Jonno shook his head. ‘Lucky bastard.’

‘I bleedin’ hate the sun in summer, never mind at Christmas.’

‘Me heart bleeds for ya.’ Dave raised his eyes to Heaven. ‘Try eating a fire-damaged turkey for the third year in a row. It’s a wonder I have any fuckin’ teeth left.’

Mel laughed at him.

‘Alright, fatso, wanna get fingered?’

‘You’re such a pig, Dave,’ Mel spat at him. ‘You make me wanna puke.’

‘Yeah, that’s not what your Ma said last night,’ Dave laughed to himself.

‘Not funny.’ Rave’s voice was low and warning. Dave stopped laughing immediately. ‘He doesn’t mean it, Mel. He fell on his head when he was a kid.’

‘Well, when Rave says fell he means his Ma landed him on it.’ Jeremy felt a need to break the tension. Mel was upset and he liked Mel.

Mel smiled. ‘I don’t blame her.’

‘They say he was an even bigger thick before …’ Rave made quote marks with his fingers, ‘the fall.’

Mitch and Jonno laughed. ‘Explains a lot,’ Jonno said.

‘Yeah alrigh’, ha ha.’ Dave went pink at being the butt of their jokes. It needed to stop.

‘I was only messin’. Sorry, Mel.’

‘It’s OK, you can’t help being a thick.’

‘Exactly,’ Dave said and he made a face, talked slowly and banged the side of his head. Everyone laughed. Jeremy just felt relief – this was normal.

Evidently Rave had had enough of the banter: he put his arm around Casey and turned to Jeremy and Deirdre. ‘Are yous coming?’

Deirdre tightened her grip on Jeremy’s sweaty hand. Jeremy nodded. It was time.

Rave clicked his fingers. ‘Let’s go.’

They left Jonno, Mitch, Dave and Mel sitting under the tree, sharing the vodka while Mel passed around cigarettes. Mitch was the only one who didn’t smoke: his granddad had died a few months back of emphysema.

‘He’s literally drowning in his own phlegm in me ma’s sitting room,’ he’d say, when the lads lit up. ‘Yous are mad. If you’d seen what I’d seen, you’d shove your knob in a blender quicker.’

The lovebirds found a spot in the bushes where they drank a little more of Rave’s vodka before going their separate ways. Casey was always giggly after a few sips. Deirdre drank a tiny bit but Rave downed it like it was water.

‘What about you, Beany?’ he asked, handing him the bottle.

‘I’ve had enough,’ Jeremy said, after just two sips.

‘Sure?’ Rave asked.

Jeremy looked from his friend to the bottle, then grabbed it and downed some more. It made him feel sick, but it took the edge off the anxiety that was raging in him.

Rave took back the vodka and finished it, along with a ham and cheese sandwich that he fished out of the rucksack.