For one of the very few times in her life, Sacha went out with the deliberate intention of getting drunk. In the best tradition of drunken escapades, she wasn't quite sure what the reasoning behind this decision was - she just knew that her choices were going to sleep, continuing to worry, or drinking to forget. She wasn't tired, she didn't want to worry any more; drinking to forget sounded like a good option.

She dolled herself up - by her own low standards, anyway: a touch of lipstick, a shirt which had at least been struck a glancing blow with a warm iron - and stepped out of her flat, ready to "hit the town."

She'd never before considered her flat's proximity to Brunswick Street to be a particular advantage - the small-hours drunks careening down the footpath below her bedroom window on their way home made sure of that - but now she began to appreciate it just a little. However, she'd been living here for four months and she still had barely any idea of the various different bars to be found on Brunswick Street. Instead Sacha had left it to Rona to suggest a venue - which, being Rona, she did gladly.

Also true to her nature, Rona turned up twenty minutes late and gushing apologies. Sacha, uncharacteristically, waved her apologies away (she had made an early start on the drinking and was attempting to convince herself that it was loosening her up). Nonetheless, Rona's ignoring of her the day before still hurt.

"Did you and Phuong have a good time after I left?" Sacha asked pointedly.

Rona didn't get the point. "Yeah. You should have stayed instead of skulking away like that" she said.

"Well . . ." Sacha stopped. She suddenly couldn't tell Rona what was on her mind. Rona, abhorring a vacuum in the conversation as always, filled up the dead air with the happy sound of her own voice:

"Phuong says you're welcome to stop by any time you're on Victoria Street. She'll give you mate's rates on anything you buy in the shop. I mean, she didn't say so but I know her. She really liked you, you know. I mean not the way Hannah likes you. I mean that's another story altogether, but -" Rona started to giggle, then stopped just as suddenly and said earnestly: "You should have stayed. Why didn't you?"

Sacha gritted her teeth. "I had to go and look for a job" she said.

Rona scoffed. "Is that all? Jesus, leave it until the next day. I mean, I haven't had a paying job in yonks and you don't see me running off at the drop of a hat -"

"I need a job!" Sacha suddenly burst out. It sounded to her like she'd shouted it at the top of her voice; and though nobody else besides Rona seemed to have noticed she shut her eyes in embarrassment. She opened them again a moment later and nervously fingered her beer-glass. "Fuck," she said, "and I need another drink, too."