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Isla laughed. “Get with the times, Nina.”

“Now you sound like Matt,” Nina muttered.

Noah approached, carrying some beers. “Ladies”—he handed them their drinks—“shall we take our places?”

“Absolutely,” said Isla. “Lead the way.”

They followed Noah into the area adjacent to the stage. Isla took in all the faces with a thrilled expression. Intermittently she’d nudge Nina and whisper a name. Nina knew who some were—but not all of them. Celebrities weren’t really her thing.

Before too long the anticipation grew for Cameron’s entrance, and Nina couldn’t help but become caught up in it. The atmosphere was electric. A disembodied voice announced the entrance of Logan Wild to thunderous noise, and he appeared on stage amid a cloud of smoke with laser lights cutting through the haze. He greeted the crowd, who responded enthusiastically with screams and shouts, then he immediately got to work on the decks. Nina had never seen a live DJ before. The most she was used to were the cheesy ones at family weddings, and what he was doing was certainly nothing like that. She craned her neck to watch him. He looked like a different person, clearly hyped at being in front of the crowd who were delighted to be in his presence and not like the reserved and judgmental guy she’d been around earlier on.

Isla grabbed her and they started dancing. Nina may not have been a music buff, but she’d always enjoyed moving. She found herself dancing with various strangers in the crowd until she came upon Ash, who handed her a shot glass and stuck her tongue out, giving her the peace sign. Nina laughed and threw back the shot, despite suspecting she’d hate it. It was kind of nice that Ash had remembered their conversation earlier, even though she hadn’t listened to Nina saying she didn’t like shots. However, to Nina’s surprise, it was quite pleasant. It didn’t taste like alcohol at all.

Nina danced with Ash for a while. At one point she glanced up and thought she caught Cam watching them from the stage. He must be keeping tabs on his girlfriend. Can’t blame him, really.

Eventually Nina realised she hadn’t seen Isla or Noah in a while. She scanned the crowd as she swayed to the music. Noah was up front, talking to a small group. Where was Isla?

She turned and spotted her—on one of the podiums. Isla waved at her and Nina laughed.

“Hey,” Ash said into Nina’s ear, “come to the bathroom with me.”

“Okay,” Nina said, feeling like it’d be rude to say no.

Ash grabbed her hand and pulled her through the crowd toward the ladies’ room. Once they got there, Ash stumbled into a stall and Nina waited for her.

When she emerged, she rummaged through her handbag and applied some more lipstick. “Hey, I just remembered. I brought you this.” She handed something over and Nina studied it. It was a concealer in exactly Nina’s shade. Normally she found it difficult to match but Ash had done it after one brief meeting.

Nina glanced at her, feeling quite moved. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” said Ash, leading her out of the restroom. “You wanna go score some coke?”

Nina followed along, frowning. “Like, as in, the drink?”

Ash laughed. “You’re so funny.”

“Oh, okay,” Nina said. “No, I’m not into drugs—not the recreational sort anyway.”

Ash raised her eyebrow. “What d’you mean?”

“I work for a drug company,” said Nina. “We design medications.”

Ash’s eyes widened. “That’s so awesome. I’ve never met a scientist.” She took Nina’s arm. “Tell me some science stuff.”

They went back into the VIP area. “Okay,” Nina said, pointing to the dry ice on stage. “That’s carbon dioxide in its solid form.”

“What!” said Ash. “Like, what we breathe out?”

“Exactly,” said Nina.

Ash grabbed her and spun them both around in time to the music. As they came to a standstill, Ash wobbled on her high heels.

“You’re dizzy because the fluid in your inner ear is still moving and giving false signals to your brain,” said Nina.

“You’re so cool,” said Ash, raising her arms and twirling.

Nina laughed. She didn’t tend to get referred to as ‘cool’. She glanced over to the podium to see what Isla was doing, but she was no longer there. She scoured the crowd, however Isla wasn’t around. Nina touched Ash’s arm. “I’m just going to find Isla.”

“No problem,” said Ash as she continued to gyrate to the music.