Alexa was still very bright and very good at everything. Sometimes, it was a little difficult to watch her succeed without feeling like a far less evolved version of the same species. But this was nothing new, and Ellen was – mostly – unbothered. Alexa was her best friend, and some people were civil servants who ran the London Marathon in under four hours, while others were the type who occasionally jogged to the corner shop to buy a Ribena Light, and spent their working hours composing emails with the subject line ‘Here’s #TheFlowdown – £10 off your first box of CBD tampons with the code GETTHEFLOW’. Ellen had worked at The Flowdown for three years now, employed initially as a sort of all-purpose intern – paid, at least – but had worked her way up to Communications Executive, a rather grand title that distracted from the fact she was a team of one and paid very poorly. Still, it was better than her previous job, as a skivvy at a boutique PR firm, where her role had mainly involved booking taxis for women called Lavinia, Davinia or Hum, and returning their dry cleaning, which had been, it seemed, endless. Alexa, meanwhile, had gone straight on to the Civil Service fast stream after university.

It was still silent, apart from the odd sound of a stomach gurgling, and Jack was still standing sentry at the window. Ellen was starting to panic slightly about how much she needed the loo, but didn’t feel able to raise this while Ben’s arm was wrapped around Alexa, his hand resting on her hip, and hers halfway up one of his thighs. Minutes ago, when he’d thought she wasn’t looking, she’d seen him kiss the backs of Alexa’s hands lightly; Ellen had watched with almost anthropological interest as Alexa’s eyelashes fluttered.

But despite Alexa’s obvious delight, Ellen could tell she was worried about leaving Ellen out – mostly because Alexa kept anxiously checking Ellen’s face for tells. Ellen knew she should make an effort. Maybe it would distract her from the throb of her bladder.

‘So, where did you two go last night?’ she tried, breezily.

‘Penny’s,’ Alexa replied, eagerly.

‘I think we had pizza, but mainly we had wine,’ Ben said, goofily.

Alexa gave him an indulgent smile. Ah good, a double act.

‘I see …’ A pause. ‘I believe that I had no dinner and exclusively wine.’ Ellen put her head on her temples to pantomime a headache.

Alexa gave her a sympathetic grimace.

‘Where were you?’ Ben asked, earning a smile from Ellen for effort.

‘We stayed at my office for a while, having drinks, and then went to the pub.’ The outline of last night remained a little fuzzy still. ‘I invited Alexa to join us but it appears she got a better offer,’ she added, with mischievous inspiration.

Alexa pretended to look apologetic, while in fact appearing very pleased with the way the evening had panned out.