‘No,’ Lauren says. ‘No.’ She comes over to me, lays her soft hands on me and helps with my dress. ‘Please don’t be embarrassed,’ she says as her hand slides up my back, pulling up my zip. I allow her to help me.

‘Thank you,’ I say, feeling like maybe we understand each other.

‘I just wanted to show her that she isn’t the only one who feels defined by her body,’ I say, keeping my head down. ‘That we all label ourselves. We all decide what people see. That’s all.’

I head sheepishly over to the window where I sit on one of the chairs. I am quite winded by all this. Quite damaged. Quite unable to be tough. We are all wondering what happens next.

After a painfully long silence, Rebecca says, ‘Girls at school used to Sellotape raisins to their faces and take the piss out of me. I’ve been terrified of women ever since.’ Her harshness evaporates from her like steam from a kettle.

Another short pause.

‘My belly looks like a dartboard after giving birth and I’ve put on so much weight my husband finds me physically repulsive and refuses to look at me, let alone touch me,’ says a nice-looking but quite plump lady. ‘Hi, I’m Beth, by the way,’ she adds, smiling at me and Rebecca.

We all look to the young pretty one, wondering if she has any defects she would like to confess to. It takes her a minute, but eventually she thinks of something.

‘I’ve got terrible haemorrhoids from too much anal.’

‘Risky!’ Beth yelps, horrified by her words. But the haemorrhoids did just the trick. We all, somehow, manage to laugh.

Suddenly Ross, my friend from the bench, comes in. He is hot and bothered. I’ve seen him look that way before. I turn my face away so he doesn’t recognise me, but carefully spread the skirt of my dress over the pills on the floor, so he doesn’t have to see what Lauren was about to do. I know how much that would upset him.

‘There you are!’ he says, hugging Lauren like the loving father he is. He reminds me of my own dad.

I am glad he still has a daughter to hold. It makes me think of Bonnie.

‘Come on, let’s find a way to sneak you out of here and I’ll get you home, OK?’ Ross says.

‘Ruby?’ I hear her say. But I have ducked into the bathroom and shut the door, I don’t want her father to see me. When I am sure he and Lauren have gone, I come back out.

‘What you did was very brave,’ Beth says to me, seeming to understand my sacrifice.

‘I did what needed to be done.’