‘Oh my god,’ Matt said, as soon as Piper walked into the flat the following day. ‘You had sex.’

Piper laughed. ‘How? How do you do that?’ It had been almost impossible for her not to text from the train and tell him, but she’d forced herself to resist: she’d wanted to see his face when she gave him all the info.

‘I can always tell,’ Matt said. ‘You’re all loose. And louche.’

‘That’s your sex tell, not mine,’ Piper said.

Whenever Matt was sleeping with someone he got all loose-limbed and sleepy-eyed, and she could barely convince him to leave the flat at all. Usually when Piper slept with someone it made her even more neurotic than usual, wondering if and when it would happen again, if it had been good for them, if it had been good for her or if she’d just convinced herself it had been because she didn’t want to admit it hadn’t. It was exhausting. But this time it had been good. There was no question. For both of them. And she knew Rob wanted it to happen again – and as soon as possible – because he’d told her. And she knew she wanted it to happen again because they’d spent so long in bed, she’d almost missed her train. And because she’d spent the entire train journey mentally reliving it all to the point where she’d had to sneak off to the loo to get herself off. Again.

‘So?’ Matt said, pouring her a glass of wine. ‘Give me all the filthy details.’

‘I need a shower first,’ Piper said.

‘Actual filth,’ Matt said. ‘I’m into it.’

---

‘Are you going to go home every weekend now?’ Matt asked. ‘Cos if you are, I might have to find myself a new flat-mate, know what I mean?’

‘It’s not every weekend,’ Piper had said. ‘I didn’t go home last weekend.’

‘I remember when this was your home,’ Matt said dramatically. But Piper knew him well enough to know he kind of meant it, was genuinely concerned. She pulled him down onto the bed next to her, swinging one leg over his thigh.

‘Stop trying to get me going,’ he said, but immediately sagged against her side.

‘This is home,’ she said. ‘New Brighton is home too. It always has been. But when I’m there, home is here with you. You do the same thing!’

‘I do, yeah,’ he said. Home for Matt was Sheffield. He only ever went home for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas. ‘But I miss you. I miss our Saturday breakfasts.’

‘I miss them too,’ Piper said. ‘What if, on weekends I’m going home, we have Friday night takeaway instead?’

‘Cuts a bit into my social life,’ he said, dropping back onto the mattress. ‘But okay.’

‘I just…’ Piper said, lying down next to him, on her stomach. ‘I’m worried about Connie.’

‘Yeah, Connie. That’s why you keep fleeing up the country.’

‘It is! I mean, not just Connie.’ She smiled, pressing her face into the duvet.

‘Yeah, you leave me here while you fuck off for a booty call.’

‘Not just a booty call. He’s cooking too.’

‘Cooking and fucking,’ Matt said, stretching up the bed. ‘No wonder you can’t wait to get away.’

‘I don’t think I could ever live there again. It’s getting easier, going back. But I have to make myself not think about it, about them. And avoid places I know will be too painful. I don’t know if I could do that if I lived there.’

Matt raised one eyebrow at her.

‘And I don’t want to anyway. I love it here. I love our flat. I love Stokey. I love you!’

‘Good,’ Matt said. ‘Cos I don’t want to sound pathetically co-dependent or anything, but I’d be fucking lost without you.’

‘Same,’ Piper said.

‘So how was Connie?’

Piper pulled a face. ‘I barely saw her actually. I had a cup of tea and she gave me a bag of stuff. Actually, there’s another thing you’ll like.’

She grabbed the bag from her bedroom and handed Matt three wooden deer ornaments.

‘Oh my god!’ Matt immediately set them on the coffee table and reached for his phone. ‘These things are mid-century classics. You could probably sell them on eBay. Were they your parents’?’

‘Grandparents’, I think Connie said. She gave me a packet of Ryvita too, do you want to Instagram that as well?’

‘No, you’re alright.’ Matt leaned back on the sofa while he picked a filter for the photo.

‘So what did you do while I was away?’ Piper asked, picking up one of the deer and smoothing her hand over its back. She vaguely remembered them being in her gran’s house when she was small.

‘More like who did I do, am I right?’ Matt said.

It was Piper’s turn to give Matt the eyebrow.

‘Yeah, you’re right. I went out with Jodie on Friday night and spent the rest of the weekend watching The Crown.’

‘Without me?!’

‘Well you weren’t here, were you? Oh and I did one of those disgusting foot peel things.’

‘Thank fuck I missed that,’ Piper said.

‘It was amazing though. You’ll have to try one.’

Piper swung her legs off the sofa and reached for her laptop. She’d decided to write a blog post about what had happened after Rob posted the photo. About online shaming and viral photos. About why people felt the need to comment on the appearance of strangers on the internet. Plus she had a couple more brands to get back to. It was weird to think that something that had been designed to hurt her – that was if the boys who’d edited her photos had even thought of her as a person, which she doubted – had ended up being positive. She should probably find a way to include that in the post too.