‘Who’s “Em”?’ Emma quickly asked.
‘Your friends call you “Em”, I’ve heard them call you that,’ he said.
‘Ah, yes, my friends call me that,’ Emma replied.
‘Can’t I call you that?’ he asked. He sounded worried.
‘Oh, all right then, Dex,’ she said. ‘Go on.’
‘Well, if you think I’m so terrible why are you sleeping with me?’ he asked.
‘Well, I don’t think I really have slept with you, have I?’ she replied. ‘You can choose either meaning of “sleep” – I mean, we haven’t been to sleep and we haven’t done anything else, have we?’
‘No,’ the boy said, ‘no, we haven’t quite done that.’
Tonight Emma had wanted something different.