has always made me nervous. It is partly his height. I don’t relate well to men in general, particularly tall men who loom over me. But it’s not just that. Rik is so… polished. Much more than Topher, although they both come from the same world. Literally. He, Topher, and Elliot met at boarding school. Apparently Elliot was always a genius, even then. It’s a long way from Campsbourne Secondary in Crawley, where I went to school. I know I am a creature from another planet to them. Weird. Awkward. Working class.
I clench my fingers, making the joints crack, and Rik winces and then gives an awkward laugh.
“Good old Liz,” he says. “Still doing that old clicking thing?”
I don’t reply. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other, absently adjusting his silver Rolex as he does, staring up the track, in the direction of the invisible carriage lumbering towards us.
“How are you doing, anyway?” he asks, and I want to roll my eyes.
You just asked that, I think. But I say nothing. I am learning that it’s okay to do that sometimes. In fact it is quite fun to watch people’s reactions.
Rik’s eyes flick to me, waiting for my socially conditioned “Fine,” and when it doesn’t come, he shoves his free hand in his pocket, looking distinctly disconcerted.
Good. Let him wait.
ERIN
Snoop ID: LITTLEMY
Listening to: Offline
Snoopers: 0
Snoopscribers: 0
“Littlemy?” Danny says, looking over my shoulder as I type in my brand-new username. He pronounces it like two words—litt lemy. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“Not Lit Lemmy. Little My. It’s a character from the Moomins.”
“The moo you what?”
“The Moomins! It’s a series of children’s—Look, never mind,” I say, seeing his baffled expression. “What’s yours?”
“I’m not telling you,” he says, affronted. “You might snoop on me.”
“Oh, so you’re allowed to know mine, but I’m not allowed to know yours?”
“Too bloody right. What are you going to listen to?”
I click a profile at random. NeverMindTheHorlix. It’s someone the app suggested from my contact list, and although I don’t know who it is for sure, I think it might be a girl I went to school with. “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone fills the room. I’ve never heard of the band, but I know the song.
“Someone’s been watching Guardians of the Galaxy,” Danny mutters with a touch of derision, but his hips are twitching in time to the beat as he walks across the room to peer out into the snow. He’s only there for a second before he swings back round, grabbing a bottle of champagne from the cooler on the coffee table and popping the cork with a sound like a gunshot.
“They’re here, I can see the funicular coming up.”
I nod and shove my phone into my pocket. No time for chat now. This is action stations.
* * *
Ten minutes later I am standing in the open doorway of Chalet Perce-Neige, tray of glasses in one hand, watching a little group staggering and sliding down the path from the funicular to the porch. None of them are wearing suitable shoes, and they’ve not mastered how to walk in snow, with short steps and your weight thrown forward, not back. One of them, a very good-looking black guy, is carrying what looks like—yes, it is. It’s an empty bottle of Krug. Great. They’re already drunk.
A tall blond man reaches me first, in his early thirties, handsome in a Don’t I know it kind of way.
“Hi. Topher, Snoop founder,” he says, grinning in a way that is clearly meant to charm the socks off me. His breath smells of alcohol, and his voice is every boarding school boy I’ve ever met. He looks faintly familiar although I can’t place the connection—but maybe it’s just the fact that if you were casting for the CEO of a hip internet start-up, he’s exactly what you’d choose.
“Good to meet you,” I say. “I’m Erin, your chalet host for the week. Champagne?”
“Well, since you insist…” He takes a glass of champagne off the tray and knocks it back in one. I make a mental note that next time I prepour drinks for this party, I’ll use prosecco. There is no way they’ll be able to taste the difference, throwing them back like that.
“Thanks.” He replaces the empty glass on the tray and stares around him. “Great location, by the way.”
“Thanks, we like it,” I say. The others are coming up behind him now. A stunningly beautiful woman with caramel-tanned skin and white-blond hair is picking