‘I wish I’d had more sleep,’ said Alexa, who promptly flushed at the implications of what she’d said. Ellen swallowed a laugh.

Ben leaned in and wrapped an arm, casually, around her inner thigh. Alexa smiled gratefully.

Ellen cleared her throat for ceremony. ‘This morning, I took a swig of what I believed to be water, but it turned out to be vodka.’

The others made sympathetic noises. There was a pause.

‘I did that once,’ said Jack, conversationally. ‘But I thought it was beer, and it was actually someone’s urine.’

‘Oh my God!’ said Alexa and Ellen, almost in horrified unison.

Ben looked appalled.

‘Festival,’ Jack said, shrugging.

The others made understanding noises. There was a subsequent pause, as they all tried not to imagine this scene, before Ellen spoke again.

‘I can’t believe not a single one of us has a working phone.’ She scowled.

‘I thought I did for a second,’ Jack replied mournfully. ‘I connected briefly to the WiFi. But it’s gone again.’

‘Really?’ Alexa said, sharply.

‘Yeah,’ Jack said. ‘Sorry, I forgot to say.’

Ellen glanced at Alexa, who was definitely trying not to look frustrated by this news.

Jack continued. ‘It happened when I was by the window, a little while ago. I got a Twitter notification.’ He looked at his phone. ‘But it’s gone and it hasn’t come back,’ he said, sadly. ‘I keep checking.’

‘Move closer to the window, then,’ Alexa commanded. ‘You might get it again.’

Ellen gestured to Jack to swap places with her. She shuffled around on her bum, still careful to keep her hand in front of the damp patch. When she’d last taken a peek at it, it was still visible enough to warrant her concealment.

‘What now?’ Jack asked Alexa, anxious for instruction.

‘Maybe you should try hanging out of the window again?’ Ellen suggested, dubiously.

Jack looked at Alexa.

‘He can’t just hang out of the window all day, watching for WiFi,’ Ben pointed out.

Jack now glanced uncertainly between him and Alexa. Ben’s arm was still looped around Alexa’s thigh.

‘No,’ Alexa said, finally. ‘He can’t.’ She sniffed. ‘But if we could get WiFi, we could try calling someone on WhatsApp.’

‘True,’ Ben said, shooting a sympathetic look at Jack.

Ellen turned on what she hoped was a beseeching expression. ‘Go on, Jack. See if you can find it again.’

Jack shrugged. ‘OK.’ He stood up, all limbs and toes. ‘It’s nice to get some fresh air.’ He leaned out. ‘Hey, I see someone.’

‘Shout!’ Ellen instructed him.

‘Hello?’ Jack said, at the volume someone might answer a phone call.