Eric kept making people do shots until his bottle of The Real Deal ran out, and Jessica had two more. The music got louder and the awkward dancing resumed—this time with the boys circling closer. Abi, by that point, had outdrunk Kim, and flailed around dramatically, drawing as much attention to herself as possible. She flitted from boy to boy, stealing their baseball caps, squealing as they tried to snatch them back. Eric full-on chased her around the living room while she giggled. Then the two of them morphed seamlessly from play fighting to dancing like they were having sex with their clothes on. Eric wrapped his arms around Abi from behind and started rubbing his crotch into her.

“What’s happening?” I asked Amy over the music.

“I’m not sure,” she replied, equally stunned. “But I feel a bit weird watching it.”

“Me too. Oh, shit, Dan and Lauren are doing it too.”

In fact, lots of boys were splitting off to find a girl’s arse to rub against, as Amy and I took a step backward at the same time, plastering our behinds to the wallpaper.

“Oh, God, Matt,” Amy whispered, and I followed her subtly pointed finger heading toward Kim and Jessica. Kim waved her hands madly, laughing hysterically at nothing, while Jessica seemed to be quietly feeling the effects of the worm. Her eyes had reddened, her focus whirling around the top of Kim’s head. Matt circled them like a shark, and, as my own tequila shot hit me, everything happened too quickly for me to do anything but watch. It was like watching a David Attenborough documentary: “The male circles the two females, deciding which one’s arse he would most like to rub against.” Matt pounced—grabbing Jessica around the waist and yanking her to him. Jessica twisted her head as she tried to focus on who was touching her. Matt grinned and shrugged, while Kim’s mouth fell open. Amy reached out and held my hand, as if we could see a comet about to crash into earth.

“What are you doing?” Jessica asked, her voice slurring.

“It’s just a dance,” Matt replied.

Kim joined us against the wallpaper as we watched Jessica slump backward into him. She closed her eyes, her head rolling back, as Matt greedily pawed down the sides of her body.

“It’s just a dance,” I told Kim, while we stood with nothing to do but watch.

“But...” Kim said.

“I know.”

“It’s just dancing,” Amy repeated. “Look at Abi and Eric. They don’t even like each other.” We glanced over, and Eric had fully bent Abi over now and was whacking her arse, while she giggled and helped him hit her.

“I’m going to get another drink from the kitchen,” Kim said. “I don’t need to see this.”