‘Then we need to make sure we don’t any more.’ Ollie squeezes Ben’s hand tighter.
‘We have to lure Liv back in from the cold,’ Ben sniffs, wipes his face with his shirt. ‘First you went AWOL,’ he tells me, ‘and now Liv. It’s got to stop.’
‘You two talked, no?’ I ask. I really want to know what was said, but it’s none of my business. The fallout from their car crash is between them, unless one of them wants to divulge something.
‘We did. It was … enlightening.’
‘In what way?’ Ollie asks before I can say it.
‘In ways that I didn’t even realise, but I don’t want to talk about it,’ Ben says cryptically.
‘OK,’ I say. ‘Well, we can get Liv back with us quite easily. I’ll murder James and force her back to us.’
Ben laughs. ‘That won’t work. And what if you get a boyfriend? Or what if Mr Never-having-sex-again over there gets a girlfriend? That’s a lot of murdering we’ll have to do.’
‘Or … we have to let various boyfriends and girlfriends into our foursome,’ I suggest.
‘No,’ Ben replies, pulling back from me and giving me a look of mock-seriousness. ‘I don’t like that idea at all.’
Ollie laughs, but his face shows concern and he looks from Ben to me and back again. ‘Regular meet-ups,’ he suggests. ‘We schedule it into our diaries. Make an effort from now on.’
‘Yes,’ Ben says. ‘Definitely. And maybe … maybe we let other people into the four. Maybe. I’m not committing to that. But in order to do that, first we have to work out how to find a woman for Ollie.’
‘Oh God, not that again,’ Ollie groans and the moment of sadness begins to drift away.
I’ll play along, but only because I don’t want Ben to regress into melancholy. ‘Apparently he’s going to focus more on getting his degree and less on getting—’
‘Shagged,’ Ben says. And I splutter laughter as I move back to my stool. ‘I know loads of single girls at work,’ he offers.
‘How many of them have you slept with?’ Ollie’s quick to ask.
‘A few. But what if I find you one Ihaven’tslept with? Everyone fancies a doctor – they’ll love you.’
‘No, thanks,’ Ollie replies flatly.
‘Aurora, you must know lots of single model girls. Ollie … want a model as a girlfriend?’
‘I’m not fussy about occupation,’ Ollie says, glancing at me.
‘I am,’ Ben says. ‘I’ve worked my way through the banking industry. I could move on to models.’
‘You already had a model,’ I throw at him with a knowing smile.
‘That’s true. I take delight in telling people I dated Aurora Miller.’
‘I can imagine,’ I sigh.
‘Or maybe,’ Ben pipes up again, ‘I could find you one Ihaveslept with, but—’
‘For fuck’s sake,’ Ollie says, rolling his eyes.
‘Hear me out, hear me out,’ Ben replies.
‘Doesn’t that go against every code ever,’ I say, trying to save Ollie from this total torture.
‘What do you mean?’ Ben asks.
‘Isn’t it like a …’ I make air-quotes when I say the word ‘code’. ‘You don’t sleep with someone your mate has slept with.’
