Chloe laughed. ‘And then I’ll have to move in with you and Max because I won’t be able to afford to pay for halls.’

‘I’ll get them,’ Zadie said, scooping all the garments up in her arms and lying them on the counter. ‘Wrap them up, please,’ she said to the woman behind the counter, who gave her a snooty smile.

Chloe was flustered. She made lots of noises about not wanting them, about it being wrong, how she couldn’t accept them. Zadie pretended to listen, then swiped the card and handed Chloe the bags. ‘Now,’ she said, ‘drinks.’

Chloe wasn’t sure how they lost track of time so badly. But before long it was dark. And then it was late. Zadie checked her phone and there were lots of missed calls from Max, who sounded cross when she eventually picked up the phone. She hailed a taxi and pulled Chloe, also giggling and falling over, into it.

‘What time is it?’ Chloe slurred.

‘I think, like, ten,’ Zadie replied.

‘It’s 1 a.m.,’ said the driver.

Chloe looked upset.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘I was supposed to email in my essay before midnight.’

Zadie laughed. But Chloe didn’t. Zadie watched her face in profile, orange under the street lights. Her stomach twisted and the lovely warm glow from the wine and the cocktails started to slip away as she watched a single tear slide down Chloe’s cheek.

18

Now

Chloe followed Max upstairs. Up more stairs. Past what looked like the master bedroom, to a smaller but no less hotel-like room at the top of the house. He pulled open the skylights, flooding the hot room with cooler air. Then he bent to kiss her neck, her chest, her cheeks and, finally, her lips.

‘I’d like another glass of wine,’ she said when he pulled away for a moment.

‘Of course. I’ll be back in a minute.’

Chloe took off her dress and surveyed herself in the mirror. As if it mattered what she looked like. Max wanted her because he wanted to give her what Rav couldn’t. He wanted to triumph where another man had failed. And, as an added bonus, he got to fuck the only one of his female friends who hadn’t opened her legs for him at university. She put her phone on the bedside table, swiped at it then lay down.

Max came over to the bed, twisted her hair in his hand and yanked her head back. ‘I always wondered what you’d be like in bed. Ever since that night when I found out that you were a virgin,’ he said into her ear.

His hands were everywhere, and his lips were everywhere else. He bit her neck and her breasts. ‘Harder,’ she whispered.

‘I don’t want to bruise you,’ he said. ‘When Rav gets back …’