‘No,’ Daphne says, shaking her head. ‘The cost of it, if nothing else. The producers will sort him out. Although, Duke, at this rate, it’s going to be up to us to be one-take wonders, I suppose, if we have any hope of staying on schedule.’

‘Well,’ Duke says, taking the chance to give the compliment. ‘I’ve been meaning to say how much I am enjoying sharing this with you. I can’t believe only a month ago that …’ He trails off. Should he really be saying this? Probably not, considering Evie is here. But too late, the words are out of his mouth.

‘That only a month ago I stomped on your heart, and now we’re mates again?’ Daphne supplies, and Duke smiles.

‘Something like that, yeah.’

Duke looks at Evie without meaning to. She holds his gaze, like it’s okay that he just clarified that, that she understands he and Daphne are friends. He feels the heat rise at the back of his neck.

‘I saw that,’ Magda says, smirking.

‘What?’ asks Evie, looking up.

Magda looks at Duke, waiting for him to explain, and Duke waits for a hole to open up in the ground so he can disappear. He doesn’t want to talk about what might be growing between him and Evie. Not just yet. He isn’t even sure himself.

‘Let’s just say,’ Magda tells Evie, ‘that my little theory yesterday has been proved wrong. These two genuinely are just best mates, I think. Our friend Duke here is smitten with someone else, I’d say.’

‘Magda!’ Evie cries, and Duke goes to defend himself but then, confronted with the horror behind Evie’s cry, finds that he can’t.

Daphne fills the gap for him. ‘Wait, you thought there was something going on between us?’ she asks Evie.

‘No,’ says Evie, hurriedly. ‘Not me. Magda.’

‘Sorry,’ says Magda. ‘It’s just … you’re both very attractive, and were together like, ten minutes ago, and also have very good chemistry on camera, et cetera.’

‘It’s called acting,’ Duke says, and it comes out a bit cross. But he is cross. He’s angry that Magda would posit such a thing to Evie: the person he actually likes. In fact, Evie is precisely why he can be so friendly with Daphne. Daphne had it right all along: they’re better as friends and he was in love with the idea of her, more so than her. He certainly didn’t feel the way he does now, with Evie … It’s been one kiss. But dear God, it was a great kiss.

‘Yes,’ Magda says, agreeing. ‘I misspoke. Evie said so yesterday, anyway.’

Duke looks at Evie. Why does he suddenly feel like this is a bad sixth form party and everyone is talking about him?