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‘No, I’m absolutely knackered. Had to pull an all-nighter at the office – I got a couple of hours sleep on a sofa in one of the meeting rooms – but we got the deal signed! All I want now is to crawl into bed.’

‘No way! You’re coming out with us,’ Tara insisted.

‘But—’

‘No buts. You never go out, and it’s Saturday tomorrow so you can sleep as long as you want. Besides, it’s Sally’s event so we need to support her.’

‘Not my event exactly …’ Sally began, but was silenced by the look that Tara gave her.

‘Please come,’ Fliss begged. ‘Just for a little bit. You need a night out – it’s been so long since we were all together – and like Tara says, you’ve got the rest of the weekend to sleep.’

Katie looked torn, but there was never any doubt what the answer would be. ‘All right. Pass me that vodka,’ she grinned as the others cheered, clinking their glasses and downing their shots, grimacing and giggling.

‘Right, I’ve got to run,’ said Sally, grabbing her coat. ‘I’ll see you all there later.’

‘Fashionably late,’ smiled Fliss.

‘The party doesn’t start till we get there,’ declared Tara. ‘We just need to transform Katie first.’

They all waved and blew kisses to Sally as she headed out, then Tara frogmarched Katie to her room to pick out an outfit, with Fliss following.

Work, play and friendship blended together in the most entertaining way for the four of them living together. Tara – and her parents – had been incredibly generous. Fliss, Tara and Sally had gone their separate ways after they had left Cranham, but they had always stayed in touch, and their close friendship endured. When they all made their way to London to pursue their respective careers, Tara had suggested that they move in together, along with Fliss’s friend Katie from university. Tara’s parents, Lord and Lady Oliver, owned a beautiful white stucco-fronted house in Ladbroke Grove that they rarely visited, preferring instead to spend time at their country estate in the Cotswolds, and so the quartet moved into the enormous townhouse. It was like a grown-up version of boarding school, with no house mistresses to spoil their fun.

After university with Fliss, Katie had gone straight into the fast-paced, high-pressure world of entertainment law, working 24/7 and earning a small fortune. Sally, on the other hand, had left boarding school with no idea of what she wanted to do next and had fallen into organising parties for friends – whether it was a wild twenty-first at Boujis, an it girl launching a jewellery line at a private dining room in Mayfair, or a corporate bash at the Hurlingham Club, the opportunities came in thick and fast for Sally because of her exceptional organisational skills and calm head in any situation. Tara had put her in touch with a family friend who ran an events company and Sally had been taken on, in a junior role on a pitiful salary, but she was already going above and beyond her duties, with a clear talent for both exceptional ideas and prolific networking.

Tara, with her love of attention, had gone straight from drama school to the audition circuit, landing a top agent who also just happened to be a good friend of her father’s, She was undoubtedly talented, but Tara had always been too reliant on her good looks and connections, unwilling to put in the hard work and more interested in having a good time. Despite her shortcomings, she had been cast in a high-profile piece of new writing by an upcoming playwright at the Young Vic and was ecstatic, not caring whether it was the Oliver family name that had opened doors for her.

And Fliss, also unsure of what she wanted her future to look like, had started as a runner at LBTV, an independent commercial station with a reputation for producing popular shows for the youth market. Being a runner was the bottom rung of the ladder, but no two days were ever the same, and Fliss loved the variety and the unpredictability of her new role. Coincidentally, Tara’s brother Bill had also joined the company a couple of years earlier after graduating from university. Though not Oxbridge, and thanks to Lord Oliver’s connections, he had walked straight into a commissioner role and although Fliss occasionally saw him in the office, their professional paths rarely crossed.

‘Fliss, pour us another round of shots, will you? I’m busy here,’ Tara giggled. She and Katie were sitting cross-legged opposite one another on Katie’s bed, as Tara, rather inexpertly, applied Katie’s make-up. Katie’s eyes were closed while Tara painstakingly traced black liquid eyeliner along her upper eyelid, ending in a feline flick.

‘Can you not get drunk whilst you’re making me up?’ Katie protested. ‘I don’t want to look like a clown.’

Fliss was laughing as she went back down to the kitchen, the sound of ‘Push the Button’ by the Sugababes trailing behind her. She felt genuinely happy. She loved living with the girls and London felt like the hottest place to be, with Prince William and Kate Middleton, Prince Harry and Chelsy Davy regularly spotted in Mayfair nightclubs, whilst the Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand were tearing up the charts. Fliss was climbing the career ladder by day, partying with her best friends at night, and it felt as though their futures were limitless.

The club was pulsating with energy. Dance music was pumping through the speakers, the crowd were young, fashionable and beautiful, and everyone was having an incredible time. The Guild, a private members club in Soho aimed at those working in entertainment and the arts, was one of the places of the moment. Fliss had already spotted Sienna Miller talking to Jason Statham, whilst Chris Martin kept a low profile at a corner table with a group of friends.

The interiors were lavish and decadent, with dark wood, red velvet couches and gold rococo decorations. Even the waiters were gorgeous, hot guys and stunning girls who circulated with trays of champagne and speciality cocktails, along with a selection of canapes that the celebrities barely touched, but Fliss and Tara, on their meagre salaries, eagerly wolfed down.

‘Is that Guy Pelly over there?’ Fliss squinted, pointing out one of Prince William’s best friends. ‘Wait, didn’t you snog him once?’

‘Of course – but I was aiming for Prince Harry,’ Tara replied, with a devilish grin. ‘Oh look, there’s Sally,’ she exclaimed, waving her over. Sally, dressed all in black and wearing an earpiece, made her way through the crowd. She looked fabulous, but Fliss could see that she was on high alert, trying to identify and troubleshoot any issues before they turned into larger problems.

‘Congratulations, this is amazing,’ Fliss greeted her, raising her voice to be heard above the music. ‘You’ve pulled in a hot crowd.’

‘I hope your boss gives you a pay rise for this, it’s incredible,’ said Katie, marvelling as she stared up at a scantily clad woman performing some eye-watering moves on a hoop suspended from the ceiling.

‘Well, like I said, there’s a whole team of us and I’m the newbie, so—’

‘Whose idea was that?’ Tara demanded, nodding through a sweeping archway to an open space where a burlesque performer cavorted in a giant Perspex martini glass.

‘Yeah, that was mine,’ Sally admitted, looking quietly pleased with herself. ‘By the way, have you seen your brother? He messaged me and asked to be added to the guest list.’

‘Bill’s coming?’ Tara sounded surprised.

‘Yeah. He’s bringing Harry too.’

Tara grinned. ‘Maybe it’s more than just the networking Bill’s interested in …’