Rona had actually had plans to leave the magazine's office anyway, and so had been intending all morning to leave precisely when she did - but she was in a foul mood, and the ineptitude of some of the writers had only made it worse, so she decided to make a big deal out of it, and to make it appear as if she was storming off in a huff. Once she was out on the street she smiled to herself at the success of the act - but it was an angry, glowering kind of smile.

She had arranged to meet Phuong for an early lunch. It was something they were trying to make into a regular appointment: they'd achieved semi-regular, at least. Phuong was already waiting at the café when Rona got there: but then, Rona reasoned, Phuong didn't have to travel as far, so probably it wasn't surprising. And Phuong's gentle demeanour didn't betray any signs of irritation at having to wait for Rona: in fact, Rona had only ever seen her angry once before, and that was a long time ago.

"I'm so sorry!" said Rona when she joined Phuong. "Have you been waiting long?"

"Two minutes" smiled Phuong, without checking her watch. "I've only had time to sit down, not even order a glass of water."

"Oh, good."

"But I can't stay for so long today. My brother is sick so I have to work a longer shift to make up for him."

"Can't your parents do that?"

"They're working longer shifts also."

"Oh."

Phuong couldn't help but notice how glum Rona looked. "What's wrong?" she asked, placing a hand caringly on Rona's.

"Me?" asked Rona. "Oh, no it's nothing." She didn't feel like talking about her private life, not just at this moment. "How are you?"

Phuong wasn't convinced but agreed silently to play along. "I'm tired" she replied. "From working. But otherwise I'm well. I think I will be going back to university next year. My parents want me to."

"That's great!"

"Yes, I think it is." Phuong wasn't happy with talking about herself like this: not when she could tell that something was going on with Rona. She could guess at what was wrong: she folded her arms across the top of the table, leaned forward on her elbows and tilted her head, smiled and decided to try to coax it out of her: "So tell me all about this boy" she said. "The one who you wanted to come to the gig last week. Was he your birthday present?"

Rona scoffed. "Yeah, some birthday present that would've been. Fucking dipshit no-show, doesn't know what's good for him. No, my birthday present was a cheque from my parents, which is pretty handy." Rona could guess the game Phuong was trying to play, trying to tease information out of her, and she decided to play back, dodging and parrying Phuong's inquiries. "My birthday was pretty good, though. I can't believe I'm twenty-three."

"Neither can I."

Phuong and Rona smiled at each other, and each was so locked in the game they were playing with each other that neither even noticed that no waiter had yet arrived to give them menus.