‘Kendra came over to talk with Tristan and I think she’s unhappy about all the time he’s been spending catching up with you,’ Jesse says. He slides onto the bar stool next to me, and I sneak a look over my shoulder at Tristan and Kendra. Things do seem a little heated between them.

‘But he dumped me for her. There’s nothing for her to feel insecure about,’ I say.

I turn sideways on the stool so I can keep subtly watching them. They have the distinct look of a couple who are tearfully arguing in public but desperately trying to hide the fact they are tearfully arguing in public. Kendra points at me, and Tristan shakes his head.

‘I feel bad,’ I say.

Jesse turns on his stool too, so he’s facing me. Our knees bump together. ‘We could help them,’ he says.

‘Help them how?’

‘Well, we could show them how into each other we are, so Kendra can see that your focus is on me, not Tristan,’ Jesse says. His tone is light, carefree, but his knee is pressing against mine and my mouth is suddenly very dry. I take another sip of my water.

‘Oh,’ I say, struggling to think of words because my cheeks feel very warm and I want to appear as calm and unruffled as Jesse seems right now. Nothing to see here, just two people talking about ways to demonstrate how deeply into each other they are, if they were, in fact, deeply into each other, which they are not. Probably. Possibly. My hands are trembling. I put my glass down on the bar, and square my shoulders.

‘So, how do we show them that?’ I say. ‘They’ve already seen us looking fairly couple-y.’

‘Well, to start, you could look at me adoringly,’ he says, smiling.

I frown. ‘Or you could look at me adoringly,’ I say.

‘I am,’ he says, and the way he says it makes my heart speed up.

‘All right. Adoring looks. And then?’ I say.

‘Then you could move a bit closer to me,’ he says. ‘If you want to,’ he adds.

‘Okay,’ I say. I can’t say ‘I want to’, because I can’t say the word want. It’s too revealing. I slip off my stool and stand between his legs. I’m hovering, not sure what to do, how close to get, until he puts his arms around my waist and draws me to him. The stool is tall, and so is he, so even though I’m standing and he is seated, our eyes are level.

‘What else?’ I say.