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He managed to hit her window with some pebbles, but she didn’t respond.

Louise, he called in a loud whisper. I only want to say hello.

After a while, the porch light came on and the front door opened. Finally. He could talk to her.

Her dad came out in his pyjamas, his face hard and fixed.

James, he said. You need to leave. Now.

I just want to have a word with her.

He shook his head. No. And you have to stop harassing her. I like you, and I know you had a hard time, which is the only reason me and her mum haven’t called the police in the last few weeks – although Janet wanted to, I can tell you that – but it has to stop now. OK? Go and get on with the rest of your life.

Which was what James had done. He’d woken up the next morning, head throbbing, and reached for his phone – see if she’d called, maybe try her with a message – and then stopped himself.

He pictured himself outside her window, drunk and pathetic.

Her dad was right. It had to stop.

And so he resisted the urge to contact her for the next week, and then started school and his last year of A levels and a life without Louise.

He thought about her many times a day at first, but after a while she receded from his mind, her place taken by friends and nights out and beer and weed and whatever other distractions he could find.

But no other girlfriends. He couldn’t go through it again, couldn’t put himself in the position where he was so vulnerable. The loss of Maggie would never go away, but he was over Louise, finally, and he wasn’t going back.

And he was finally over her. It had taken a year, but now he could see her when he was out and he was OK with it. Like last night in the pub. She had come over and smiled.

Hi, she said. How are you? We haven’t talked in ages. It’s a shame.

Good. You?

OK. You getting ready to go to university?

Yeah. Engineering at Warwick.

I’m going to do English at Liverpool. She touched his arm. We should meet up before we go.

Meet up? For a long time hearing those words had been the thing he wanted most in the world, and now he had heard them, and he felt nothing.

The relief made him dizzy.

I don’t know, he said. I’m not sure that’s a good idea.

There was a flicker of surprise in her eyes. The last time she had heard from him he’d been begging to talk to her, and now he wasn’t interested in her offer of meeting up.

Sure, she said, her smile forced. I was only thinking of a coffee. Nothing serious. Not like a date or anything.

It’s not that, he said. It’s just – I have a girlfriend.

He didn’t, but it seemed the easiest excuse.

Louise gave a little shrug. Whatever. She glanced around until she saw a friend, Rachel. Enjoy summer. See you around.

He watched her go. Life had moved on. He had moved on.

For a long time he had thought that would never happen, and he didn’t want to put it in any jeopardy.

Pablo nudged him. ‘So what happened? You going to get back with her? She’s a looker, mate.’