The slamming of the front door was my first sign that something had gone wrong, she was home early and she was home angry. I was half-way through deciding whether to go out to the hallway and meet her or to wait for her to join me when she opened the living room door and slammed that shut too. Collapsing into the sofa, she reached over and grabbed my glass of wine, downing it all in one mouthful. Something had definitely gone wrong. She kicked her shoes off into the corner of the room and sighed loudly, an evil scowl appearing that would have killed were it aimed at the right person. As if suddenly remembering something, she looked around the room quizzically.

“Where’s Steve?” she asked, confusion in her voice. It was date night, for both of us, she had gone to meet her boyfriend and I had been stood up by mine.

“He had to work late or something, I thought I’d make myself feel better with wine, ice-cream and George Clooney,” I sighed. “What about you?”

“I dumped Dom,” she announced calmly, as if it wasn’t a big deal, as if finishing her four year relationship was merely a blip on the radar. “Is there any more wine?” I nodded mutely as she grabbed an extra glass and poured out wine for both of us; I couldn’t pick mine up yet. My hands were shaking with the sheer shock of it all.

“Why? What happened?” I choked, still amazed that she was taking it all so well. I was also confused, really confused, as far as I was aware Hannah and Dom were as happy as they could be. Never in a million years would I have guessed that they were having problems so bad she would dump him.

“The usual,” she sipped at her wine, visibly calming down as she drank and leaned back. “I couldn’t put up with his work anymore and he was always with his mates and he was just starting to really grate on me, y’know? I hated him for the smallest things; it just wasn’t going to get any better,” She sounded as if she was trying to convince herself as well as me, I let it lie. If she needed to lie to herself about the reasons then it wasn’t my place to push it.

“I thought things were going great between you two. You’ve been together for so long now; I thought it was getting serious,”

“Maybe last year but not now, everything’s changed. I’ve changed and he’s changed and I think I just fell out of love or something. One morning, I just woke up and knew that it was over,” She looked upset and I didn’t blame her, it’s hard to let go of something that’s been such a huge part of your life for so long. “He didn’t take it very well,”

“Ah, that’s why you were slamming around. What did he say? Was it horrible?” I asked.

“No, it wasn’t that bad. He just started having a go at me about how it’s not his fault he has to work and I never liked his friends anyway and he accused me of cheating on him,” she said, shaking her head at the thought of it. Something was off, something was way off and I had just realised what it was.

“Were you?” Hannah looked up at me and I knew her answer. The look in her eyes I had assumed was sadness was actually guilt; Dom had every right to go mad at her because he was right. She remained silent. “For fuck’s sake, Hannah, what do you expect? If you were cheating on him then he had every right to get mad at you, surely you can see that?”

“It wasn’t like that though. I never meant for it to get so far but… I don’t know, things with Dom were awful and I just needed something. Something else,” Tears were forming and she was blinking them back angrily, she hated to cry more than anything in the world and I felt guilty for bringing them on. I knew I’d over-reacted but after getting to know Dom so well, it was hard to think that she had hurt him. I should have been on her side, Hannah was my best friend but it was just unthinkable. She had never done anything like that in her entire life; I had just blown up because I couldn’t imagine why she would do it.

“Okay, I’m sorry. I just… it’s a bit of a shock. I thought you’d have told me or talked about it or something, I’m sorry,” I sighed, draining my wine glass and collapsing back into my chair. We were silent forever, neither of us knowing how to approach the subject again. I was desperate to know who she had been sleeping with and what had happened to make her do something like that to Dom. She was desperate for me to tell her it was okay and that Dom would be fine and she had done the right thing.

“I should’ve told you,” she said finally. “I just felt awful and I didn’t want you to shout at me for being all weak and pathetic. I should’ve just dumped Dom when I knew it was over instead of dragging it out and hurting him even more,” I leaned forward slightly, looking straight at her.

“Who is it?” She smiled a little, mischief glinting in her eyes. “Come on, I’m over the mad thing now, I just want to know who it is,”

“Matt,”

“My Matt?” I asked, a little dumbstruck. She nodded silently and smiled. “Now I know why you never told me about it. Man, I’m impressed that he managed to keep it a secret,”

“He’s been dying to tell you but I wouldn’t let him. I wanted to make sure you were going to be cool about it all,” she smiled uncomfortably. I didn’t blame her for feeling slightly worried about my reaction; I would’ve been worried to.

“Hannah, that was years ago. I have slept with other people since then, I’ve had Steve since then for God’s sake,” I laughed, hoping I sounded convincing. I wasn’t especially upset by the announcement that my two best friends were sleeping together but it was a bit of a shock to the system, especially after the late night conversations we’d had about him a few years beforehand. Conversations that were essentially just the two of us saying nasty things about him, it wasn’t Matt’s fault to be honest; it was mine for expecting something to come of a stupid one night stand. Never sleep with your best friends; it can only lead to trouble. Matt and I hadn’t been estranged for long but there was a time when I thought I was in love with him, turned out I was wrong. I was happy for Hannah; he was a nice guy, good to his girlfriends and amazing in bed.

“I know, I just thought that maybe you would be upset or something. I don’t know how your mind works half the time; you can’t really blame me,”

“Okay, okay, point taken. So, does Dom know about Matt?”

“I don’t think so; I think he just sensed that something was going on with me. He won’t have known who it was; there isn’t enough to link us together. I just hope he’s okay, just because I don’t want to be with him anymore doesn’t mean I stopped caring, y’know?”

“Of course you still care. He just needs some time to calm down, you know what he’s like, he’s so calm and collected. He’ll be back to normal in no time at all,” I grinned, Hannah smiled and nodded glancing over at the TV and picking up her wine. She raised a quizzical eyebrow and I knew what she was asking. It comes from spending way too much time together. “Dusk til Dawn,”

“Excellent choice,” she grinned and I hit the play button on the remote. We chatted animatedly throughout the trailers but once the film started, we were silent as the grave, until my mobile started to ring. I looked at her and shrugged before grabbing it and disappearing into the kitchen. “Tell him to leave you alone, you have George now,” she shouted after me. I grinned as I looked down at the caller ID; it wasn’t Steve at all, it was Dom.

“Hello?” I said shakily as I pushed the answer button. I was more than a little confused; I didn’t know what he wanted or why he was ringing me.

“Hey babe, how are you?” Babe? “Is she home yet?”

“Yeah, she was a little upset. What’s up?” I said, trying to sound as casual as possible. The background noise at Dom’s end was loud and toneless; I could only assume he’d gone out drinking after his little meeting with Hannah.

“Nothing, I just needed to talk to you. Can I come over tomorrow?” he asked, slurring slightly. He was definitely wasted; I kinda wished I was too. I mumbled something sounded vaguely affirmative and he was silent for a moment. “Thanks. I’ll call you before I show up, I gotta go. Bye,” I quickly switched my phone off; I didn’t want to be interrupted by drunken Dom again. Steve could call me on the land-line if he needed to talk post-work. I walked back into the living room and collapsed into my chair, losing myself in George Clooney’s tattoos.

“What did he want? Apologies for ruining date night?” Hannah mumbled through a mouthful of chocolate chip cookie, she’d left the packet on the coffee table. I reached forward and stole one.

“Nah, just to say goodnight,” I nodded and turned back to the TV, essentially ending the conversation. I just wished I knew what Dom was up to, we never had heart-to-hearts, as much as I liked him and as close as we had become over the past four years, I didn’t expect him to come crying on my shoulder when he and Hannah split up. Didn’t he have any guy friends for that sort of thing?