Otis

'Take it from me' I tell Eric. 'Don't lose the one you love the most, no matter how badly you hurt them.'

'You're right Otis' he says to me.

'What was that?' I ask him.

'I said you're right Otis' he replies.

'Ladies and gentlemen!' I exclaim. 'Imperious Eric has admitted someone else is right. This deserves a celebration.'

'Stop it' he says, the faintest beginnings of a grin starting to creep onto his face.

'Why?!' I shout again. 'Let's have some fun. We're both hurting tonight. I'm thinking warm Pepsi, Cheese and Onion Walkers and Footloose?'

'Swayze never lies' he says back. We climb down the steps of the treehouse and head inside the house, completely deserted with Mum and Jakob at the hospital and Ola presumably with Lily.

Ola

'The hospital was really scary for us all' I say. 'I feel ashamed to admit it but there was a part of me that was disgusted when I saw that baby for the first time. I couldn't believe that my father had another child with someone who wasn't mum Lily, that frightened me. I feel somehow responsible for what happened to Jean, but I know that it couldn't have been. Am I being crazy?'

'You're asking me that?' replies Lily in her usual deadpan tone.

'Good point' I say back to her equally as deadpan. 'I'm happy for Jean and Dad, and baby Joy is such a, forgive the pun, joy to behold.'

'Pun forgiven' Lily replies while assembling something with googly eyes.

'I love how you look like you're not listening, but you listen more intently than almost anyone else, except perhaps Jean and Otis, but that's when their therapising people, outside of that they have the listening capacity of a brick wall.' I tell Lily.

'Brick walls are actually really good to talk to' she says back. 'They don't pass judgement and you know they'll be there for you next time, and only a bulldozer can change that.'

'Right' I say. 'Anyway, have you done the homework?'

'No' she says.

'Good' I say and I pull her closer into an embrace and start kissing her while my hands reach for her bra…

Maeve

Heathrow is such a dull place. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to get out of here and see America, land of the free, but also sometimes incredibly racist people. I just wish I didn't have this 1.5 hour wait before I even make my way to the gate and start boarding. I text Otis, telling him how bored I am. He replies by saying 'no one puts Maeve in a corner.' The fuckwit must be watching Footloose again. I swear to God he does something to me that no one else can. I'm gonna miss him so much. But hopefully, this trip is worth the pain of missing him.