She wishes Evelyn would come home. She doesn’t like it when they aren’t all together. No matter the configuration, when she’s only with either Evelyn or Nicole these days, it feels off kilter.

Abandoning his stupid dance, Matt sinks onto the ground and stares blankly at the fire.

Ren’s scruffy head appears over the fence, and he treats them all to a clumsy salute. ‘Shit, you guys made a fire!’ he remarks, before repeating the same fence-jumping entrance as his housemate. ‘Ladies, hello.’ He bows to Alex then curtseys to Nicole. ‘Hey, man.’ He and Matt execute a complicated handshake with several fist bumps.

Nicole rolls her eyes, but Alex smiles. Ren is charming in his bumbling way, and she’s happy to listen to his inane chatter. It’s a good distraction.

Nicole is right: everything is going well. It’s almost too easy—so far there hasn’t been a hint of risk. And it’s not like anyone is getting hurt.

Alex can almost convince herself that what they’re doing is fine.

Ren sits on one of the plastic chairs with legs slightly buckled from the sun. ‘You ladies need to get some nice furniture out here. Tart it up a bit. Get it party ready for summer.’

‘Oh, we probably won’t be here by summer,’ Nicole says breezily.

‘Really?’ Ren says.

‘Really?’ Alex echoes.

‘Oh well, you never know. We might move up in the world. Have a little upgrade.’ Nicole winks at Alex. ‘Right, Al?’

‘You never know,’ she says softly.

‘Is there more beer inside?’ Ren asks. ‘Otherwise I can grab some from home.’

‘We have beer in the fridge,’ Alex says. ‘Help yourself.’

Ren plods over to the back door, causing a cloud of bugs to vacate the grass visible in the low glow of the outdoor light. He disappears into the house.

‘What’s on for the weekend, ladies?’ Matt asks. ‘Apart from conquering the world.’

Nicole stretches her arms and her legs, yawns daintily. ‘Bit of this, bit of that. Study. I’m babysitting.’

‘Same,’ Alex says. Her breath makes a little white swirl in the air. ‘Fuck, it’s cold.’

The wire door smacks noisily against the brick wall of the house. ‘Say cheese to this fancy camera I found!’ Ren stumbles outside holding the camera in one hand and a beer can in the other. ‘Hey, how do you turn this on?’ He frowns as he presses buttons. ‘Oh, got it.’

Alex is moving before she registers it. Her chair almost flips over as she scrambles to her feet. ‘Don’t touch that, Ren! Give it to me!’

He dances on the spot like a jester, delighted at her reaction. ‘What’s it got on it, hey? Nudie shots?’

Nicole’s voice is ice. ‘Give it to her, Ren.’

He holds the camera in front of him, randomly pressing buttons.

Reaching him, Alex grabs it from his hands.