?’ I say, feeling my cheeks redden.

He nods his head.

‘Listen,’ he says. ‘We’re not going to get any kind of privacy here and I really wanted this to be special. Are you up for an adventure?’

I look at him quizzically.

‘Well, I promised my parents I’d meet them at the gate at eleven.’

‘We can make it back for eleven,’ he says, standing up. ‘We’re not going far. Just to the river.’