The first thing Hannah wanted to know when Rona told her about the new house was:

"When's the housewarming party gonna be?"

"We . . ." Rona blinked. "We haven't even talked about it yet. We haven't even thought about it yet!"

"Why the hell not? Rona, god, you're not like you used to be."

"Of course I'm not. I'm older."

"Not that much older. Come on! You should've been thinking about this before you even moved! I mean that's what you look for in a house, isn't it? One of the things you look for? 'Are we gonna be able to have parties here?'"

"How could I be thinking of a party?" Rona laughed disbelievingly. "I didn't even know if I was gonna have a house!"

"But you've gotta think positive, Mouse. Don't be going into all the houses thinking 'Oh it's no good', or it'll never happen."

"You don't really believe that!" Rona protested, aghast.

"Oh, who knows what the fuck I believe. But you've gotta be happy with life. I mean fuck, it's the only one you've got."

"Maybe" Rona said.

Uncharacteristically, Hannah ignored the remark. She didn't know what do with it. "Anyway, you've got a house now" she said eventually. "So what're you gonna do? 'Cause you know there's only one thing you can do."

"We can't have a party yet!" Rona said. "We have to find a housemate first."

"Who says?"

"Well what happens when we get a housemate, and they say, 'Let's have a housewarming party', and we say 'Oh, we've already had one.' What then?"

"Then you have another one!" Hannah said instantly. As far as she was concerned it wasn't even a thing that needed thinking about.

"How many parties do you want me to have?"

"Listen, Rona, we used to have parties at your place all the time. Remember those review parties? Fuck, the only reason I even know half the people I know is 'cause of you. I've been carrying the weight too long, Mouse. It's time for someone else to start putting on parties!"

"I will" Rona said. Hannah's words had shamed her, though she didn't know why. "But not yet. But soon."