I didn’t want to correct her that my foul mood had nothing to do with my ex, so I toasted to it and downed my drink.

She stood next to me and admired our reflection in the mirror.

‘If we don’t pull tonight, there’s something seriously wrong with the men in this town. Let’s go.’

I slipped my feet into my heels and we picked up our small bags that just about fit our ID, bank card, phone and a lipstick and we headed out the door.

‘Do you think we should see if Douglas and Joel want to come?’ she asked, slamming the door behind us. Anger rippled over me at the mention of Joel. I’d been heartbroken about how he’d been treating me, but the alcohol had turned it into rage.

I was about to tell her where to go with that suggestion, but now, with my abundance of Dutch courage, I wanted to tell him exactly how mad I was at him.

‘OK. You go and knock on Douglas’s door and I’ll find Joel,’ I said, almost hissing his name.

‘Excellent, I’ll meet you at the end of the block in a few minutes.’

She headed downstairs and I headed up. I should have known how drunk I was when I kept ricocheting like a pinball off the banisters, but I made it to the front door of Joel’s flat. I tried the door and, finding it open, I went inside without knocking. I did the same to his room, expecting to find him mid-workout, but I froze in horror when instead I saw Elizabeth lying in his bed.

At first I thought I’d made a mistake, that I’d got the wrong room, but then I noticed Joel’s Sin City poster on the wall, followed by his overly large tub of protein powder on his dresser and finally my eyes fell on the ab cradle in the centre of the floor.

Elizabeth didn’t say a word. She pulled the sheets over her naked shoulders and a small smile spread over her lips.

I stumbled backwards, my head spinning and this time not because of the alcohol. The toilet flushed in the bathroom and I knew Joel would be out any second. I slipped off my heels, picked them up and I hurried out of the flat. I ran down the metal stairs, the lattice imprinting in my feet but I barely registered the pain. I kept running when I reached the ground floor, out of the staff quarters, over the grass where we played midnight frisbee and down the path to the beach. I didn’t stop until I was ankle deep in the cold water.

I panted for breath, feeling desperately sick, the image of Elizabeth and her small smile indelible in my mind.