Ged bit his lip. ‘Yeah. Tired. But I’m glad you’re here. I need a chat with you.’ Nancy sat up straight. This was it; he was going to ask her to be his girlfriend. After all, she’d had sex with him and he did tell her how much he liked it, so of course, this was the next step. Maybe he’d bought her a promise ring. Lots of girls had them, so why not her? Her heart was thudding.

‘Nancy, I’ve got a lot of shit going on at the minute as you know,’ he began. ‘And I don’t really have time for a girlfriend. You’re lovely, but it’s all come at the wrong time for me when my head’s all messed up.’ This was not what Nancy was expecting, not what she wanted to hear. So that’s all she was, a quick leg-over, a sack emptier? She was wounded and wasn’t going to take this lying down. She made sure he was looking at her.

‘What, so you’re binning me? We’ve had sex, I thought we had something. I don’t sleep with just anyone you know – I’m not a slapper.’

‘I know. And yes, that night was great, but it’s not about that. It’s about all the stuff I’ve got going on in my life.’

‘I thought we had a connection, or was you just blagging me to get my knickers off?’

Ged was getting agitated, this wasn’t going the way he planned. ‘Of course not. I enjoyed everything – not just the sex – but for now I think we should knock it on the head.’

Nancy was distraught. ‘What about the laughs we have when we go out? What about Blackpool, who’s going to go there with you, eh?’

Ged tried to remember what Frankie had told him to say; he kept his cool as the lies kept on coming. ‘I’ve carted that too. It’s on top and I’ll end up getting sent down if I get caught. My dad’s home next week, and I want to be around to help him as much as I can. It’s going to be hard for him to adjust when he gets out.’

Nancy swallowed hard. She liked Ged, she really did, and without him she would go back to feeling crap. There had to be something she could say to convince him not to finish with her. She hung her head low and closed her eyes.

Ged wasn’t ready for this, he never expected her to cry. For fuck’s sake, what could he do now? He wasn’t a horrible person, he had to comfort her. He reached over and moved the hair that was stuck to the side of her cheek.