Ben looked like someone was playing a coordinated, elaborate practical joke on him. ‘Um, OK –’ he ventured, coolly.

‘No, it’s OK – I mean, you’d just got a bit commitment phobic, right?’ Ellen continued. ‘We’ve all been there –’

‘Ellen, shut up,’ Alexa interrupted.

‘Sorry, of course,’ Ellen said. ‘Shutting up.’ A pause. ‘Again. Maybe just forget what I said.’

Ben put his face in his hands.

Jack was quite glad he’d stayed at the window now.

Ellen opened her mouth again, but this time Jack caught her. He frowned and shook his head, imperceptibly. She closed her mouth again. He was surprised that had worked.

21. Alexa

Ellen opened her mouth again, and Alexa felt the dull despair of the inevitable.

Instead, Ellen whispered, ‘Oh, shit.’ It appeared that she had realized, at last, what she’d done.

In response, Alexa clenched her jaw tighter.

Ben remained tensed and silent.

For a few seconds, Ellen was still too, until she started jerking her head in Alexa’s direction.

Alexa glanced up, before she could catch herself.

‘S-O-R-R-Y,’ Ellen mouthed, her face stretched in horror.

Alexa turned to stare out of the window by way of response, and started working on excavating a hangnail on her thumb. If she worked hard, she’d probably draw blood before long. There was a good, chilly metre between her and Ben now. He felt even further away.

‘Well, I hope the locksmith rescues us soon,’ Ellen stated, uncertainly, into the silence. She added, unable to stop herself, ‘It’s definitely feeling a bit Lord of the Flies in here.’

Ben gave a hollow laugh.

Clearly emboldened by his response, Ellen hazarded another comment. ‘Maybe we could do some yoga to pass the time?’ she said, affecting brightness.

No one said anything. Alexa decided to not even dignify this with a glance Ellen-wards. Instead, she concentrated as hard as she could on staying calm.

To think they’d been just about to put the stupid awkwardness of the MSN business behind them! This was classic Ellen: reckless self-sabotage that managed to take another person down as collateral damage, a freight train careering off its rails.

And yet, Ellen’s clumsy cruelty had also triggered Alexa’s unease. She frowned. Was she being silly, placing so much stock in Ben? He’d definitely been cooling on her, and she didn’t really know what had changed between their penultimate date and the one last night. She felt disconcerted.

She shook her head. No, last night’s date had been different. A turning point. Sometimes, things just took a little while to get started, she tried to reassure herself. She’d be able to convince him it was all stupid, wouldn’t she? As soon as they got out of this attic, she’d be able to speak to him – alone – and explain that it was just a silly thing that Ellen had said and hadn’t understood.