‘Beer?’ Jake twists over on the bed and hands me a can of lager. His eyes are half-closed and he’s grinning like a lunatic. He only had to do a half-day at work today so he and some of his workmates went to the pub at lunch. They stayed there all afternoon and when I got back from college he was so pissed he couldn’t stand up straight. Mark had a go at him and told him to stay in his room until he sobered up so I went with him.

It’s ten past seven now and he can hardly keep his eyes open.

‘No thanks, hon.’

Jake shrugs as I wave the can away. He cracks it open, takes a long, deep swig and then moves to put it down on the bedside table but there are a stack of my photography books and other bits and bobs on the top and the can tips to one side. Beer froths all over the carpet.

‘Oh, fuck.’ I try to clamber over him so I can mop it up but he grabs me as I throw a leg over him and pulls me close.

‘Well, hello, Kira Simmons!’ He grins up at me. ‘Fancy seeing you here.’

‘Jake.’ I can’t help but smile at his stupid, drunken grin but I stiffen as his hands move up to my shoulders and he tries to ease my cardigan away from my body. ‘Jake, don’t.’

‘Kira!’ He says my name in that playful, sing-song way he uses whenever he wants to have sex. ‘I just want a kiss.’

‘Jake, your mum’s going to go spare if the beer soaks into—’

‘Oh, for fuck’s sake.’ He lets go of me and I slide off him and onto the floor. ‘We never have sex any more. And don’t tell me it’s because you feel weird that Mum and Dad might hear because that never stopped you when you moved in!’

My eyes fill with tears but I don’t want him to see so I turn away and grab a towel from the chair, then dab at the beer stain on the floor. My phone bleeps in my pocket as I drop the towel into the laundry basket at the foot of the bed. I duck down, so Jake can’t see what I’m doing, and slip it out of my pocket. My first thought is that it’s Billy, taunting me with a text, but then I hear his voice ring out from downstairs as he swears at his dad.

As I turn the phone over in my hand and read the message the back door slams shut, shaking the bedroom wall.