Everyone cheers as a glass rolls off the wooden table and smashes on the tile floor.

‘Shit,’ Tash says.

‘I’ll get it,’ Liam says, standing up and heading over to the bar.

I raise one eyebrow at Tash.

‘I know,’ she says. ‘He’s perfect.’

I look at Alex, who grins back at me.

‘We had our first row,’ Tash says, leaning across the table and lowering her voice. ‘He does this weird whisper-shouting thing? It was kind of adorable. And then I was shitting myself ’cos, like, you know, Rob used to say stuff about me being a shrew and I always ended up… just giving in on shit. But we had the row and then he apologised and we fucked and it was brilliant.’

I feel Alex’s hand on my thigh and I glance at him. His cheeks have gone pink.

‘I know,’ Tash says. ‘TMI. I’m working on it.’

Liam comes back with another glass for Tash, followed by a barman with a dustpan and brush. I’d half-expected Liam to clean the mess up himself, he’s so sweet and earnest, but no. He sits down and drops his arm around Tash’s shoulder and then thanks the barman profusely when he’s done.

‘It is so good to see you!’ Tash says, for about the fiftieth time.

I laugh. ‘It’s good to be back.’

‘I just can’t get used to it,’ Tash says. ‘And I can’t really believe I managed to get used to… you know.’

‘I know,’ I say. ‘Me neither.’

Because I had got used to it. I was actually happy being invisible. But I think that a lot of the things I enjoyed about it won’t go away now that I’ve ‘regained my corporeal form’, as Tash once said. I can totally still dance like no one’s watching now people can actually see me.

Alex’s thumb brushes over the back of my hand and I smile at him again. He can’t seem to stop touching me. Or looking at me. From the minute I walked back off the stage, his hands have been on me. And I love it. I would actually have liked to have taken him straight home – for some visible sex – but everyone else wanted to come and celebrate the presentation, so here we are.

Mel is sitting on the other side of the terrace and I think she’s already pretty drunk. She came up and congratulated me after the presentation; said she’s looking forward to us working together if it all goes ahead. It’s going to be interesting. We don’t know yet if we get to keep the Fancy Bantams account, but we’re all cautiously hopeful – they definitely seemed impressed with my pitch.

‘I still can’t believe you were really… you know,’ Liam says. He’s staring at me with a little frown line between his eyebrows.

‘I can’t either,’ I say. ‘But it happened.’

‘You scared the shit out of me that day,’ he says.

Tash laughs. ‘It’s pretty impressive that you ever wanted to see me again after that.’

Liam stops frowning at me and turns and kisses Tash on the temple. ‘I was gone for you from the first time I saw you.’

‘Oh shut the fuck up,’ Tash says, ducking her head. But she’s blushing. Jesus Christ.

‘You’re very quiet,’ I tell Alex.

He shrugs. ‘I’m just really proud of you.’

‘Oh shut the fuck up,’ I repeat, grinning.

Trevor comes over, carrying a tray of Jägerbombs.

‘Oh god,’ I say.

‘None of that,’ Trevor says. His face is flushed and his shirt untucked, the way it always is when he drinks. ‘Everyone’s having one.’

Tash and Liam have already taken theirs and I take one and pass it to Alex before taking my own. The four of us clink glasses.

‘To having Izzy back,’ Tash says.

‘To Izzy,’ Alex and Liam say.

And then we throw them back.