‘Oh my god,’ Clover laughed as they finally squeezed up to his table, breathless from the crush. ‘This place is mad!’

‘Yeah! You made it!’ He seemed genuinely pleased.

‘Well, I thought . . . one drink.’ She shrugged. ‘This is my friend Martha. Matty. Mats. Smats, whatever you wanna call her. And Johnny’s over there somewhere, at the bar.’ She looked for him. ‘The tall one.’

But Mikey didn’t seem bothered about meeting Johnny. ‘Hey Mats Smats! I’m Mikey. And these guys here are Logan, Ely, Kelly, Gretchen and Noah,’ he said, introducing the others at the table. ‘Guys, this is Mats – and Clover, who I was telling you about.’

Everyone nodded, waved, smiled back at them in turn. They all had a slightly glassy look. Clover wondered how long they’d been in here.

Mikey put a shot glass into Matty’s hand. ‘You look thirsty.’ He put one in Clover’s hand too. ‘And you look really thirsty.’

Clover looked back at him and laughed. ‘What is this?’

‘Flügel. You gotta catch up.’

‘Oh jeez,’ she laughed as Matty clinked their glasses before she could refuse. They threw their heads back and downed them. The alcohol – red vodka – burned her throat and Clover gave a giant shudder. ‘Aah. That stuff is lethal.’ She pressed the back of her hand to her mouth and looked back at Mikey, who was grinning at her.

‘I know,’ he said. He sat back down and patted the seat beside him. ‘. . . So, the snow thawed, huh?’

Clover leaned in closer to hear what Logan was saying – something about a ‘line’ on the north face of a mountain in Breckenridge – her hand on Mikey’s thigh for balance. She needed all the help she could get. The room was beginning to spin. His arm had been slung across the back of the bench seat all night and at some point, had come to rest on her shoulder; probably the same point as when dancing on the chairs had seemed like a good idea.

Matty had moved over to sit between Mikey and Logan, fed up with doing impressions of Her Majesty across the table. The band – if it was even possible – was playing more loudly than before and the heaving crush on the floor had become more of a jumping, stomping mosh pit.

Mikey passed Clover another shot.

‘I can’t!’ she wailed, laughing.

‘I will if you will.’

‘You’re bigger than me! And a lot more seasoned at drinking this stuff.’

He arched an eyebrow. ‘Three, two, one . . .’

She downed it. ‘Ohmigod,’ she groaned. ‘I did not need to do that.’

‘But it’s so much fun,’ he said, leaning over and kissing her suddenly.

She was so taken by surprise, it took her a moment to close her eyes.

‘. . . Don’t ya think?’ he grinned.