Coke made her more fun. That was certainly true. She glanced down at the ring finger of her left hand. Max’s words repeated themselves, making her feel hot and claustrophobic.

‘Yes,’ she said, taking the vial from him and tipping the white powder on to the back of her hand. ‘I really do.’

26

Then

There may not have been as many people as Zadie would have liked, but the party felt ten times its actual size. Everyone was so swollen with the excitement of it all they counted as two or three of themselves. Drinks were served in a pretty drawing room painted pale blue and filled with flowers. It had huge French windows that spilled out on to a terrace, and the remnants of the late-evening sun seeped through the glass. The chandelier chinked gently in the breeze and cast little rainbow lights all over the room. There was yet more champagne, and cocktails as well. Gentle music came from somewhere unseen, and everyone was laughing, talking, pretending to be a grown-up. After what felt like minutes but was actually an hour Max clinked his glass and a hush fell across the room. ‘I’m not going to make a big speech,’ he said, to much crowing and shouting from the room, Zadie loudest of all. ‘I just wanted to say thank you for coming, I love you all, and I will consider any sobriety a personal affront. To dinner!’

They followed Max into a dining room, again predictably beautiful. A mahogany table was laid with more glasses and cutlery than Chloe could ever have imagined what to do with. She’d heard someone say once that you should start on the outside and work your way in, which she was grateful for. Though, she supposed, she could always copy Max if things got really bad. Each place had a little name card on it. Once again, Chloe found herself seated next to Rav; Wilbur was on her other side. Zadie was at the far end of the table, between two of Max’s other friends. The group around Zadie was riotous. They were laughing, shouting, talking over each other. At Chloe’s end, everyone was talking politely about rugby and whereabouts in the Home Counties their parents were from. Chloe watched Zadie as she filled wine glasses in between the top-ups from the waiting staff, asking wild questions which somehow seemed to make everyone laugh even harder. The strap of her dress was slipping down her shoulder and her eye make-up was starting to smudge under her eyes, which only served to make her look more dangerously beautiful. Rav was staring at Zadie across the table, a slight frown creasing his forehead.

‘I wish she would let it be about Max tonight,’ Chloe ventured. ‘It is his birthday, after all.’ Rav turned, as if Chloe had pulled him back from thousands of miles away. ‘What?’