‘Hi, I’m Chloe,’ she said shyly. She caught a flicker pass over Zadie’s face and realized that Zadie hadn’t known her name until that moment.

‘Nice to meet you, Chloe. How’s living with Zee?’ asked Zadie’s father.

‘It’s great,’ Chloe said. ‘She’s a fantastic room-mate.’ She noticed a slight frown on Zadie’s mother’s face. ‘Though I wouldn’t mind if she was a little bit tidier …’ she added, smiling. The Listers laughed. Why was it that people liked to bond with strangers by saying mean things about the person they had in common?

‘You let me know if her laundry basket starts taking over the entire room,’ said Mrs Lister, gesturing at the basket in the corner of the room which was in fact stuffed with Chloe’s clean clothes with a couple of Zadie’s most garish garments on the top.

‘I will.’

After a quarter of an hour the Listers made their excuses, citing a weekend party a few miles away with friends. Chloe could just picture them driving away in their four by four, smiling to each other, all the panic they had been feeling about Zadie having broken her word washed away by the visit. Mr Lister pressed a wad of £20 notes into his daughter’s hand as he left, instructing her to ‘buy your lovely friend a drink at the pub tonight’.

The girls watched as they disappeared down the hall, and once they were safely gone Zadie jumped up and down. ‘You were fucking brilliant!’ she exclaimed. ‘That stuff about me being messy – urgh, you were just so great.’ She squeezed Chloe tightly. ‘I owe you.’

She began stuffing things back into her bag.

Chloe felt her face fall. ‘Not at all,’ she replied. ‘I had fun.’

Opening the door, Zadie turned back. ‘Wait,’ she said. She pulled out a surprisingly old-fashioned phone and held it out. ‘Call yourself, so I have your number? And come over to the house some time. You should meet Max. He’s the best, you’ll love him. Everyone does.’

A warmth spread through Chloe’s body as she put the number into Zadie’s phone.

3

Now