'It's a bit too groovy for me, this place. But hey, it's quick and it's cheap.'

You look around, 'I like it.'

'Yeh. It's not bad. Have you been here before?'

You shake your head, 'I never come to this part of the city.'

Kate raises her eyebrows, 'So? Why are you here then.'

'To see Jess.'

'Too late, she cried! You're lucky you didn't come last week though. We were pretty fucking mad with your cousin. Doing a runner like that. Fuck that. I mean I know... cousins and all that but still... you don't just fuck off on your friends... at least, we thought we were all friends...'

'What happened?'

'I have no idea. One day there, the next gone. Promises broken. Debts left behind. Pissed off people calling the house. No one has any idea.'

A waiter comes up and you order.

'That doesn't sound right, you know.'

'Sure, it's not right.'

'No I mean it doesn't sound like Jess. Not the Jess I knew. We grew up together.'

'Just goes to show - you think you know someone but what do you really ever know? Squat. Nothin' You can't. How can you know what goes on in another person's head. They'll always surprise you. It's what makes life so good, I guess. Thanks.' Kate looks up and smiles at the waiter, 'Yum. Dig in.'

You stare at the food in front of you, suddenly not hungry. You pick up your fork and play with the pasta. 'So did anything happen?'

Kate chews and shrugs, 'Like I said. I don't know nothin'. The house hasn't been going too well as you could probably tell. Actually I've been thinking of getting out myself. But not by doing a runner! But you know... Jess and Ned were really close, but Ned seems to be obssessed with Polly... not that he'd admit that, of course - and I think that gave Jess the shits. And Dave's kind of moved in and has no concept of paying his way. And Sam's such a pig. And fuck knows what's going on with Polly at the moment. Come to think of it Jess was probably the smartest one of the lot of us. Except for there are ways and ways of getting out of a bad situation and that wasn't one of them.' She smiles, 'So still wanna stay the night or have I scared the shit out of you with all our melodramatic carry-ons?'

You finally put down your fork, leaving half the meal untouched. 'This weekend just isn't quite going as I imagined.'

Kate leans over, 'Nothing ever does. But isn't that what's so great.' She wipes the napkin across her mouth, 'Come on, let's get out of here - it's getting way too crowded with weekend yuppies. Too beautiful for me! Are you coming back to the house with me or do you want to go for that walk you were talking about?'