"Have you seen the size of this wet room? And these are so fluffy!" Christian called excitedly. He appeared in the bedroom, clutching a large towel to his chest.

Syed dragged his gaze away from the lights of a distant cruise ship, moving slowly away beyond the pier, and turned from the window, exulting in Christian's enthusiasm.

"And a king size bed…" He grinned.

"And a swanky bar downstairs, plus the whole of Kemptown just outside the big, revolving, sparkly glass front door. Shall we live here Sy? Tam and Afia can have the flat…"

"And the faint whiff of chip fat, and Ian letting himself in whenever he likes.."

"Do you remember that time?"

Syed began to convulse with laughter.

"His face! Ha Ha! And yours… and when you turned round!"

"Well, you were alright, you had me covering you up. Ha! I loved the way time stood still and then he just walked backwards in slow motion out of the flat and shut the door really, really quietly…"

Helpless, Syed collapsed onto the bed, clutching his sides, tears streaming down his face.

"Haaaaaaaa! And then we went into the chippy and you asked for a battered sausage and two pickled eggs and he couldn't look you in the eye. Ow, ow, it hurts. Christian, this bed is wibbling!"

Christian tried to speak, his voice wheezing out between gusts of laughter.

"It's a, it's a water b.. Ha Ha!" He bounced down beside Syed, sending the surface rippling and they clutched onto each other until their hilarity eventually subsided, and they lay spent and helpless.

"I feel a bit sea sick.."

"Do you? Shit, I didn't think. Do you want me to get them to change our room?"

Christian moved towards the phone on the bedside cabinet, sending a wave across the bed that rocked Syed alarmingly and made him clutch on to Christian's sleeve.

"No, no. It'll be fun, I'll get used to it in a minute. I'll have to keep my eyes on you, you can be my horizon. Who is it you know down here again?"

Settling carefully back down, so as not to cause too many ripples, Christian put his arm around him.

"I told you about five times, weren't you listening?"

"Was it when you'd come out of the shower?"

"Possibly, why?"

"I probably wasn't looking at your mouth, sorry. Tell me again, I'll pay attention."

Christian lifted Syed's hand and began to count out the names on his fingers.

"Rich and Malachi…"

"Who?"

"You met them at Sam and Steve's. Rich wouldn't talk to Malachi for a week afterwards because he kept banging on about how gorgeous you are.."

His brows furrowed in surprise, Syed turned his head to ask;

"Why? Is he blind?"

"Yes, that's it Sy, he's blind. You have no idea how lovely you are do you?"

"If you say so, maybe I might need telling every day? I remember him now, wouldn't let go of me and you were pulling angry faces from across the room.."

"You were very pleased with yourself that night…"

"That might have been down to the extra special performance you felt compelled to give.." Syed smiled mischievously. "…He's very handsome isn't he, argh, Christian!…"

As he dodged Christian's rapid attempt to try and give him a dead leg, the water slooped ominously in the bed beneath him.

"Don't! I'll throw up! You're better, you're better than everyone…Who else?"

"Lise and Jenna, they won't fancy you, on account of your cock, Harry, Chaz. Oh shit, and I suppose Tony might be about, unfortunately. He's an obnoxious twat.."

"Boo to Tony. I know someone lives here…"

Christian looked at him sharply.

"Oh yeah? Am I going to have another Michael sprung on me?"

"You wish, you love him really. No, her name's Alice, we were at Uni together. I wonder how Michael is? He never rang me back that time…"

"He'll be okay, if he's stopped being a jelly head.." Christian began to titter."...You got that genius text though.."

"What? 'Can't ring now, hands full, mouth full, arse full.' ?"

"Haaa! That's the one. Trust me, he'll be fine Sy, he can charm his way out of anything, he'll have broken that poor Rory's heart and moved on by now.."

Syed remained unconvinced.

"Hmm, I'm not so sure. I might try and call him again when we get home. So are we meeting these people? And when? We'd better get ready.."

"I didn't really arrange anything.."

"Didn't you?"

"I wondered if, I mean, we can, I could ring them.. If you're sure you want to?"

"Yeah! If you do.."

Christian bit his lower lip thoughtfully, giving Syed a crooked smile.

"I'd rather spend the time with you, I wanted it to be just us, take your mind off things…"

"Party animal Clarke? Blimey!"

"We'll go out though, eh? There's live acts at the Tin Drum, Revenge.."

"The world is our lobster. We need a walk along the beach too.."

"Oh yeah? The nudist one?" Christian raised an eyebrow suggestively.

"At night? In April? Everything would be shrivelled.. Come on you.."

Syed edged cautiously across the bed, focusing on the length of Christian's supine body as he stood upright, to stop the room spinning.

"…Show me this massive wet room."