I’d been leaning on my pool cue the whole time. ‘How the hell did that just happen?’

A middle-aged guy with a baseball cap poked his head round the door and caught Fraser’s eye.

Fraser pushed himself off the wall with a foot and headed to the door. ‘Back in a sec.’

Finn nodded at my pool cue. ‘Shall we get you going on that, then? I’ll swap hands if you like.’

After another arse-kicking by Finn, but at least one in which I put two balls away, I went outside. Fraser was standing a little way off, a blue-grey cloud rising from him. Twilight Fag Blue. A car was just leaving.

He took a double-drag in when I joined him. ‘Hiya.’

I nodded and we stood facing the loch. ‘What’s with you and all your friends?’ They hung around him like he was catnip.

Another drag. ‘I dunno.’

I jammed my hands in my pockets. ‘Sorry again.’

‘Don’t worry about it.’ Rain began prickling my nose, subtle as an itch. ‘I’ve got to go down to Glasgow for a couple of days.’

Invite me, I thought. I could remind myself what shops were, see real live actual people of maybe a few different shapes and sizes and sorts, we could go clubbing, I could finally sleep with you. The unspoken invitation dwindled in the air long enough. ‘Yeah? What are you doing?’

He exhaled. ‘Some exams.’

‘Testing you on how to build big fuck-off bridges that turn into skyscrapers?’

‘That sort of thing.’

Yep, he totally wasn’t inviting me. ‘Good luck.’

‘I need it.’ He offered me the cigarette. I shook my head. ‘Not been revising much.’ He leant over a bit, enough to nudge my elbow.

I put my hoodie up and tucked my hair away under it.

‘Fancy a party when I get back?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Just a wee one.’

I nodded. There were only so many nights watching moody-yet-sexy forensic scientist dramas with Lottie that I could take.

‘Finn’ll look after you, if you want. He likes you. He doesn’t talk to everyone.’

‘Lucky me,’ I said. I wasn’t shagging a fourteen-year-old. That was below even me. Though maybe I would, just to spite him for not taking me to Glasgow.

‘Fraser.’ The door had opened behind us and the landlord, Haimie, was there. ‘You are working tonight, pal, aren’t you?’

Fraser dropped the cigarette and swiped it with his toe. ‘Sorry, mate.’ He turned to me, hesitated, before quickly pulling me in towards him, a hand at the base of my back, and giving me a nice, tongueless kiss. ‘Catch you in a few days, then.’

The afternoon sun flashed white on the conservatory window. I swear the loch had a costume change every time I looked out. Today, it had folds in it, turn-ups on jeans. There was a little pale triangle over to the right. A boat, one person in it. I found a monster pair of binoculars.

The edges of the garden were startling and gargantuan, and I could see all the detail on the loch now, its zigzagging lines. I cruised around until I found the boat. The back end seemed to slope straight down into the water, but no one was flailing about on there. A man, dark-haired, head bent, something in his hands. He was reading.