‘I’ve got something for you,’ he said, smiling from a distance so that we had to hold eye contact as he approached. I was loitering in reception, having spotted him halfway through the class when we were switching between the treadmills and the weights. He’d winked at me, and I’d spent the rest of the session trying not to look over in his direction. I couldn’t say why. I think because he was my new-old friend. I just liked talking to him. I suppose that was the silent agreement that we’d catch up afterwards.

‘Is it a puppy?’ I asked.

‘No,’ he said.

‘A gold bar worth a million pounds?’

‘Nope.’

‘Have you got me … a pastrami sandwich?’

‘I don’t even know what pastrami is,’ he said, and I didn’t admit that neither did I. I just saw somebody order it in a movie once.

He took his backpack off his shoulder and rifled through it until he found what he was looking for: a small manila envelope.

‘Ta-da!’ he said, as he opened it to reveal a photograph of me at Yak Yak, dressed up as Tallulah, wearing a leotard and fishnet tights, a feather pushing up proudly from a bun pinned at the nape of my neck. I had a drawn-on beauty spot and was looking off-camera to the person taking the photo.

‘You’re laughing at me in this,’ he said, pointing, as I studied it closely. ‘I’d told you a joke so you’d smile, and when you did it was as if I’d been awarded an Oscar for services to drama camps. I’d been trying to make you laugh all summer. I think I had a crush on you.’

I batted him away. ‘You did not,’ I said, self-consciously. ‘You had a crush on my friend Jasmine. And I laughed at you all the time. I remember you being the funniest person there.’

I went to hand the photo back, but he told me I could keep it. I stared at it again.

‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘Good memories. I’ll put it somewhere I can see it, as a reminder.’

‘Not to sound too forward …’ he began, and I knew what he was going to say before he’d said it, and also knew in that exact moment that I wanted him to ask. Bad things didn’t happen when I was talking with Patrick. The future didn’t exist, only the past, and it was a relief. ‘If you ever want to hang out not in this lobby, to reminisce, we should do that. We could find a draughty bus station, or a crowded sandwich shop …’ He creased up his brow, taking in my reaction. ‘Or … not …’ he faltered, knitting his forehead together in disappointment at my lack of enthusiasm.