They all ended up staying seated. Hannah realised that she couldn't get up without waking Janine, which was the last thing she wanted. Then the band finished, and it became a moot point. After a few minutes, while the headline band was setting up, Mal came down to join them all, dripping with sweat and grinning from ear to ear. Brent had been intercepted at the bar by Catherine and they had both remained there by themselves. Alain was still nowhere to be seen.

"Guys!" said Mal. "You all made it! That's fucking awesome, I love you guys."

"You were awesome" said Rona. "Seriously, that's the best I've seen you guys perform in ages."
Phuong giggled and poked Rona in the ribs. "You were talking most of the time!" she exclaimed.

"No I wasn't" said Rona matter-of-factly. "Other people were talking to me, and sometimes I talked back, but I was really listening to the band."

Hannah looked up at him. "I'd get up and shake your hand or something, but you know . . . Sleeping Beauty here."

Mal snickered. "Doesn't matter. How are you all, anyway? I haven't seen any of you in ages. Can I sit here?" he pointed to a space which Rona had managed to manufacture on the bench next to her.

"Uhh . . ."

Phuong turned to her interrogatively. "Who are you saving that spot for, anyway?"

"What? No-one!"

"Rona . . ." said Hannah, a smile growing around the corners of her mouth. They all looked at Rona.

"Oh fine, then" she said. "Just sit there if you have to. He was meant to be here by now but obviously he decided he had better things to do, so fuck him." She looked irritably into the middle-distance.

She was brought back by Hannah throwing a screwed-up cardboard coaster at her head. "Well? Him? Come on! You can't leave us all hanging like that!"

"Yeah, seriously Rona. Tell us all about your new boyfriend" teased Mal.

"Aaargh! He's not my boyfriend! He's just some guy I know . . . Kinda . . . And I invited him here. That's it."

"You mean you asked him out" said Sacha, deciding to join the game.

"On a date" added Phuong.

"Is that him coming in now?" asked Hannah. Rona whipped her head around to look at the doorway: there was nobody there. "My god, did everyone else see how fast she looked?" Everyone agreed that they had.

"Oh, shut up" said Rona grumpily - but she couldn't help smiling at Hannah's mischievously shining eyes.

Mala hung around for a while, catching up with everyone, but shortly he was pulled away by Steve, who insisted that there was somebody who wanted to meet him - who wanted to meet the whole band. While the headline act was starting their first song, Sacha yawned extravagantly. "Oh" she said, "Past my bed-time, I think. Sorry everyone." And she got up and wrapped her scarf and coat around herself.

Shortly after Sacha left, Brent and Catherine came back to make their excuses: they had other plans. Alain was still nowhere to be seen, but Brent had spotted him a while ago all over a young woman near the bar, so they all put two and two together. That just left Rona, Phuong, Hannah, and the ever-sleeping Janine - Rona stayed because she had to stay and review the headliners, Phuong stayed out of solidarity with her friend, and Hannah stayed because she couldn't think of anything better to do and was secretly dreading going home again with Janine in tow. The young man from the record store never did show, but Rona had all the company she needed.