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if to illustrate this point, Lila drew her body slightly back from Rory’s and murmured something meant only for him to hear, her bottom lip grazing his earlobe – not that Alex could have heard her over the noise of the bar anyway. Rory listened to his girlfriend patiently, smiled and moved his head to kiss her again as she finished speaking. Alex had watched Lila be kissed like that so many times by now he almost fancied he knew exactly how it felt.
    Distracting himself from that maddening chain of thought, Alex pulled his mobile from his pocket and swiped the touch screen with his thumb to wake it. He tapped his fingers against its frame. Surely some of his old mates would be out doing something, somewhere in this great wide city? He scrolled through his contacts list – past old uni friends and colleagues and people whose surnames he only knew because they were linked through his Facebook app – looking for someone suitable to text. Nobody jumped out at him. He guessed he'd spent a lot of time hanging around with just Rory and Lila over the past year, and as a result he’d sort of dropped out of general circulation. Going through his phone was highlighting this rather painfully, and Alex suddenly wasn’t entirely sure whether watching Lila get kissed had been worth giving up the remnants of his social life for. He had to get the hell out of here.

    The last two Jagerbombs sat between them on their sticky plastic tray, Lila having abstained, meaning he and Rory had been left with five each. Alex stood and reached for one; Rory and Lila didn’t budge from one another’s faces as he downed it purposefully, the combination of alcohol and energy drink streaming stupidity down through his body. He reached for the last one; that got Rory’s attention.
    “Hey,” he protested, still half-pressed to Lila’s throat. “S’mine.” Alex did the final shot even faster than he’d done the one before and brought the empty doubles glass back down to the table top with a satisfying clatter.
    “I’m off,” he said, without preamble.
    Rory’s eyebrows creased together. “You’re off?” he repeated.
    “Hang on a minute and we’ll come home with you, then,” offered Lila, reaching underneath the table with her foot for her handbag.
    “Oh no, I’m not going home. I’m just going to meet up with some mates.” Alex waved his mobile phone as if to give the impression that it was crammed full of texts from exciting people inviting him exciting places. “Catch up with you guys tomorrow,” he said, before Rory and Lila could invite themselves along to his fictitious evening. “Have a good rest of the night.”
    “Alex,” Rory called after him. Alex didn’t turn back, but somehow he could still picture his friends' incredulous expressions.

    When he arrived outside on the pavement, the fresh air immediately washed some of the Jagerbomb impulsivity away; Alex swore under his breath. Now what? He couldn’t go home for a while after what he’d just said. There probably were friends in his phone book who’d be pleased (if a little nonplussed) to see him, but latching himself on to them just felt a little too much like that same old third-wheel lie.
    Moving carefully around the groups of drunken merrymakers, the queues at the bus stops and snaking out of small fried-chicken shops, Alex steadfastly picked his way down the high street in the opposite direction from the bus stop to his flat. He slowed as he saw the neon sign for the Bison & Bird cocktail bar glowing in the distance like the answer that he was searching for. It had been about an hour. Surely they’d have moved on by now? Maybe it was worth checking it out. Or was he being a tad stalkery?
    But he couldn't shake that sliding-doors feeling. Nadia had been so friendly. And nice. And really rather pretty. And wasn't life meant to be about taking chances – or something like that?
    Being a lone guy, he had to queue for a couple of minutes whilst the bouncer