He would be lying if he said he knew the first thing about you. He knew of you, honour-roll student was hard to ignore and he’d seen you heading onto stages to collect academic awards. But he’d never bothered to look beyond that. He knew your younger sister, Becca, she was a bit more outgoing, but he’d also put her in the ‘acquaintance’ basket and left it at that.

The party had been bad to begin with. It was clogged with smoke and he’d almost ran into a couple making out within seconds of entering. Seeing as he’d only come to shepherd his cousin and friend, he immediately wanted him and them out. Seeing a few kids head upstairs had only worsened the feeling. The music was drowned and garbled, drinks everyone knew were spiked, and girls wobbling along the dance floor with their chosen, or closest, partners. Ew, ew, ew.

When he heard shouting he followed the general crowd to see what was happening, collecting his cousin and telling her to get ready to leave. He could tell by the milling crowd that this party wasn’t ending on a friendly note. He saw Lawson leering over some girl in the centre and thought he might as well check it out. He hadn’t expected a sobbing, red-faced Becca to come slamming into him, or a barefoot, pyjama wearing fury to come after her.

He slowed as he recognised you. Hair out, a long matching pyjama set and bare feet.

“Are we good?” He stuttered.